
Hodag
A spiny, fire-born beast from the Wisconsin woods with a taste for white bulldogs.
Once dismissed as legend, some have been explained. Others remain in a gray zone between myth and natural history.
8 creatures

A spiny, fire-born beast from the Wisconsin woods with a taste for white bulldogs.

The antlered rabbit of the American West, born from taxidermy humor and frontier tall tales.

A shape-shifting water horse that lures riders to a watery grave in Scottish lochs.

The ship-swallowing sea beast of Norse legend, now partially explained by giant squid.
A 12-foot flightless bird, officially extinct for 600 years, with enough backcountry sighting reports to keep the search alive.

Hunted to extinction just 27 years after Western science discovered it, some believe pockets of this gentle giant survive in remote Arctic waters.

Officially extinct since 1936, the Tasmanian tiger is the subject of more credible survival sightings than almost any other lost species.
A small, otter-like animal in New Zealand's South Island rivers, where no native mammal should exist.