How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand
People have been drawn to stories about exotic animals throughout our history. The further you go back in that history, the less likely those stories were accurate. Here is a gorgeous compendium of illustrations showing how people imagined real animals they had only heard about.

Crocodiles from Liber Floridus (Book of Flowers), an encyclopedia by Lambert, Canon of Saint-Omer between 1090 and 1120.

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

Animals from the Rochester Bestiary, c. 1225-1250

A crocodile:
How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand
Elephants:
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Lions and other animals:
How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand
A lion:
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A colorful panther:
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A crocodile from the Northumberland Bestiary, fol. 49v, mid-1250s

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

An elephant from the 13th century, by Guillaume le Clerc

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An elephant from Italy, c. 1440

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

Lions from the Ashmole Bestiary (f.10v), 1511

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

A whale from Adriaen Coenen's Visboek (Fish Book), 1560s

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

An elephant and a giraffe by Noè Bianco, 1568

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

The History of Four-Booted Beasts and Serpents, by Edward Topsell, 1658

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A beaver:
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A dromedary:
How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

A history of the Earth and animated nature, by Oliver Goldsmith, 1825

A hippo:
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Seals:
How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand
Lions:
How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

A striped hyena, by Aloys Zötl, 1831

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

Gibbons, by Aloys Zötl, 1833

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

The Hoolock Gibbons, by Aloys Zötl, 1835

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

The Cheetah, by Aloys Zötl, 1837

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

A rhinoceros, by Aloys Zötl, 1861

How Europeans Imagined Exotic Animals Centuries Ago, Based on HearsayExpand

A sea turtle, by Aloys Zötl, 1867

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A walrus, by Aloys Zötl, 1879

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Anteriormente, en "La voz del animal invisible", dimos cuenta de otros jugosos ejemplos que ofrecemos a continuación. Si queréis concretar su origen, podéis hacerlo en nuestra página específica de bibliografía naturalista comentada.http://mafa-elanimalinvisible.blogspot.com.es/p/bibliografia-naturalista-comentada.html