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== Post-medieval natural history == [[File:Animal drawings collected by Felix Platter, p2 - (45).jpg|thumb|right|A manticore and a [[crocotta]]. Prepared for [[Felix Platter]]'s ''Historiae animalium'' (1551β1558).]] [[File:ManticoraTHoFFB1607.png|thumb|right|Woodcut from [[Edward Topsell]]'s ''The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes'' (1607)<ref>{{harvp|White [1954]|1984|p=48}} Fig. "The Mantichora".</ref>{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"|Topsell (1658) is a two volume in one reprint, with the "Β§ Mantichora" text and woodcut reprinted in pp. 343β345<ref name="topsell1658"/>}}]] [[Edward Topsell]], in 1607, described the manticore as: {{blockquote|bred among the Indians, having a treble rowe of teeth beneath and above, whose greatnesse, roughnesse, and feete are like a Lyons, his face and eares like unto a mans, his eies grey, and collour red, his taile like the taile of a Scorpion of the earth, armed with a sting, casting forth sharp pointed quills, his voice like the voice of a small trumpet or pipe, being in course as swift as a Hart; His wildnes such as can never be tamed, and his appetite is especially to the flesh of man. His body like the body of a Lyon, being very apt both to leape and to run, so as no distance or space doth hinder him,.. <!--and I take it to bee the same Beast which [[Avicenna|Avicen]] calleth ''Marion'', and ''Maricomorion'', with her taile she woundeth her Hunters whether they come before her or behind her, and presently when the quils are cast forth, new ones grow up in their roome, wherewithal she overcommeth all the hunters: and although India be full of divers ravening beastes, yet none of them are stiled with a title of ''Andropophagi'', that is to say, Men-eaters; except onely this ''Mantichora''. When the Indians take a Whelp of this beast, they all to bruise the buttockes and taile thereof, that so it may never be fit to bring sharp quils, afterwards it is tamed without peril.-->{{Refn|{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Topsell |author-link=Edward Topsell |title=The Historie of Foure-footed Beasts |location=London |year=1607 |page=442 }}, quoted from this edition (partly omitted in middle) by Diekstra (1998).<ref name="diekstra1998"/>}}{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}}}} Topsell thought the manticore was described by other names elsewhere. He thought that it was the "same Beast which [[Avicenna|Avicen]] calleth ''Marion'', and ''Maricomorion''" and also, the same as the "''Leucrocuta'', about the bigness of a [[Asinus|wilde Ass]], being in legs and Hoofs like a [[Hart (deer)|Hart]], having his mouth reaching on both sides to his ears, and the head and face of a female like unto a [[Badger|Badgers]]".<!--Presumably Topsell meant female woman with badger-like resemblance (since he is equating it witha a manticore), It seems unlikely he is calling upon the reader to recognize the distinction between female and male badger, which would require considerable field guide expertise.-->{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}}{{sfnp|White [1954]|1984|p=48n}} And Topsell wrote that in India they would "bruise the buttockes and taile" of the whelp or cub they captured, causing it to be incapable of using its quills, thus removing the danger.{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}} This differs somewhat from the original sources which stated that they would crush the tail with stone to make them useless.
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