I have a fortress going on twenty-one years now. Digging a huge circular pit in a 5x5 embark. Down 12 levels and digging deeper (modified gen parameters to add 20 levels above first cavern). Recently had a funny/sad event.
I had pen'd a giant eagle and a couple giant cougars along with a bunch of other animals on the surface outside the pit that had been 'donated' by an elven hippie caravan that 'mysteriously' encountered a goblin siege when the gate leading to the trade depot 'failed' to raise.
Just after the cougars had cubs (woohoo!), a minotaur showed up to ... throw a baby shower? It first encountered the giant eagle. I was hoping it would survive, but despite a good show, didn't. The giant cougars then got into the act and all the moose and camel ran away. The cougars caused a couple wounds and the minotaur started running away. Impossible! Yes... she turned back and charged one of the giant cougars. This series when on for a good half hour (No... I didn't send my military in). The log
showed the minotaur dodging the cougars attacks quite a lot, but it seemed anytime the minotaur got hit it would flee for a few tiles then turn around. Eventually she got an excellent hit and obliterated the skull of one of the cougars (the female unfortunately). The other giant cougar had been severely injured and excused himself from the party a few minutes before.
I figured enough was enough and now was time to introduce my military to a more challenging foe than the squishy goblins and humans (who had taken offense at getting one of their law-givers skewered by a goblin spear) they had been training with. So out of the pit they rush, and the first hammerdwarf to reach the minotaur caused it to explode into quite a few minotaur pieces. Very anti-climactic. I was hoping for an epic fight with at least a few casualties.
I lost a giant eagle, a female giant cougar, to a silly minotaur, and all I got was a couple peeved dwarfs who didn't like their 'long' military duty (like a few game days, I think, cause it took them that long to climb out of the pit). On an up note... I did save the three giant cougar cubs! Two girls and a male. Yay!
-- Edit to fix formatting... doh!