I have to point to Robert Krulwich's blog post, "Killer Storks Eat Human Babies", about the giant extinct Maribou stork relatives of Flores.
When the discovery of those stork bones was reported last month, the British tabloids went carnivore-crazy. The headline writers assumed (why not?) these birds ate people. "Giant Stork 'preyed on Flores hobbits,'" cried The Telegraph. "Stork that ate babies," said The Independent "rather than delivering them." The headlines suggested that human babies had been standard birdy breakfasts — a powerful image, for sure...
He doesn't take the story seriously, and has Brian Switek explain the total lack of any evidence that hobbits were crushed in stork crops. Anyway, the pictures are delightful. For example:
Oh, yes. But I have a better one:
I got this one from David Frayer last year, and haven't really had an occasion to use it. I suppose we can call it an origin myth.
