MINOTAURUS ASTERION

KINGDOM Animalia

PHYLUM Vertebrata

CLASS Mammalia

ORDER Asterius

FAMILY Minos

GENUS Minotaurus

SPECIES Minotaurus asterion

THIS SPECIMEN DEMONSTRATES the unique musculature necessary to support the minotaur’s head in all of its possible functions, including combat. I have gathered incomplete segments of what appear to be creatures of the same species; thus far, I cannot conclude the existence of any variant to the species analyzed herein. The minotaur must have been unique despite conflicting accounts of its historical pedigree. It is important to consider the very real question of its ancestors, some of which may have possessed six limbs—four legs and two arms—as does the centaur. However, I have not yet come to know such a thing to be true.

Like many of the animals I have excavated or acquired from private collections, this specimen’s preservation and condition have not allowed me to support a complete survey of the body. The soft tissues were so badly decomposed that I could ascertain nothing from the remains.

I would surmise that the ancient minotaur did not have a four-chambered stomach like its bovine cousin. I would consider it impractical to be a ruminant, having an upright disposition and two arms for the gathering and preparation of food. The minotaur was likely an omnivore; given its size, its disposition for predation may have been engendered by a scarcity of food. It is likely that it did not evolve balanced enough to adequately compete for food or defend itself: having only a simple brain and being bipedal, it would not have been able to run from an animal attack or devise a strategy or weapon to protect itself, as a beast with a greater propensity for intellect might have done.

THERE ARE MANY INTERESTING LEGENDS

SURROUNDING THE ORIGIN OF THE GANESHA. IN

ONE STORY, THE GODDESS PARVATI CREATED A BOY FROM DUST TO GUARD HER WHILE SHE WAS

BATHING. HER HUSBAND, SHIVA, CAME ALONG AND FOUND A STRANGER WAITING OUTSIDE HIS

WIFE’S QUARTERS; HE ATTACKED THE BOY,

DECAPITATING HIM . UPON LEARNING THE CHILD

WAS IN FACT PARVATI’S SON, SHIVA RESTORED THE BOY, USING THE HEAD OF AN ELEPHANT, AND

MADE HIM A LEADER.

The Ganesha was a drastic evolutionary juxtaposition of the natural physical form; man and elephant. Though Ganesha’s origin is mere legend—it did not arise from the dust— truth is always hidden in the past.

—SPENCER BLACK