A Manticore is a beast Persian/Greek Mythology. That beast is said to have the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and a scarlet (red) human face, for well, a face. Though some depict a manticore having wings like that of a dragon, some others don't.
There are likely three reasons for that myth being started, those being tigers, control, and explainations.
The reason of tigers comes from the fact that the storywriters and emporers don't want their citizens to get eathen by tigers, so they tell of manticores, that idea came from a Greek author by the name of Pausanias. The reason of control is by turning people away from curiosity coming from the forests. Finally, explinations come from the fact that people would have to explain why some people went randomly missing, so some people, like the emperor, would say,"Manticores!"
So, as many may realize, a Manticore is in fact, an animal! That means it obviously has to eat, so it hunts. And according to stories, Manticores have an irrational hunger, and also according to the same stories, they hunt in an odd way.
Manticores would hunt primarily by using their tails. They would either stab you with their highly poisonous stinger or shoot the stingers at you (yes, they regrow). Both, though, ultimatly result in you being paralyzed and eaten alive. Another tactic is where they would hide their body in bushes and pretend to be a helpless human, then when you go close, you became cat food. Although they had claws that can cut through many things, they hardly ever used them. They also had EXTREMLY FAST speed and could outrun anything, even though they never chased their prey.