10 Mythical Creatures That Actually Existed

The Myth: In games like Dungeons & Dragons or television series such as Game of Thrones, Dire Wolves have been depicted as gigantic wolves capable of easily taking down a large man. They are often described as vicious, hard to train, and efficient killers, but the myth of the Dire Wolf doesn't exactly line up with reality.

The Reality: Dire wolves (Canis dirus) were real animals, which went extinct around 9,500 years ago when the last major Ice Age came to an end. Dire wolves weren't gigantic monsters, but they were big animals. Most specimens that have been studied show the dire wolf to be about the same size as modern gray wolves.

They weighed around 132 lb (60 kg) and were capable predators. Their teeth were larger and had a better shearing ability than their modern cousins. They had the strongest bite force at the point of the canine of all Canis species.

This made it possible for them to prey on horses, camels, mastodon, bison, and humans living during the Ice Age. It's likely tales of their ferocity gave life to the mythological abilities of the animal, which persist today. Sadly, dire wolves are long gone, even if they do sometimes pop up in our nightmares...