We still don’t know everything about the natural world, so it’s not surprising that sometimes myths and urban legends pop up on the topic. In fact we don’t know a ton about it. we are constantly discovering new plants and animals, as well as being unable to explain certain natural phenomena.

Here are some widely discussed urban legends about animals, that go way beyond the more common ones like the Lochness Monster, el Chupacabra, and Bigfoot. These urban legends usually have something to do with danger or bad luck, which makes it a good thing that they seem to be legends.

The Big Cats of Britain

Stories of the “big cats” terrorizing the countryside of Britain have been around since the 1800’s, and there’s been just enough real life crossover to make people believe all the stories. Many people claim to have seen the cats over the years, but many of them have never been properly identified and nothing much ever happens when they are seen besides that some sheep have perished in their wake. The thing is, that there have been some confirmed cases of finding Eurasian lynxes and pumas out there, so people have to wonder if there could be more.

The Alligators in the New York Sewers

As the story goes, wealthy people used to bring back cute baby alligators from their vacations and then proceeded to flush them down the toilet when they threatened to get too big for those New York living quarters. From there the story goes that the alligators survived the trip into the sewer and made it home. Experts say it’s unlikely that they would survive, but some people who work down there have claimed to see them with their own eyes. Alligator hunts have turned up with nothing.

The Black Dog of the Hanging Hills

Connecticut has it’s own black dog legend as well. This one supposedly hangs out in the hanging hills and is good luck to see a single time, bad luck to see twice, and three times is supposedly an omen of death. Six fatalities over the years have been blamed on the dog, although the dog supposedly leaves no footprints nor makes any sounds.

The Legend of the Albatross

There are superstitions about sailors that killing the albatross bird could bring about some really bad luck, and some people even believed that the birds contained the souls of people who died at sea. However there have actually been quite a lot of sailors who killed the birds to eat them and clearly did not believe in the superstition, and most of them ended up just fine.