Editing Folk memory (section)

===Species===
* [[Māori people|Māori]] legends of a man-eating bird, known variously as the [[Pouākai]], [[Hakawai (mythology)|Hokioi]], or [[Hakawai (mythology)|Hakawai]] are commonly believed to recount [[Haast's eagle]], a giant predatory bird that became extinct with the [[moa]] only 600 years ago.<ref>{{cite news
  | last =  Rodgers
  | first = Paul
  | title = Maori legend of man-eating bird is true
  | work = The Independent
  | date = 14 September 2009
  | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/maori-legend-of-maneating-bird-is-true-1786867.html
  | access-date = 14 September 2009 }}</ref> Opposing claims have been made that associate the Hokioi and Hakawai with the [[Local extinction|extirpated]] [[Coenocorypha]] snipe.<ref name="Miskelly">{{cite journal |last=Miskelly |first=C. M. |year=1987 |title=The identity of the hakawai |journal=Notornis |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=95–116 |url=http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_34_2.pdf |access-date=2012-01-01 |archive-date=2012-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118213655/http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_34_2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Mapinguari]] legends of a giant sloth-like creature that corresponds with the [[Megatherium]], which has been extinct for 10,000 years.<ref>Oren, David C. "Did Ground Sloths Survive to Recent Times in the Amazon Region?," ''Edentata'' (1993) p. 1-11</ref>
* Legends of the [[bunyip]] within [[Australian Aboriginal mythology]] have been associated with extinct marsupial megafauna such as ''[[Zygomaturus]]'' or ''[[Palorchestes]]''.<ref>Robert Holden(2001) p.90</ref> When shown fossil remains, some Aboriginal peoples identified them as those of the bunyip.<ref name="P.Vikers-Rich, J.M 1991 p.2">P.Vikers-Rich, J.M.Monaghan, R.F.Baird and T.H.Rich (eds) (1991)''Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia''. p.2. Pioneer Design Studio and Monash University. {{ISBN|0-909674-36-1}}.</ref>
* Descriptions of the'' mihirung paringmal'' among Western Victorian Aboriginal peoples correspond to the extinct giant birds the [[Dromornithidae]].<ref name="P.Vikers-Rich, J.M 1991 p.2"/>
* A [[Noongar people|Noongar]] Aboriginal story from [[Perth, Western Australia]], has been interpreted as referring to the extinct giant monitor lizard [[Megalania]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perthnow.com.au/giant-monitor-lizard-megalania-monstered-wa-aborigines/story-fna7dq6e-1111112869830|title=Noongar story reveals 'dragon'|work=perthnow.com.au}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/Files/Joondalup_Mooro_Boodjar_Brochure.pdf |title=Joondalup Mooro Boodjar |access-date=2018-09-25}}</ref>
* Legends throughout Eurasia describing creatures such as the [[unicorn]] may have been based upon [[Elasmotherium]], a rhinoceros believed to have been extinct for up to 50,000 years.{{original research inline|date=December 2016}}
* The [[Ebu Gogo]] myths of the people of [[Flores]] have been hypothesised to represent ''[[Homo floresiensis]]'', which perhaps became extinct around 10,000 BCE (although the Flores Islanders hold that the Ebu Gogo remained alive 400 years ago).<ref>[[Gregory Forth]] (2005), "Hominids, hairy hominoids and the science of humanity", ''Anthropology Today'' '''21''' no. 3, 13–17.</ref>
* An [[Inuit]] [[string figure]] representing a large creature is identified with the extinct [[woolly mammoth]]<ref>[[T. T. Paterson]] (1949), "Eskimo String Figures and Their Origin", ''Acta Arctica'' 3:1-98.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bruemmer |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Bruemmer |date=February 1974 |volume=83 |title=The Northernmost People |journal=Natural History |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalhistory83newy/page/n159 |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |page=32 |access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bruemmer |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Bruemmer |date=1993 |title=Arctic memories: living with the Inuit |url=https://archive.org/details/arcticmemoriesli0000brue |url-access=registration |publisher=Key Porter Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/arcticmemoriesli0000brue/page/37 37] |isbn=1550134612 |access-date=2015-06-24}}</ref>
* Legends from dozens of Native American tribes have been interpreted by some as indicative of [[Woolly Mammoth]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Strong |first=W. D. |year=1934 |title=North American Indian Traditions Suggesting a Knowledge of the Mammoth |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=81–88 |doi=10.1525/aa.1934.36.1.02a00060 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Scott |first=William Berryman |date=1887 |title=American Elephant Myths |journal=Scribner's Magazine |volume=1 |pages=474–476 |publisher=C. Scribner’s Sons |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/scribnersmag01editmiss/page/n479 |access-date=2019-01-02}}</ref><ref>Records of the Past Exploration Society, “Pre-Indian Inhabitants of North America, Part II, Man and the Elephant and Mastodon”, Records of the Past, (Washington D.C.: [[Records of the Past Exploration Society]], 1907), 164, retrieved online October 2008 at books.google.com/books?id=7_HzBYM-7X4C</ref><ref>{{cite journal | jstor=540573 | pages=293–304 | last1=Lankford | first1=G. E. | title=Pleistocene Animals in Folk Memory | volume=93 | issue=369 | journal=[[The Journal of American Folklore]] | year=1980 | doi=10.2307/540573 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Fossil Legends of the First Americans |last=Mayor |first=Adrienne |year=2005 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |page=97 |isbn=0-691-11345-9}}</ref> One example is from the [[Kaska]] tribe from northern [[British Columbia]]; in 1917 an ethnologist recorded their tradition of: “A very large kind of animal which roamed the country a long time ago. It corresponded somewhat to white men's pictures of elephants. It was of huge size, in build like an elephant, had tusks, and was hairy. These animals were seen not so very long ago, it is said, generally singly, but none have been seen now for several generations. Indians come across their bones occasionally. The narrator said he and some others, a few years ago, came on a shoulder-blade... as wide as a table (about three feet).”  However, the animal in this story was predatory and carnivorous, suggesting the memory of the proboscideans had become conflated with that of other megafauna, such as bears and [[Saber-toothed cat|sabertooths]].<ref>{{cite journal | jstor = 534495 | pages = 427–473 [450–451] | last1 = Teit | first1 = J. A. | title = Kaska tales | volume = 30 | issue = 118 | journal = [[The Journal of American Folklore]] | year = 1917 |url=https://archive.org/stream/kaskatales00teituoft#page/n1/mode/2up | access-date=1 April 2011 | doi = 10.2307/534495 }}</ref><ref>Examples of British Columbia Folklore: [http://www.folklore.bc.ca/Bladderheadboy.htm Bladder-Head Boy (A Kaska Woolly-Mammoth Legend)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114101018/http://www.folklore.bc.ca/Bladderheadboy.htm |date=2012-01-14 }}, (The British Columbia Folklore Society, 2003).</ref>
Even more so than is ordinary for the study of [[history]], the plausible historical connections listed above could be inaccurate due to the difficulty of piecing together [[prehistoric]] or [[preliterate]] fragments of evidence into a meaningful understanding. They must rely on more [[speculation]] to fill in evidence gaps than would be acceptable in another context that provided more rigorous [[Verification and validation|verifiability]] of the records available.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}