SAN ANTONIO – Do dragons, unicorns and mermaids exist?
It's an age-old question and the Witte Museum has an entire exhibition dedicated to the mythical creatures.
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Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids is a special traveling exhibition from the American Museum of Natural History.
Visitors will come face-to-face with a 17-foot-long dragon model as they explore artifacts of preserved specimens that launched investigations into the truth of these creatures' existence.
Misidentification, imagination and fear have all inspired tales of dragons, unicorns and mermaids throughout the centuries.
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The exhibition features four sections:
Creatures of Water explores the possibilities of sea monsters, mermaids and the infamous Kraken.
Creatures of Land delves into the existence of ordinary animals combined in unusual ways. "Some experts believe that the legends of the griffin, an extraordinary creature combining body parts of eagles and lions, originated in the sands of the Gobi Desert around 2,000 years ago when Scythian miners stumbled upon the fossil remains of the four-legged, beaked dinosaur Protoceratops," according to a press release.
Creatures of Air features mythological creatures ranging from the Greek sphinx to Pegasus.
Dragons are examined in the fourth section with claims of their presence on three continents.
"These creatures were inspired by fossils and living animals glimpsed, but barely understood," said President and CEO Marise McDermott. "Visitors are encouraged to connect the fascinating relationships between real and imaginary creatures and discover how the natural world has inspired stories across cultures and throughout time."
Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids will be at the Witte Museum from Sept. 28 through Jan. 12 in the Kathleen and Curtis Gunn Gallery. Admission is $5 plus museum admission and $4 for members.