User blog comment:Lord Loss/Monster Appreciation Day: Arzuros/@comment-84.228.25.155-20130319090831/@comment-84.228.116.238-20130320203115

I'm thinking that the most of the monsters are based on particular animals but, they're altered to resemble monsters which makes figuring out wtat the base animal much more difficult. Some examples that I managed to figure out:

Rathalos,Rathian -> Eagles

Tigrex-> Tiger

Nargacuga-> Leopard or Jaguar

Lagiacrus-> Crocodile.