Nian beast, an animal without literature. And on new year's eve, he appeared with another unknown monster, the evening beast. From this perspective, these two animals were actually invented by people.
However, when it comes to fabrication, generally speaking, there must be a prototype, can't it appear out of thin air? Of course, there are no monsters named after "Nian" or "Xi", but can folk traditions drive away other things that affect life? It shows that these animals are a threat to human life, but they can't be killed, so they have to drive them away with what they are afraid of.
Did wild animals really harass humans in winter in ancient times? In fact, this is very likely to happen. Due to the lack of food in ancient winter, animals are likely to venture out of their normal habitats and come to human territory to find food. After all, the ancient winter was several times colder than now, and many animals starved to death because they could not eat food. So first of all, migration, wintering and hibernation are excluded. Secondly, seeing that it will be scared away by firecrackers proves that its hearing is actually very good. Third, if it really poses a threat to people, it should be an animal that lives in the mountains, and it is not small. Because if you lived in the plain, you would have been surrounded by farmers who expanded their farmland. How can we have a good New Year? If it is a small pest such as a mouse, people will generally deal with it directly, not drive it away. Therefore, summing up the standards of not hibernating, hearing well, living in the mountains and not being too young, there is one animal that is most suspected-primates. And this kind of animal, especially when it needs to be expelled as a monster, has a general name of * * * in China ancient literature-Mandrill.