Sources in the Strangest Places

When islands break away from mainlands or are created by vomiting volcanic action in the sea, the life that develops there tends to do weird things. Big animals tend to shrink and tiny animals tend to grow. And this I mean in large-swath explanations. But check this out...have you heard about this?

Between five and ten thousand years ago the dwarf-pachyderms of Crete and possibly other Aegean and Mediterranean islands died out, or were hunted to extinction by enterprising humans. These elephants experienced what tends to happen to large animals on islands, as they saw their average size diminish relative to their African and Indian counterparts.

So, while the elephants themselves disappeared, their skeletons and fossils did not, and, it appears, were found by and subsequently inspired later humans. Check out a skull:

That large hole in the center of the skull is where the air intake would be for the animal's trunk. But, if you were a knowledgeable human at the time, you could be forgiven if you thought it resembled an eye-socket.

Hence: the legend of the cyclops looks to have originated with the skulls of newly extinct dwarf elephants.

How cool is that?