Crocotta

Pliny the Elder (23/24 CE to 79 CE) was a Roman author. He wrote about wildlife but some of the animals he described were weird! 

One animal that he mentioned in his "Natural History" was the crocotta, also called a leucrocuta, a hybrid creature born from a lioness and hyena. It was a similar size to a donkey, "with the legs of a stag" including cloven hooves. Then he wrote that the crocotta had the "neck, tail and breast of a lion" and also "the head of a badger". The beast was said to have a very wide stretching mouth" and it had a bone just inside its mouth instead of teeth. Did Pliny ever see one of these animals? Maybe not.

According to Greek philosopher Strabo (64/63 BCE to 24 CE), the crocotta is a wolf-dog hybrid. However, Ctesias the Greek historian (5th century BCE), wrote that the crocotta are from Ethiopia and they speak with human voices and call names of people to lure victims outside at night. He also said this is how people get eaten by the crocotta. He wrote that the crocotta "cannot be overcome by any weapon of steel." Many other writings of the crocotta can be found. 

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