New York: Mythical creatures like the Unicorn, the Sphinx, Dragons or Ramayana’s Garuda have intrigued humans since ages all across the world. These creatures roamed not the four corners of this earth, but human imagination and folklore.

And now, you can have a closer look at them as they jump out of epics into reality. The American Museum of Natural History in New York has just opened an exhibition that features mythological creatures from around the world including Garuda and Naga of India.

Visitors at the exhibition titled Mythic Creatures said the Indian Garuda and Naga are even now a strong presence in many Asian countries. “I feel that the Garuda imagery, the Garuda stories have had a huge influence even beyond places where the Garuda is recognized as a Garuda,” said Laurel Kendall - Curator, Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.

The Garuda is today the national symbol of Thailand and Indonesia, and is also believed to be the inspiration behind the Roc, the giant bird that appears in the Arabian Nights adventures of Sindabad the Sailor.

The exhibit juxtaposes models of mythical beasts with fossils to examine how actual sightings of prehistoric animals, embellished with a mix of fear and fantasy could have created tales of creatures like dragons, unicorns and mermaids. Mythic Creatures will be open until next....cut off

The exhibition shows how even in the prehistoric times, the power of human imagination, fear and fantasy gave rise to mythical creatures, the ones that transcended many civilizations.