Ask the Beasts, and They Will Tell You

Largest species in the British Isles: Noctule Bat (Nyctalus noctula) with a wingspan of 32-40cm (12.6 to 15.7 inches) Another large bat species: Serotine Bat (Eptesicus serotinus) with a wingspan of 32-38cm (12.6 to 15.0 inches), less common species found in southern England and Wales Most common: Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) with a wingspan of 19-23cm (7.5 to 9.1 inches) Second Most common: the visually nearly identical (though slightly bigger) Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) with a wingspan up to 20cm (7.9 inches)

source for above: woodland trust

Now those would be the bats that Mina considers normal sized. Now bats certainly range much larger, such as the golden crowned flying fox with a wingspan of five feet. But I don't think we need to look so far from England for a bat that Dracula might turn into that Mina perhaps would view as "giant"

the largest species in mainland Europe is the greater noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), with a wingspan up to 46cm (18 in). The greater noctule bat is also one of the few bats known to eat passerine birds*, and the only species that hunts them on the wing (in flight) versus while roosting*.

It's rare in Romania, but it's there. And it looks incredibly adorable

image description: a chocolate brown bat with a silver band on one wing upside down on what appears to be either rock or wood, it is hard to tell for sure. The bat has its mouth open, displaying its teeth, including its pointy fangs. image source: wikipedia

But also their body is silly.

Olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina), family Procyonidae, found in the Andean cloud forests of western Colombia & Ecuador

Described as a species in 2013.

Ruddy Kingfisher (Halcyon coromanda), family Alcedinidae, order Coraciiformes, Sabah, Borneo

Creature spotlight: rodents

IDs in alt text - how many can you guess? :-)

What counts as a swear word can vary based on both colloquial usage and intention because these things change the meaning of the word in question. Generally this falla under temperance—specifically ‘decorum and modesty of relaxation’—within the moralists. They don’t give a list of words, obviously because they can change, but they give general principles to follow.

From McHugh and Callan

Welp, because of your icon I'm going to go for an obvious one. You've heard of griffins? (Or griffons, or gryphons, whatever.) Today You Learned about the Minoan griffin!

The general gist of a griffin is a creature that has the front bit of an eagle, and the back hindquarters and tail of a lion. They come up in medieval European art and heraldry a lot. I think most people have the notion that they're from ancient Greece, though they show up in ancient Minoan art, too, and the variation, as you can see in the screenshots, looks pretty different.

The Minoans, for those, not in the know, were the civilization of ancient Crete--a sort of pre-Greek culture. We don't know what they called themselves, but scholars started calling them the 'Minoans', after King Minos of Greek mythology, the first king of Crete in the stories.

This means that griffins, as a mythological concept, go back to past 1500 BC!!!