Animal Mythology

Animals in Mythology

Since the beginning of human history, people have lived in close contact with animals—usually as hunters and farmers—and have developed myths and legends about them. All kinds of creatures, from fierce leopards to tiny spiders, play important roles in mythology. A myth can give special meaning or extraordinary qualities to common animals such as frogs and bears. However, other creatures found in myths—many-headed monsters, dragons, and unicorns—never existed in the real world.

Animals may serve as stand-ins for humans or human characteristics, as in the African and Native American trickster tales or the fables of the Greek storyteller Aesop. In some legends, animals perform heroic deeds or act as mediators between heaven and earth. They may also be the source of the wisdom and power of a shaman.

Animals often have a dualistic quality in mythology. They can be helpful to humans or harmful—sometimes both. They provide people with food, but at the same time, they can be dangerous. As sources and symbols, animals represent the mystery and power of the natural world, which can create or destroy.

Native American Animal Legends

Native Animal Mythology and Meaning In Various Tribes

Native American Indian Animals of Myth and Legend

Books of Native American Animal Myths

Native American Animal Legends

Badger Stories

Buffalo Stories

Buffalo (also known as bison) play an important role in Native American folklore, particularly the folklore of Plains Indian tribes. Buffalo were one of the most important food sources for Plains tribes, but they were hard to hunt in the days before guns and horses, so there were many rituals, dances, and prayers in Plains Indian tribes related to the difficult and dangerous but life-sustaining art of buffalo hunting. In many Plains Indian myths, buffalo gave themselves up willingly as a food source for humans, and therefore have a special position of honor and respect.

Animal stories about buffalo

Coyote Stories

Eagle Stories

Fox Stories

Foxes are common clan animals in many Native American cultures. Tribes with Fox Clans include the Creek (whose Fox Clan is named Tsulalgi or Culvlke,) the Menominee, and the Hopi. In the Hopi tribe, fox skins are also used as dance regalia by kachina dancers and as kiva adornments during ceremonies. The Kit Fox Society (also known as the Swift Fox Warriors) was one of the major warrior societies of the Blackfoot tribe and is still an important organization today.

Animal stories about foxes

Rabbit Stories

Rabbit is a trickster animal in most of the southeastern Native American tribes, and occasionally in some of the northeastern tribes as well. The Great Lakes Algonquian hero Nanabozho is also associated with rabbits and is sometimes referred to as the Great Hare (although he himself has the form of a human man except for one appearance as a rabbit spirit when he was a child.) In many Mexican and Central American tribes, rabbits are symbols of fertility; in Aztec mythology rabbits were associated with pulque (a type of traditional alcoholic beverage) and with drunkenness and promiscuity.

Animal stories about rabbits

Raven Stories

In the mythology of many Northwest Indian tribes, Raven is honored as a culture hero. He is a revered and benevolent transformer figure who helps the people and shapes their world for them, but at the same time, he is also a trickster character and many Raven stories have to do with his frivolous or poorly thought out behavior causing trouble for him and the people around him. Raven is noted for negative traits such as gluttony, greed, and impatience as well as for his heroism and great deeds.

Animal stories about ravens

Animal stories about skunks

Skunks often play the role of monsters in Native American legends. Skunk’s spray is usually said to have been fatal in the distant past, but after his defeat by a hero or other animals, becomes merely annoying. Some tribes did not eat skunks because of a superstitious belief that skunk meat was poisonous (which is not actually true; people in other tribes ate skunk meat with no ill effects.) Crossing paths with a skunk was considered bad luck in some tribes, and skunks were sometimes even associated with evil sorcery. But in some southeastern tribes, such as the Muskogee Creek, skunks are admired for their stalwart self-defense and usually appear in folktales defending themselves and their families from threats or taking justifiable revenge on other animals who have behaved badly. The Cherokee ascribed medicine powers to skunks and believed that a skunk’s odor can ward off disease, so during times of plague, dead skunks were sometimes hung over people’s doorways!

Skunk Stories

Snake Stories

Snakes are one group of animals that are thought poorly of in many different Native American tribes. Snakes are associated with violence and revenge in many North American cultures, and rarely with any positive qualities. An exception is the Pueblo tribes of the Southwest, where snakes are revered, as they are in many parts of Mexico. Kingsnakes are also considered sacred in some California Indian cultures.

Animal stories about rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes tend to be viewed negatively in Native American cultures, frequently associated with violence and revenge. In some tribes rattlesnakes were viewed as both powerful and dangerous, and were associated with witchcraft. In other tribes they enforce taboos, and children are warned not to break rules or customs because rattlesnakes may bite them. In legends, rattlesnakes sometimes appear as divine punishment to wreak vengeance on sinful people or their families, or as agents of an angry witch. In the mythology of some southwestern tribes, Rattlesnake was the first creature to bring death into the world by means of its poison, although usually the snake was described as either defending itself from attacks or avenging itself for past abuse.

Animal stories about snakes

Wolf Stories

Names of Native American Wolf Gods and Spirits

Jiibayaabooz (Anishinabe)

Kweo Kachina (Hopi)

Malsum (Wabanaki)

Moqwaio (Menominee)

Pia’isa (Shoshone)

Rou-garou (Metis)

Tivaci (Chemehuevi)

Animal stories about wolves

Wolves figure prominently in the mythology of nearly every Native American tribe. In most Native cultures, Wolf is considered a medicine being associated with courage, strength, loyalty, and success at hunting. Like bears, wolves are considered closely related to humans by many North American tribes, and the origin stories of some Northwest Coast tribes, such as the Quileute and the Kwakiutl, tell of their first ancestors being transformed from wolves into men. In Shoshone mythology, Wolf plays the role of the noble Creator god, while in Anishinabe mythology a wolf character is the brother and true best friend of the culture hero. Among the Pueblo tribes, wolves are considered one of the six directional guardians, associated with the east and the color white. The Zunis carve stone wolf fetishes for protection, ascribing to them both healing and hunting powers.

Grandmother Woodchuck

One thing I love about Algonquin mythology is how the natural world and the human world interact in one big social system. A woman marries a bear and gives birth to his son, who turns out to be human. Two weasel sisters (who live as if they were human) accidentally marry two stars. A powerful wizard, who is a partridge, battles the evil porcupine sorcerers who killed his water-spirit wife. Underlying these myths is the assumption that all creatures are basically the same, and therefore deserving of our respect.

One of my favorite beings in these stories is Grandmother Woodchuck. She’s the grandmother of Glooskap, a culture hero among the Wabanaki tribes. Glooskap reminds me a little bit of Hercules, since he’s always fighting monsters and making the world safe for humans. There’s a little bit of Merlin in him as well, because he’s a powerful magician. But really he’s a unique being in his own right. Unlike Hercules or Merlin, he’s a trickster, purely good-hearted, and more than a little naive. Despite all his powers, he often makes dumb mistakes.

Grandmother Woodchuck is always there to help him fix those mistakes. In one story, Glooskap ties up the giant eagle who creates the world’s winds, and doesn’t untie him until his grandmother points out that the world will become hot, stagnant and uninhabitable without wind. In another, Glooskap captures all the world’s animals in a magic bag woven from woodchuck hair. He only lets them go when Grandmother Woodchuck points out that everyone else will starve to death with no game to hunt.

As we approach Groundhog Day, it’s nice to know that other cultures recognize the wisdom of this magical creature, because woodchuck is just another name for a groundhog. The word comes from the Algonquin word “wojak.”

Many myths explore relationships between humans and animals. People may talk with animals, fight them, or even marry them. Sometimes animals perform services for humans, such as guiding them through the underworld or helping them complete tasks. One large group of myths involving animals concerns transformations, or changes, between the human and animal states. Other myths focus on the close connection between people and animals.

Native American Animal Gods and Spirits

Animal stories about polar bears

The polar bear is little-known among Native American tribes (only the coastal Cree communities live in areas where polar bears are normally encountered in the wild), but they are well-known and of great cultural importance to the Inuit (“Eskimo”) people of northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. According to Inuit traditions, it was Polar Bear who first taught humans the art of seal hunting. Polar bears are greatly respected for their strength, courage, and spiritual power, and Inuit angakkuit (shamans) frequently call upon the spirit of the polar bear. Like other spiritually powerful animals, polar bears frequently shape-shift into human form and back in Inuit mythology, putting on a white bear coat to take on their ursine form.

Animal stories about bears

Bear Stories

Native American mythologies describe a time in the past when the boundaries between people and animals were less sharply drawn and beings changed form (known as shape shifting) freely. Bears were especially close to humans, and in some Native American stories, bears appear as humans wearing coats made of bearskins. The Tsimshian people of the northwestern coast of the United States tell about Asdiwal, a young man who follows a white bear up a mountain to the sky. He discovers that the beast is actually a beautiful woman dressed in a bear skin, and he marries her.

Mooin, the Bear’s Child

Legend of the Bear Clan

The Boy That Almost Turned Into A Bear

How Bear Became Keeper of the Medicines

Iroquois Creation Myth

Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. However one day one of the Sky Women realized she was going to give birth to twins. She told her husband, who flew into a rage. In the center of the island there was a tree which gave light to the entire island since the sun hadn’t been created yet. He tore up this tree, creating a huge hole in the middle of the island. Curiously, the woman peered into the hole. Far below she could see the waters that covered the earth. At that moment her husband pushed her. She fell through the hole, tumbling towards the waters below.

Water animals already existed on the earth, so far below the floating island two birds saw the Sky Woman fall. Just before she reached the waters they caught her on their backs and brought her to the other animals. Determined to help the woman they dove into the water to get mud from the bottom of the seas. One after another the animals tried and failed. Finally, Little Toad tried and when he reappeared his mouth was full of mud. The animals took it and spread it on the back of Big Turtle. The mud began to grow and grow and grow until it became the size of North America.

Then the woman stepped onto the land. She sprinkled dust into the air and created stars. Then she created the moon and sun.

The Sky Woman gave birth to twin sons. She named one Sapling. He grew to be kind and gentle. She named the other Flint and his heart was as cold as his name. They grew quickly and began filling the earth with their creations.

Sapling created what is good. He made animals that are useful to humans. He made rivers that went two ways and into these he put fish without bones. He made plants that people could eat easily. If he was able to do all the work himself there would be no suffering.

Flint destroyed much of Sapling’s work and created all that is bad. He made the rivers flow only in one direction. He put bones in fish and thorns on berry bushes. He created winter, but Sapling gave it life so that it could move to give way to Spring. He created monsters which his brother drove beneath the Earth.

Eventually Sapling and Flint decided to fight till one conquered the other. Neither was able to win at first, but finally Flint was beaten. Because he was a god Flint could not die, so he was forced to live on Big Turtle’s back. Occasionally his anger is felt in the form of a volcano.

The Iroquois people hold a great respect for all animals. This is mirrored in their creation myth by the role the animals play. Without the animals’ help the Sky Woman may have sunk to the bottom of the sea and earth may not have been created.

Release of the Wild Animals

Zanesville Animal Massacre Included 18 Rare Bengal Tigers

The massacre began Tuesday evening when sheriff deputies arrived at a notorious wild animal preserve in Zanesville, Ohio, to see Bengal tigers, lions, bears and other ferocious animals wandering away, some headed for the highway.

Fearing the animals would scatter and terrorize the town, officers began dispatching the wildlife with their pistols.

“These animals were on the move and were showing aggressive behavior,” said Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz.

“There were some very close calls,” the sheriff said. At times it was “almost hand to hand” combat with the animals, Lutz said.

“These are 300 pound Bengal tigers that we had to put down,” he said.

During the night of chaos, an escaped lion killed a monkey, and bears and lions were charging at horses kept at the preserve, he said.

When the carnage was over, 49 animals were slaughtered, including 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, six black bears, a pair of grizzlies, three mountain lions, two wolves and a baboon.

View Photos of the Exotic Animals Warning: photos of the slain animals are graphic.

The animals had been released by Terry Thompson, the owner of the preserve, who then killed himself, Lutz said.

“These killings were senseless. For our guys to have to do this, it was nonsense, it was crazy,” the sheriff said.

ABC News’ wildlife expert Jack Hanna, who advised Lutz during the crisis, said it was especially heartbreaking to see so many Bengal tigers killed when they are on the verge of extinction. But the actions by the police saved a catastrophe, he said.

A vet shot one tiger with a tranquilizer from 15 yards away and Lutz said it “just went crazy,” and started to run, so officers were forced to shoot it with lethal ammunition. Another animal that got away, described as a big cat, was hit by a car on a highway some distance away, he said.

One animal, a macaque monkey, is still missing and Lutz said it is “highly likely” that it is infected with herpes B virus.

Herpes B isn’t dangerous to monkeys, but “it’s very dangerous for humans,” said Dr. Barb Wolfe, Director of Conservation Medicine at Ohio wildlife conservatory The Wilds.

When passed to humans the rare disease can lead to deadly brain infections, according to the National Primate Research Center in Wisconsin.

Wolfe urged the public not to approach the monkey and to call 911 if it’s spotted.

During the chaos, several individuals were arrested for attempting to steal the carcass of a lion that had been killed.

Six animals were still in their cages on the 73-acre spread, and Thompson’s wife returned to find at least 30 of her animals lying dead on the ground.

“She’s in a state of shock right now obviously,” Hanna said. “She cried on my shoulder and said please don’t take my family.”

The remaining living animals — a grizzly bear, three leopards and two monkeys — are being taken to the Columbus Zoo.

“We’ll be passing a law here very shortly that she’ll have to adhere to as well as the other people in Ohio,” Hanna said. “It sometimes takes things like this to make things better.”

Thompson, 61, was recently released from prison after serving one year on federal weapons charges. According to investigators he has been cited in the past for animal abuse and neglect.

Lutz described Thompson as “a guy who kind of kept to himself, was always willing to push the envelope a little bit.”

“We feel that Mr. Thompson died from a self-inflicted wound. We also feel he had released these animals at some point. Not only were the gates open but some of the pens were open,” Lutz said.

Zanesville Animal Massacre

Hanna said he “can see this happening,” based on his knowledge about the animal world.

“The guy was depressed and he loved the animals that much, maybe,” Hanna said.

Lutz said the Sheriff’s department has been aware of animal farm for several years, and that it “has been a huge problem.”

Hanna described the conditions as “abominable,” saying the animals were living in “filth.”

During the hunt to find all 56 animals, the Ohio State Highway Patrol had cordoned off seven square miles near Interstate 70 and officers used infrared devices during the night to find the animals.

On “Good Morning America” today Hanna said that in controlling this situation human life and animal life must both be considered, as does timing of capture.

“Human life has to come first but that’s what we have to look for. We have to take care of our animal life. You cannot tranquilize an animal at night. It’s hard enough during the daytime,” Hanna said.

Danielle White, one of Thompson’s neighbors, said that she saw a lion in the area in 2006.

“It’s always been a fear of mine knowing [the preserve’s owner] had all those animals,” she said. “I have kids. I’ve heard a male lion roar all night.”

Thompson has been warned repeatedly over the last decade to get his animals under control – and no less than 30 times in the past year. He was arrested in April of 2005 for cruelty and torture of cattle and bison he had on his property, according to the website pet-abuse.com.

He was charged with one count of having an animal at large, two counts of rendering animal waste and one count of cruelty to animals.

Myths, legends, and folktales often highlight the close links between people and animals. West Africans and Native Americans, for example, believe that each person has a magical or spiritual connection to a particular animal that can act as a guardian, a source of wisdom, or an inspiration. Among the Plains Indians of North America, individuals had to discover their spirit animal through a mystical experience called a vision quest. Some Native American religions in Central America include nagualism, the idea that each person’s life is linked to an animal or object called a nagual. If the nagual is hurt or killed, the person suffers or dies. One myth says that the naguals fought on the side of the Native Americans against the invading Spanish centuries ago. Traditional African religions had secret societies in which men believed they took on a leopard’s strength by performing rituals that involved wearing leopard skins.

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