The Manticore, or Martichora, is a lion like creature, with three rows of shark like teeth, a face that resembles that of a human, and a poisonous barbed tail like that of a scorpion. The Manticore was once considered to be the fiercest predator in all of Asia, the legends of this creature has endured long after sightings have all but faded from local memory. The earliest known account of the Manticore was chronicled by Ctesias, who served in the courts of Persia in the 5th century B.C. The Roman historian, Pliny the Elder, also depicted the Manticore in his works of natural history. Perhaps the most renowned description of the Manticore comes from the Greek teacher, Aristotle:

"If we may believe Ctesias...he mentions an Indian animal called Martichora, which had three rows of teeth in each jaw; it is as large and rough as a lion, and has similar feet, but its ears and face are like those of a man; its eye is grey, and its body red; it has a tail like a land scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which it is covered, instead of hair, and it utters a noise resembling the united sound of a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less swift of foot than a stag, and is wild, and devours men."

Most skeptics insist that the Manticore legend extended from nothing more than exaggerated eye witness accounts of man eating tigers, which where known to ravage isolated jungle villages, especially in northern India. Other investigators suggest that the Manticore may be an actually creature, which through years of evolution has developed features which at a distance appear to be very human like, this is designed to both lull and lure its favorite pray, man kind.

The manticore is most often suggested to be a large male mean eating lion by modern day scientists. The facial attributes of a feline can represent the humans, along with the brown puff of hair at the end of some tails representing the scorpion. The manticore is recognized today as more of a mythical beast then it is a cryptid being that no modern day accounts, stories, or sightings are generally known. It lives today in our modern day video games as a high level predator but that is all as far as we know.

The Evidence
There remains no physical evidence of the Manticore in modern times, highly credible men such as Pliny the Elder have documented there existence which gives some them some credibility.

The Sightings
No sightings of the Manticore have been reported in modern times.

The Stats – (Where applicable)

• Classification: Hybrid
• Size: Similar to a large lion
• Weight: unknown
• Diet: Carnivorous
• Location: Asia, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia and India
• Movement: walking
• Environment: Forested Areas