There Be Monsters

The harpy eagle gets its name from the harpies of Greek mythology - half-woman, half-bird monsters, the "Hounds of Zeus," who carried off their victims and left unspeakable foulness in their wake.

The actual harpy is found in Central and South America, thousands of miles from Greece, and wasn't encountered by anyone who had ever heard of Zeus until about five-hundred years ago.  Ironically, among the places where they live is a rainforest surrounding a river, both of which are named for another denizen of Greek mythology, the Amazons.  

A host of lizards are dubbed "dragons," from the giant Komodo dragon which can devour a person to the docile bearded dragons which are the backbone of the reptile pet trade.  Echidnas are named after a half-women, half-snake like monster who lived alone in a cave.  The manatees and dugong are collectively called the Sirens.  The scientific name of the Indian rhino commemorates the unicorn.  There is even a tiny group of freshwater jellyfish-relatives named after the Hydra.  

In the names of the animals, we can find monsters everywhere.  

I wonder how much of the ancient lore of people from around the world was based on travelers who got way, way lost and wound up much farther from home than anyone in their civilization had every been.  If they made it back, they might have brought tales of, what to them, would have undoubtedly been monsters.  It's an idea that I've thought about before, and I'm sure others have too, so no points for original thought here.  

But it did make me wonder: what if the animals are named after monsters that are, in fact, based on the animals themselves?