The document discusses fictional wild creatures, notably those created by Maurice Sendak, including griffins, pegasi, manticores, and wolpertingers, highlighting their characteristics and origins in mythology. It also introduces the okapi, a real animal with features resembling both giraffes and zebras, as a wild creature in nature. Overall, it explores the intersection between mythological creatures and real-life wildlife.

1. “Wild Things”

2. What creature does this Wild Thing remind you most of?

3. What characteristics do these wild things share with actual wild creatures?

7. “Wild Things” are the inventions of author and illustrator Maurice Sendak from his
classic book Where the Wild Things Are. But there have been wild things around for
many many years…
• This is a Griffin!
• The griffin or gryphon is a mythical quadruped with the foreparts of an eagle and the rear, tail and hindquarters of a lion.

8. Griffins can be found in Ancient Eygyptian art ! Ancient means very old. So it looks like Griffins have been
around a long time in stories and myths.

9. Pegasus is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a
winged divine horse usually depicted as white in color.

11. Here is a Manticore: The manticore) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the
Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like
a shark), and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may
be horned, winged, or both. The tail is that of either a dragon or a scorpion.

12. Manticore soft sculpture

13. In Bavarian folklore, a Wolpertinger is an animal said to live in the alpine forests of Bavaria in Germany. It has a
body made of various animal parts — generally wings, antlers, tails and fangs, all attached to the body of a
small mammal. The most popular description is that of a horned rabbit or a horned squirrel.

14. Close up of a Wolperdinger

15. Is it possible there might be a real-life Wild Thing?
• Okapi! The okapi, is
a giraffid artiodactyl mammal native to
the Ituri Rainforest, located in the
northeast of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, in Central Africa. Although the okapi
has striped markings that remind us
of zebras, it is most closely related to
the giraffe.