Al-Mi'raj

This creature is: mythological 

The Al-Mi'raj is found in medieval Arabic literature describing the adventures of Alexander the Great (Iskandar). Although Alexander the Great was a real historic figure, he had a lot of myths associated with him, many featuring interesting creatures. 

One version calls this creature Al-Mi'raj, it is said to be found on Jazīrat al-Tinnīn (‘Sea-Serpent Island’ or ‘Dragon Island’) in the Indian Ocean. Another account calls the creature arāj, the dragon island is called Mustashiayn and is in Western Africa.

Anyway, the dragon was doing what mythical dragons usually do (eating livestock and causing terror), and Alexander the Great did what mythical heroes usually do (he killed it). He poisoned some chunks of meat that the dragon then ate. After the defeat of the dragon, the people were thankful and give Alexander the Al-Mi'raj as a gift. 

The Al-Mi'raj is golden, shaped like a hare or rabbit, with a black horn. It is said all wild beasts that set eyes on it would flee from it. It is not clear if the beasts fled because it was fierce or because it possessed some sort of magical effect. 

I apologise for the shortness of this post, but there is not much detail provided about the mythical lagomorph, so there is not a lot I can say about it… it’s still a cool creature though!

The Al-Mi'raj wasn’t the only mythical creature sidekick Alexander the Great had – he also had a three-horned carnivorous horse! You can read my post about that Here.

External links:

Al-Mi'raj on Wikipedia. 

Rather than being digitally coloured like most of my work, this was coloured with Crayola coloured pencils. 

Bare-faced Go-away-bird

 This animal is: real

Go-away-birds are found in Africa. There are three kinds: Gray, White-bellied, and Bare-faced. They are very vocal, and their call sounds like “Go away!” hence their anti-social name. 

Bare-faced Go-away-birds like to live in moist savanna and woodland, and can also be found in shrubby cultivated areas and gardens. They live in small groups, and feed on plant matter, like fruit, seeds and buds. They are 48 cm long beak to tail. They often build their nests in tall acacia trees, where they lay two to three greenish-white eggs.

The species has recently been subject to a lot of taxonomic shuffling, which I shall attempt to summarise simply (if taxonomy-themed bafflement is not your thing, skip the next couple of paragraphs!). 

Formerly, the Bare-faced Go-away-bird had the Latin name of Corythaixoides personatus, which contained two subspecies: C. p. leopoldi with a bare face, found in a large swathe of Africa; and C. p. personatus, which has tiny brown feathers on its face and more green on its chest, found only in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. 

Now those subspecies are recognised as species in their own right: the Black-faced Go-away-bird Corythaixoides leopoldi, and the Brown-faced Go-away-bird Corythaixoides personatus.

According to Wikipedia, all the Go-away-birds have now been moved to the genus Crinifer in 2021, where they now sit with the plantain-eaters, so the first parts of their names should be Crinifer rather than Corythaixoides.

However, many sites (iNaturalist, eBird and UCN Red List) call them Corythaixoides, so that might be correct.

Who knows! I quit, working it out is hard! 

I have drawn a Black-faced Go-away-bird (the leopoldi kind). 

I am no expert, and I got very, very confused with this, so please, if you know the correct Latin name for the bird I drew, leave it in the comments!

Both the Brown-faced and Black-faced Go-away-birds appear to be classed as ‘least concern’, which means they are not endangered currently. 

External links:

Bare-faced Go-away-bird on:

iNaturalist

eBird

Wikipedia 

Black-faced Go-away bird and Brown-faced Go-away bird on UCN red list’s site.