manticore

thumb|Manticore or "Martigora" ― Johannes Jonston (1652), Historiae NaturalisCopperplate engraving by Matthäus Merian.

The manticore or mantichore (Latin: mantichorās; reconstructed Old Persian: ; Modern ) is a legendary creature from ancient Persian mythology, similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in Western European medieval art as well. It has the face of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion or a tail covered in venomous spines similar to porcupine quills. There are some accounts that the spines can be launched like arrows. It eats its victims whole, using its three rows of teeth, and leaves no bones behind.