Dire wolves actually existed, living up to 10,000 years ago before going extinct.
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The chocobo in Final Fantasy was based on a real creature called a “Gastornis” that existed 45 million years ago.
3
Scientists have revived a flowering plant from a fruit stored away in permafrost by Arctic ground squirrel 32,000 years ago.
16
The site where the Parthenon was built had to be cleared of hundreds of dinosaur bones (then called giants' bones) before construction could begin.
13