A manticore has a body of a lion and a face resembling a bearded human and about the size of a cougar. Their tail contains barbs that some say can shoot out like arrows. They are voracious killers and eat their victims whole ~ bones and all. They use to be found only in Persia, but have since been documented in the jungles of Brazil and Indonesia and on isolated accounts in the forest of North America and Europe. The manticore has a melodious call sounding like a lower end flute teamed with a trumpet, but animals know that call and run.
* photo courtesy of Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide