The manticore is a fearsome half-beast half-human, with sharp quills like a porcupine. Fortunately, you're not likely to see a manticore anywhere outside a dream or mythology book, because it's a made-up monster. There are many such creatures in mythology, like a griffin that has a lion’s head and eagle wings, or an Egyptian sphinx with a human head and a lion’s body. But if you see a toothy, man-headed, lion-bodied guy with a sharp tail, it’s a manticore.