Scientific Name: Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis
Status: Critically endangered, loss of habitat and competition from feral cat population
Critically endangered, loss of habitat and competition from feral cat population Japanese folklore is populated with Y?kai, supernatural spirits or creatures. References to spirit felines in writing can be found in some early literature in the 1100’s. The spirit nature of cats is evident in their characteristics, behavior, and the traits that they possess. They slink through the night, and caterwaul with sometimes human-like sounds. Their eyes glint and dilate rapidly to let them see in the dark. They pad silently on wood or dirt, slipping ghostlike through their surroundings until without warning, they pounce on unsuspecting prey with claw and fang.
Nekomata are mysterious feline spirit beasts that dwell in the mountains. They glide along the hidden paths, and hide in the craggy peaks. Some of them can speak, dance, or even disguise and pass as human. If a wanderer finds themselves alone on a mountain path, and a youth or young maid steps out to hail the traveler, they must beware that it might be a shape-changed nekomata. Sometimes they kill and take on the life of a human, only giving themselves away by forgetting to keep to the habits and characteristics of the one they are impersonating.
Since the Edo period there have been beliefs that ancient nekomata were once housecats, who, as they became aged, ran away from their human homes to become feral and powerful spirit creatures.
References:
Opler, M. E. (1945). Japanese folk belief concerning the cat. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 35(9), 269-275. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24530698
Marks, A. (2023). Japanese Yokai and Other Supernatural Beings: Authentic Paintings and Prints of 100 Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Magicians. Japan: Tuttle Publishing. Pg83.
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. (1911). Japan: Asiatic Society of Japan. 61-62.
Visser, M. W. d. (1909). The Dog and the Cat in Japanese Superstition. Japan: Asiatic Society of Japan. 21.
Scientific Name: Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus
Status: Critically Endangered and only one very small population of them in the Andes mountains.
Flitting at high altitudes among the flowers in the remote ranges of the Andes mountains of Ecuador, the blue-throated hillstar hummingbird is a flash of deep blue and green across the landscape.
In a pre-Incan legend in Peru the condor was once king of the skies and messenger to the heavens. It was he who communicated the supplications and prayers to the creator, Viracocha. The condor would take the messages from humans and convey them, but even given this celestial charge, he had never laid eyes upon Viracocha's visage, for he was not permitted to do so.
The hummingbird was a much more unassuming creature than the grand condor, but she had a knowledge of the world gleaned from sipping at the nectar that was the essence of the flowers and plants. She was also a curious and creative little being.
One day the hummingbird stowed away in the condor's feathers as the condor flew with messages to Viracocha. When they came into the heavenly sphere, hummingbird emerged and looked and basked in the radiance of the divine visage, and was transformed and elevated in that moment. Thereafter, condor conceded that while he would be the king and protector of the skies, the hummingbird would take on the mantle of messenger and spiritual guide.
References:
Lopez, V., Star Wolf, L. (2020). Shamanic Mysteries of Peru: The Heart Wisdom of the High Andes. United States: Inner Traditions/Bear.
"Viracocha". Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/Viracocha
Beck, Hans-Martin. "Condor and Hummingbird". Inka World. https://inka-world.com/en/condor-and-hummingbird/
Highfield, Johnathan (2004). "The dreaming quipucamayoq: Myth and landscape in Wilson Harris' The Dark Jester". Atlantic Studies. 1 (2): 196-209.
Turek, Carole. “Legends of the Hummingbird”. Hummingbird Spot https://www.hummingbirdspot.com/legends
Scientific Name: Bunolagus monticularis
Status: Critically Endangered. Diminished food sources. Females only produce one offspring each year, and so they are very slow to grow in population.
The Khoisan of Africa have a tale about the origin of death. The Moon wanted men to know that just as she waxed and waned, was born and died, and would wax and be born again, so too would humans. She sent Hare with this message.
Hare deliberately perverted the message, leaving out the rebirth part, saying, "As I die and perish, so shall you perish." When Moon learned of this, she beat the wayward messenger with a stick, thus giving Hare a cleft lip, and Hare kicked out at Moon and the great gouges from his claws are the dark streaks and spots we see on the moon's surface.
There are many variations of this tale. In one version Moon saw Hare weeping for the death of his mother. To comfort him, she gave him a message of the renewal of life. When Hare contradicted her, Moon struck Hare and confirmed the permanence of death. In other versions, it was a deliberate change to the message on Hare's part, but due to forgetfulness when he stumbled in haste and fell upon his face.
References:
Bascom, W. (1981). Moon Splits Hare's Lip (Nose): An African Myth in the United States. Research in African Literatures, 12(3), 338-349. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3818841
Von furer-Haimendorf, C. (1956). Hans Abrahamsson: The origin of death: Studies in African mythology. (Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia, III.) vii, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Scientific Name: Ozotoceros bezoarticus
Status: Vulnerable in Brazil, as a result of expansion of agriculture, habitat has been greatly reduced
The Tupi people living in the Amazonian jungles of Brazil are wary and respectful of the forest spirit called Anhanga. Anhanga has the form of a white deer with glowing eyes, and is known as the protector of forest life. In particular, she watches over animals with young, and her presence is particularly felt in open country where there is no protective shelter of trees for wildlife to hide.
When a hunter's prey eludes him, or mysteriously vanishes just as it is about to be caught, people say that Anhanga must be protecting the creature. Anhanga is terrifying to behold, and the flame in her eyes drives hunters to madness or fevered delusions.
References:
"Anhanga". Michaelis On-Line (in Brazilian Portuguese).
Figueira, G. (1942). Mythology of the Amazon Country. Books Abroad, 16(1), 8-12. https://doi.org/10.2307/40082369
Smith, H. H. (1879). Brazil, the Amazons and the Coast. United Kingdom: C. Scribner's Sons. 570-586.
Scientific Name: Heritiera fomes
Status: Endangered. While it is common in some places, it has been declining because it has a very restricted range that has been encroached upon for development and farming.
The Sundarbans forest is in the eastern deltas of the Bay of Bengal. Freshwater swamps meet the mangrove forests that edge the sea in a complex tangle of waterways and mudflats. It is home to the Bengal Tiger, as well as many other mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles.
Bonbibi is called the Lady of the Forest, and is protectress of the Sundarbans. She is venerated by both Hindus and Muslims who live within the environs of her forests in eastern India and Bangladesh, and she is the guardian of all the plants and creatures in her domain. She can be protector to those who perform the proper rituals of respect before they set out in a perilous excursion into her terrain. Her lands are treacherous and shaped by the ebb and flow of sea, by weather, and by the cycles of life and death, growth and decay, and filled with predators that are stronger and quicker than humans. Living within her boundaries is to accept those dangers as well as to flourish in the fertile bounty and resources. It is a contrast of the inhospitable yet rich, and an acknowledgment of humankind's small place within that uncertain wilderness.
References:
Uddin, Sufia M. "Religion, Nature, and Life in the Sundarbans." Asian Ethnology, vol. 78, no. 2, 2019, pp. 289-310. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26845329.
J. J. Roy Burman. (1996). Hindu-Muslim Syncretism in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 31(20), 1211-1215. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4404148
Wikramanayake, Eric. "Sundarbans Mangroves", One Earth. https://www.oneearth.org/ecoregions/sundarbans-mangroves/
Scientific Name: Panthera leo leo
Status: Endangered, very small population and only surviving today in India, however population is increasing.
Beautiful, regal, and powerful, lions are symbols of power, strength, loyalty, and leadership. In India, one of the incarnations of Vishnu (preserver and protector) is a Lion God, whose role it is to destroy evil.
Although lions never ranged as far as Southeast Asia, their reputation and legend traveled across to countries whose people would have never laid eyes upon the majestic great cats. Evolving from the Sanskrit word for "lion", the mythical creatures called singha can be found adorning palaces, temples, and guarding over gates. Some singha are like chimera with aspects from both Hindu and Buddhist influence, with wings and a flowing mane that combine the divine eagle aspect of Garuda, and the sinuous nature of a Chinese lung (dragon).
References:
Blurton, T. Richard (1993). Hindu art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
T. A. Gopinatha Rao (1993). Elements of Hindu iconography. Motilal Banarsidass.
Low, J. (1839). On the Government, the Literature, and Mythology, of the Siamese. United Kingdom: J. L. Cox. 40.
Stratton, C., Scott, M. M. (2004). Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand. Thailand: Buppha Press. 350.
Scientific Name: Adalia bipunctata
Status: Endangered due to habitat loss and changes in climate, ladybugs are threatened with extinction. Ladybugs are particularly sensitive to temperature changes, and will die from dehydration if they become overheated. Like most animals, the primary threat to ladybugs is the destruction of their habitat. For a while, the 7 spot ladybug was endanger by introduction of invasive beetle species, but it has since recovered. Two-spot ladybug is still endangered.
An 18th century English nursery rhyme about ladybugs:
Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, Your house is on fire, Your children shall burn!
There are many superstitions linked to this helpful and brightly colored little beetle, and almost all of them look upon ladybugs as omens of fortune. To an agrarian society before the advent of chemical pesticides, the ladybug was (and is) the farmer's best ally, protecting the crops from insects who might have a devastating impact on harvests. As such, in many cultures it is considered unlucky to kill a ladybug, even if accidentally. Farmers sometimes used smoke to rid plants of pests, and this song might have been used to gently urge the friendly ladybirds to depart before the smoke.
References:
Roud Folk Song Index #16215
I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 2nd edn, 1997)
Stuart, Claire. "Truth Behind the Ladybug and the Childhood Rhyme". The Journal, Oct 2014. https://www.journal-news.net/life/home-and-garden/truth-behind-the-ladybug-and-the-childhood-rhyme/article_55498687-26b7-56cf-8aca-b3c863904969.html
Scientific Name: Gopherus agassizii
Status: Endangered, population decreasing due to urban expansion, mining, and diseases introduced by pet tortoises released into the wild.
The creator, called Mastamho by the Mojave people, was descended from the Earth and the Sky. He made people, crafting a son and daughter from his own body and from whom all other people were born. Along the banks of the Colorado River, he made a home for his children, giving them crops to grow: corn, tobacco, and mesquite, and taught them how to plant and tend them.
When Mastamho created other living beings, they were much alike and very similar to humans in appearance. He didn't know what each might specialize in. He had them compete, running, jumping, swimming, and as they did so, he determined which would run on legs, which would fly, and which would swim, and then he went among them all and gave them names: birds, dogs, fish, reptiles.
In Mojave culture, the land and its creatures are revered. The desert tortoise is one of these significant creatures, and features heavily in the song storyscapes that the Mojave tell of their origin, history, travel routes, and celestial events.
The stories tell of Spirit Mountain, from where people first came, and to where they will return upon death. The physical mountain itself is Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, and the mountain and its surrounding areas are sacred to the Mojave as well as a dozen other tribes, and it is home to the desert tortoise.
References:
Bourke, John G. "Notes on the Cosmogony and Theogony of the Mojave Indians of the Rio Colorado, Arizona." The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 2, no. 6, 1889, pp. 169-189. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/534146.
Tindall, Ashley & Polidor, Amberly. "Ward Valley". Sacred Land Film Project, 2008.
Scientific Name: Syrmaticus reevesii
Status: Vulnerable - habitat loss and overhunting for their tail plumes
The Luan bird is one of the celestial birds of Chinese mythology, and akin to the Feng bird (phoenix). In bestiaries and poetry, it is described with the form of a pheasant with five-colored markings, and if sighted, is an omen of good fortune and prosperity. It can be found roosting in the branches of paulownia trees, and its voice is bell-like and harmonious.
A poem written in the 4th century by official Fan Tai told of a King of Jibin who caught a Luan. He wanted very much to hear it sing, but despite his coddling and fondness, while held captive in a cage it grew despondent and would not utter a peep. His wife suggested that perhaps it was because it needed to see another of its kind. The King had a mirror placed by the cage, and when the Luan caught sight of its own reflection, it uttered the most mournful of cries and then died.
Other legends tell of the Luan as the mount for mortals who are transcending into a divine state, and as the mode of transport for the Queen Mother of the West, queen of immortals.
References:
Strassberg, Richard. A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. University of California Press, 2002, plate XI.
Hargett, James M. "Playing Second Fiddle: The Luan-Bird in Early and Medieval Chinese Literature." T'oung Pao, vol. 75, no. 4/5, 1989, pp. 235-262. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4528455.
Mu, Z., Zhan, J. (2020). Handbook of the History of Religions in China I. Germany: Columbia University Press. 74-76.
Scientific Name: Lycaon pictus
Status: Endangered, population declining due to destruction of their habitat in Africa. In Zimbabwe, the country's political and economic climate has resulted in collapse of much of the eco-tourism that supported these animals, and conservation efforts.
The oldest breed of canines is the painted lycaon. They stalk through the savannas of Africa in highly social and familial packs, hunting antelope. They have lived alongside humans for thousands of years but remain undomesticated, avoiding human contact.
In Egypt's Pre-dynastic period, lycaon were found engraved and carved on objects and jewelry. By contrast, in later Ancient Egyptian imagery, domesticated dogs and wild wolves were instead depicted. It is thought that the lycaon imagery symbolized the chaos of the wild, that later was replaced by the tamed and domesticated canine partners of humanity.
In Enno Littmann's Publications of the Princeton Expedition to Abyssinia he recounts a "Tale of the Debbi". The debbi is described as a wild animal, smaller than a dog, and the story he relates is of a man who goes down to a river to fetch water. Before he reached the river, he noticed a great number of animals gathered around, drinking. Suddenly, the debbi approached, and there was a wild scrambling as all the animals, great and small, fled, leaving the debbi to drink alone, and eventually leave.
The man was puzzled by this, and when he wandered down to the river at last, he found a hair of the debbi, which he tucked into his cloak. When he returned to his village, just as the animals had fled from the debbi, his fellow men and women fled from him, and he was frightened and puzzled. At last, a brave man purchased the strange hair from him and created a talisman of it.
It is said that when a man is a great warrior whose enemies fear him, that "he must have the hair of a debbi about him."
References:
Littmann, Enno. "Publications of the Princeton Expedition to the Abyssinia" Volume 2. Late E.J.Brill Ltd. Publishers and Printers, Leyden, 1910.
Baines, J (1993). "Symbolic roles of canine figures on early monuments". Archeo-Nil: Revue de la societe pour l'etude des cultures prepharaoniques de la vallee du Nil.
Hendrickx, S. (2006). The dog, the Lycaon pictus and order over chaos in Predynastic Egypt. [in:] Kroeper, K.; Chodnicki, M. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds.), Archaeology of Early Northeastern Africa. Studies in African Archaeology 9. Pozna?: Poznan Archaeological Museum
Scientific Name: Trichechus inunguis
Status: Vulnerable and decreasing in population. They are slow moving creatures and often are victims of boating collisions during their migrations.
These strange and gentle herbivore mammals have long been thought to be the origin of sailors' stories of glimpsing mermaids. In ancient Greek mythology, sirens were beautiful and deadly creatures who lived in the sea. They looked like women and sang the sweetest of songs. Any sailor who heard their music became lost in the seductive magic. They would abandon their tasks so that their ships would smash into the rocky coasts of the sirens' island.
In the earliest depictions of sirens in Greek art they were shown to have women's heads and a bird's body. In later art, they had female human forms, but bird's legs, and were shown playing instruments and singing. By the tenth century, a Byzantine bestiary claimed sirens were women from the waist up and avian below, and by the Middle Ages they had transformed further into our modern idea of a mermaid with a fish tail from the waist down.
When European explorers came across the dark humanoid forms that slid as shadows beneath their ships, or spied them in the distance basking in the sun, they remembered these ancient myths and their eyes reshaped the unfamiliar forms into that of a siren.
In Tupi mythology in Brazil, Iara is a freshwater mermaid who lives in the rivers of the Amazon Basin. Iara was once a beautiful young woman, but because she was admired and respected by all, her brothers grew envious. Treacherously, they plotted to kill her, but she defended herself and accidentally slew them. For that crime, she was punished and drowned in the river. Her spirit rose up as a mermaid, and beware to those who come to her river unwary, for she seeks revenge. In other tales she is seen as a protector of the waters and the creatures who live beneath the surface.
References:
Figueira, G. (1942). Mythology of the Amazon Country. Books Abroad, 16(1), 8-12. https://doi.org/10.2307/40082369
Homer, Odyssey
Mustard, W. P. (1908). Siren-Mermaid. Modern Language Notes, 23(1), 21-24. https://doi.org/10.2307/2916861
Scientific Name: Phengaris arion
Status: Endangered, unknown factors causing population decrease, possibly pollution, insecticides, collectors. Many species of butterflies that are not currently threatened are under close watch as predicted climate change models put them in danger of sharp population declines.
In the ancient Roman novel by Apuleius, is the tale of the romance of Psyche and Cupid.
Psyche was born a mortal woman who was so beautiful that Venus, goddess of love and beauty, became envious. Other mortals started worshiping Psyche instead of Venus, and so the goddess became wrathful and sent her son Cupid, god of love and desire, to make the mortal girl fall in love with an ugly monster. Instead, Cupid, stunned by her beauty, accidentally pricked himself with his arrows, and fell in love with her.
Told by an oracle that she must be left alone upon a mountain, she was spirited away to live alone, only visited by her invisible bridegroom (Cupid) in the darkness of night. Tempted by her jealous sisters who insisted he remained hidden because he was a monster, she defied her husband's instructions that she must never look upon him. By furtive lamplight as he slept, she discovered it was not some horribly disfigured monster she was married to, but the most beautiful of gods.
As hot oil spilled upon him, Cupid instantly sprang awake and fled from her, and thus Psyche began a series of tasks set upon her by Venus, to win him back. Psyche persisted through grueling labors and eventually won divinity, taking her place at Cupid's side as a goddess.
References:
Apuleius. "Metamorphoses", Book Six. (Ancient Roman novel)
"Psyche", Encyclopedia Britannica, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Psyche-classical-mythology
Edwards, M. J. (1992). The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, 94, 77-94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20188784
Scientific Name: Gymnomyza samoensis
Status: Endangered, declining population endemic to Samoan Islands
The Maori tell of Tane, son of the sky and the earth. Upon first arriving in New Zealand, the ancestors of the Maori found need of a worldview that included more than just the seas that had been their primary experience, but the land as well, and understanding of the mystery of the bush.
When earth and sky lay as lovers in one anothers' embrace, with nothing else but their naked beauty, Tane adorned his father heavens with stars. He looked to his mother and found her bare as well. Tane looked for and found a wife, and their offspring were the trees whose majestic beauty soon graced the earth. He took another wife, and their offspring were all the birds, nourished by the fertility of the forests.
Sometimes Tane is spoken of as being the direct personification of the trees, and they are his actual limbs, supporting the skies, and providing home, berries, and seeds for birds and for men.
References:
Jackson, Jake. "Polynesian Island Myths", Flame Tree Publishing, United Kingdom, 2020.
Best, Elsdon. "Maori Religion and Mythology Part 1". Shearer, A.R, Government Printer, New Zealand, 1976. https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bes01Reli-t1-body-d4-d4-d3.html
Cowan, James. "The Maori: Yesterday and Today". Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1930 Christchurch. https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-CowYest-t1-body-d1-d13.html
Scientific Name: Laminaria hyperborea
Status: Unsustainable commercial harvesting of the kelp beds is harming the ecosystem, as well as rising ocean temperatures and heatwaves, and invasive other seaweed species like Golden kelp that are taking over territory. Kelp forests are major strongholds for ocean life diversity, shelter, and food. Giant kelp whose range is in warmer waters of the Atlantic and Pacific ocean are now listed as an endangered ecological community.
The swaying long fronds of kelp forests are food and shelter for thousands of species of sea life. These forests protect the ocean floor from erosion and the destructive power of storms. Fish dart about and hide in the towering fronds, and invertebrates live and feed at the base, while aquatic mammals and seabirds use the thickets to shelter their young from storms and predators, and to hunt for fish.
Along the Scottish and Irish coastline at low tides, dense beds of Cuvie, or Sea Tangle hug the sea floor. The blades surge with the ebb and flow in the tide, green-brown and glistening with salt spray. It is not uncommon to see seals diving in those tangled forests, or floating buoyed by the fronds. And perhaps if one looked closer it might not be a seal, but a selkie of Celtic lore, one of the seal-people who live dual lives: a seal when in the water, and shedding their skin to take on human form when they are on land.
Folktales often told of men who glimpsed a selkie upon the shore, and coveting her, would steal and hide her skin, or prevent her from entering the water, and thus win her as his reluctant bride. In some of these tales, the union would be a happy one, with children born, and yet the selkie would always feel the sea that was in her blood, and long for a return to the deep cold waves.
References:
Harris, J. M. (2009). Perilous Shores: The Unfathomable Supernaturalism of Water in 19th-Century Scottish Folklore. Mythlore, 28(1/2 (107/108)), 5-25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26815460
Scientific Name: Helarctos malayanus
Status: Vulnerable from heavy deforestation, and illegal hunting for food. Sun bears are imporant to their ecosystems because they are planters. Because they consume so much fruit, they disperse seeds and fertilizer throughout their ranges.
In Vietnamese mythology, the ruler of the divine pantheon was Ong Troi, "Old Man of the Sky". In later times and the spread of Taoism, he became identified with the Jade Emperor. Ong Troi created the land and sea and sky, the rivers and the rain, sun and moon. Afterwards he created the animals and people. He crafted each form and face with the love of an artisan. Among his children are the goddesses of the sun and moon. When he was angry with the world, natural calamities occurred: floods, droughts, and storms.
His older daughter, the sun rooster, bears the sun across the sky. She brings light and life to the world. Her moon sister is the moon swan, and she bears the moon across the sky to bring light to the dark hours. The two were the providers of life and warmth to the earth, for all the cycle of hours of a day. The two sisters share their marriage bed with the bear god. He is a lusty husband, and when a solar or lunar eclipse happens, it is said that the god is with one or the other of his wives.
References:
Wozniak, Edward. "Twenty Vietnamese Gods and Goddesses". Balladeer's Blog, 2020.
Leeming, D. (2005). The Oxford companion to world mythology. Spain: Oxford University Press, USA. 394-395.
Asian Mythologies. (1993). United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press. 225-226.
Scientific Name: Casuarius casuarius johnsonii
Status: Endangered
Large and flightless, the cassowary is an icon of Australia and Papua New Guinea. The Rainforest Aboriginal people have a cultural relationship with the birds, revering them in songs, story, and dance, and respectfully hunting them for food. One of the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories tells of how the cassowary got its unique looking casque atop its head.
Long ago, the animals all lived together. They would gather at watering holes to drink, but cassowary was shy to join because he was self-conscious of his small wings and inability to fly. When the other animals saw and taunted him, he charged in a rage, missing his target and instead bashing his head into a large rock, part of which broke and stuck to his head.
That night, the animals were attacked by snakes, and as cassowary ran into to the fray. When the snakes laughed at his flightless wings, he once again flew into a rage, and charged about, scratching at the snakes and smashing them with his stone-topped head, until the snakes were defeated.
Scientific Name: Gulo gulo
Status: Conservation groups are attempting to get wolverines on the endangered list but struggle against lawmakers. Wolverines are widespread and have a worldwide population, however there are concerns that the currently stable populations will begin to decrease as climate change endangers and diminishes the necessary habitat of boreal forests, alpine and subarctic tundra.
The Innu know Wolverine as Kuekuatsheu, a mischievous trickster whose pranks are sometimes inappropriate but conducted with humor.
In one story it is told that Kuekuatsheu created the world. Long ago, before our world, he built a great boat. All the world was water. He brought two of each animal aboard while a torrential rain poured across the land.
It rained and rained, and when this had continued and all the old was flooded, he instructed Mink to swim down to the bottom and fetch some of the muck and rocks. Mink did so, diving deep and coming back first with some moss, then with some mud in his paws. From this sticky ooze, Kuekuatsheu fashioned an island, and this then became mountains, trees, rivers.
References:
I Dreamed the Animals: Kaneuketat: The Life of an Innu Hunter. (n.d.). (n.p.): Berghahn Books pp 225-226.
Armitage, P. (1991). The Innu (the Montagnais-Naskapi). United States: Chelsea House Publishers.
Native Languages: Kuekuatsheu (Carcajou) http://www.native-languages.org/kuekuatsheu.htm
Scientific Name: Acropora palmata
Status: Critically Endangered. 22 coral species are threatened, and three are endangered. This status continues to change as climate change affects ocean temperatures and pollution increases. Some other threatened corals: Elegance coral, crisp pillow coral, horastrea coral, pillar coral, elliptical star coral, mushroom coral, parasimplastrea coral, pearl bubble coral, ctenella coral.
The ancient Greek myth of Perseus tells of the origin of coral. Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danae, an Argive princess, daughter of Acrisius. Acrisius had been given a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson, and so when Perseus was born, he had child and mother put in a chest and cast out to sea.
Perseus grew up on the island of Seriphus, and in the course of adventures, and aided by Athena's advice and a cleverly mirror-clear shield, he killed and beheaded Medusa, the snake-haired Gorgon, whose gaze turned all who looked upon her to stone. On his way home to Seriphus, Perseus came upon the Ethiopean princess Andromeda, who was being sacrificed to Poseidon. To rescue Andromeda, the hero defeated a great sea monster by using Medusa's head to turn it to stone. The beast shattered and crumbled to vanish as silt and pebbles beneath the ocean waves.
As Perseus set Medusa's head upon the riverbank to wash his hands, some of the blood seeped down sandy channels into the water. Where it touched seaweed, the reeds and fronds hardened to stone as well, frozen as coils and tubes and tendrils. These petrified plants of the Red Sea became the first coral.
References:
Navakas, M. C. (2023). Coral Lives: Literature, Labor, and the Making of America. United States: Princeton University Press.
"Perseus - Greek Mythology", Encyclopedia Britannica, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Perseus-Greek-mythology
Precious Coral and the Legacy of the Coral Road. (2021). United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publisher.
Scientific Name: Bubo philippensis
Status: Vulnerable. Experiencing rapid decline due to deforestation and hunting. Forest conservation is important to maintain the habitat as well as the rodents and amphibians on which it feeds.
In the pantheon of the Visayan people of the Philippines, is the omniscient diwata Dalikmata. The goddess is depicted as a beautiful woman, with thousands of eyes on her body, each of which is gifted with clairvoyance. She sees the past, present, and future, and she sees each person and knows all actions. At night she weeps for the ill actions that she sees humans doing to one another. It is said that the dew drops on the plants in the morning are the tears that she has shed, and that these tears can be a powerful ingredient for medicines.
As an intermediary between the human and spirit world, she takes her charge of watching over human souls seriously, and so she put eyes on the wings of a butterfly to remind humans of goodness during the day, and she set the eagle-owl to watch over the night.
References:
Goddesses and their Animals". Department of Languages and Literature, University of San Carlos, Philippines, Jurnal Kajian Linguistik dan Sastra, 4 (1), Juni 2019.
Philippiniana Sacra. (2002). Philippines: University of Santo Tomas..
Luzvimind. "Dalikamata". Visayan Mythologies. http://vizayanmyths.blogspot.com/2013/08/dalikamata.html
Hosalla, Mari. "8 Philippine mythological creatures reimagined". CNN Philippines. http://www.cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2018/10/16/Philippine-mythological-creatures.html
Scientific Name: Tachypleus tridentatus
Status: Endangered, due to habitat loss - sea level rise and coastal erosion, and over-harvesting for biomedical use. They are harvested because their blue colored blood is critical for testing of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Their blood contains a unique substance that coagulates when contaminated by bacteria.
Horseshoe crabs are "living fossils", unchanged for millions of years as other creatures evolved and died and sprang forth and the world churned and changed. Despite a span of over 400 million years, the four modern species are still nearly identical to their ancient counterparts.
In Japan, the horseshoe crab is called "kabutogani": warrior's helmet crab. A kabuto is a helmet that was worn by ancient Japanese warriors, and was part of the traditional armor worn by samurai. Horseshoe crabs were said to be the reincarnation of samurai warriors who fought at battles along the shores of Japan.
References:
Gershwin, L. (2014). Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean. United Kingdom: University of Chicago Press.
Sadler, A. L. "The Heike Monogatari", Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. 46.2 (1918)
Bryant, Anthony J. (1991). Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Angus McBride, Ill. Osprey Publishing.
"'Living Fossil' Crabs Mysteriously Dying in Japan", Phys.org, Sept 2016. https://phys.org/news/2016-09-fossil-crabs-mysteriously-dying-japan.html
Scientific Name: Rafetus swinhoei
Status: Critically endangered. Once widespread in the freshwaters of China and Vietnam, they are near extinction due to loss of habitat and hunting. There are only a few individuals left.
Vietnamese legend:
In the fifteenth century, Le Loi became emperor of Vietnam by rising against the Ming Dynasty and driving them out of the country. Breaking the chains of that thousand-year-rule was the beginning of the establishment of his own Le Dynasty.
Legend says that the deity, the Dragon King, provided Le Loi assistance in the form of a magical sword called Heavens' Will. Upon Le Loi's victory, the Dragon King sent an emissary, the Great Turtle God, called Kim Qui, to retrieve the sword.
Le Loi gratefully handed over the divine weapon to Kim Qui, and the spot where this exchange occurred became called "The Lake of the Returned Sword".
To this day, some of the last survivors of a critically diminishing population of soft-shell turtles inhabit that lake, and they are seen as being the mortal incarnations of the Great Turtle God.
References:
Hance, Jeremy. "Killing gods: The last hope for the world's rarest reptile". Mongabay, News & Inspiration from Nature's Frontline, Jan 2020. https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/killing-gods-the-last-hope-for-the-worlds-rarest-reptile/
WorldCat Entities Le Loi. https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJj8MKKdWKG3cWqKCj63Qq.html
Bettleheim, Matthew P. (2012). "Swinhoe's Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei): The Legendary Sword Lake Turtle of Hoan Kiem Lake". Bibliotheca Herpetologica. Broyles, W. (2010). Brothers in Arms: A Journey from War to Peace. (n.p.): University of Texas Press.
Scientific Name: Xenoglaux loweryi
Status: endangered, due to rarity and deforestation of the limited range.
In many of the Andean societies, birds were an important part of their culture. Feathers were used for beautiful adornment, and their likenesses were carved on friezes, ceramics, jewelry, and weapons. The various qualities of birds carried through from the mythologies about them and had power to imbue the wearers or bearers of such artifacts.
The Moche, a pre-Incan society in Peru, believed that owls carried fallen warriors from the battlefield to the world of the dead. The owls bore their charges away in their claws, sweeping with their silent wings beyond the reach of the mortal cloud forests of the Andean mountains.
References:
Sharpe, A. E. (2014). A REEXAMINATION OF THE BIRDS IN THE CENTRAL MEXICAN CODICES. Ancient Mesoamerica, 25(2), 317-336. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26296608
Bernier, Helene. "Birds of the Andes", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, June 2009. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bird/hd_bird.htm
Scientific Name: Lithobates capito
Status: Endangered. Their range is very small and specific, and so they are highly vulnerable to changes in their habitat, which has become fragmented from roads, fire suppression, and construction.
Frogs are ubiquitous little amphibians, swimming through freshwater streams and ponds, marshes and wetlands, yet frogs cast a long shadow in the imaginations of many cultures. Sometimes they are associated with the bringing of rain, sometimes with the cessation of rain. They sing from the reeds and mud banks in a hypnotic rhythm that is like a chant of power.
In Cherokee lore, solar and lunar eclipses happen when the great frog in the sky is trying to swallow the sun or moon. The tribe would come together and beat their drums to frighten off the great frog so that the celestial light could once again emerge.
References:
Wassen, Henry. "The Frog in Indian Mythology and Imaginative World." Anthropos, vol. 29, no. 5/6, 1934, pp. 613-658. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40446982. Accessed 13 Aug. 2021.
Mooney, J. (2012). Myths of the Cherokee. United States: Dover Publications.
Taylor, O. (1988). Historic Sullivan: Sullivan County, Tennessee. United States: Overmountain Press. 9-10.
Scientific Name: Ectophylla alba
Status: Near Threatened due to habitat loss and deforestation for agriculture and urban development, and no official conservation programs yet aimed at them. Populations are declining.
Bats serve as pollinators, and as they disperse the seeds of the fruits they ate, bats also are linked to new growth that comes from the earth and from the old. For many of the ancient Mesoamerica civilizations, bats were associated with the underworld and with death. As flying creatures, bats were associated with the ancient Maya gods of the sky; but also as nocturnal, cave-dwelling creatures who found roosts in the hollows of tangled tree branches, they entered the domain of the Underworld and the spirits. The outpouring of bats from a cave was visually similar to the appearance of smoke from a burning paper used in blood rituals, and so they were linked to sacred sacred rites as well.
Flying along waterways, which are paths out from the Underworld, bats were seen as messengers between the living and spirit realm, and when they slumbered in the daytime, it was thought that they hid among the roots of the sacred tree of life, called Yaxche.
References:
Miller, Mary; Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson.
Werness, H. B. (2006). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art. United Kingdom: Continuum. 29-33.
Read, K. A., Gonzalez, J. J. (2002). Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America. United Kingdom: OUP USA. 132-133.
Heger, F. (1968). Verhandlungen Des XVI. Internationalen Amerikanistenkongresses, Wien, 9. Bis 14. September 1908. Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint. 293.
"Ceiba Tree". Maya-archeology.org., May 2010. https://www.maya-archaeology.org/pre-Columbian_Mesoamerican_Mayan_ethnobotany_Mayan_iconography_archaeology_anthropology_research/sacred_ceiba_tree_flowers_kapok_spines_yaxche_incense_burners.php
Scientific Name: Prionailurus rubiginosus
Status: Near Threatened. Their habitat is being encroached upon and fragmented by expanding development. They are often mistaken for being a baby leopard and killed, or are illegally hunted or captured for wildlife trade.
A Hindu allegory:
When Lord Ganesha (an elephantine god of beginnings) was a mischievous youth, he loved being a prankster and playing in the mountains. One day he saw a cat, and thinking it would be entertaining, he crept up to the cat and pulled its tail. As the cat yowled in pain and leapt in the air, Ganesha further poked and teased the creature until it scampered off into the rocky slopes.
Ganesha realized then that he had hurt the cat, and felt remorse. As he made his way home his mother, Parvati, came to him. He was shocked to find she had scrapes and injuries across her body that mirrored those he had inflicted on the cat. At this, he understood that though his mother was a great protector, creator, and destroyer of life, and though she held and embodied the universe, she was also one with all of the life in the world. When he had hurt the cat, he had hurt her. And so Ganesha learned empathy.
References:
Parabola. Volume 24 (1976). United States: Tamarack Press.
HT Correspondent, "Lord Ganesha and the Cat". Hindustan Times, May 18, 2024. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/lord-ganesha-and-the-cat/story-PR05BCqhRmrFw20VxLuhvM.html
Mathur, Priyanshi. "Ganesh Chaturthi 2019: 10 Lesser-Known Short Stories Of Bal Ganesha". India Times, Oct 9, 2019. https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/social-relevance/ganesh-chaturthi-short-stories-374788.html#:~:text=Ganesha%20and%20the%20cat,it%20until%20he%20was%20tired.
Scientific Name: Pavo muticus
Status: Endangered. Habitat in tropical southeast Asia is fragmented and destroyed. Wild population is declining and limited to small areas of Thailand and Indonesia.
In the Buddhist pantheon, one of the five protective goddesses is Mahamayuri. "Mayura" mean peacock in Sanskrit. Because peacocks kill and eat venomous snakes, she is called upon for protection from snake bites. She is often seen in art and iconography with a peacock feather in hand, or mounted on peacocks, or attended by celestial peafowl.
The Dai people of southeast Asia combine many shamanic beliefs and practices into Buddhism. These beliefs remain from the time before Buddhism became the dominant religion, when the Dai were animists. Peacocks were revered as being messengers and embodiments of compassion, beauty, and peace.
The ancient monarchs of Burma used the green peafowl as their royal emblem, and it remains a symbol of anti-colonial movements, and in Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and other countries of southeast Asia there is the peafowl folk dance. It is a traditional performance where the dancers are dressed as peacocks and their movements are inspired by the elegant peacock fan of feathers and beauty.
References:
Bhattacharyya, D., & Bhattacharyya, D. (1965). THE GODDESS MAHAMAYURI AND THE PEACOCK. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 27, 45-46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44140579
Nair, P. T. (1974). The Peacock Cult in Asia. Asian Folklore Studies, 33(2), 93-170. https://doi.org/10.2307/1177550
Scientific Name: Panthera onca
Status: Near Threatened, decreasing population because of perceived conflicts with livestock, and being hunted for trophies.
Jaguars are the largest North American cat, and third largest in the world. These stealthy carnivores stalk the jungles of the Amazon and range across the mangroves, grasslands, and streams.
As the dominant predator within their ecosystem, agile, deadly, and beautiful, jaguars were the subject of reverence in the mythology and legends of all of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica.
The Maya integrated many of the physical characteristics of the jaguar into their deities. Daytime is the realm of the living, and night is for spirits. Jaguars are mostly nocturnal, but in the dense thickets of the Amazon they also are active in the day. For its nocturnal aspect, jaguars became associated with ancestors and the underworld. But for its daytime jaunts, it is also known as a creature that can move through the worlds of the living and the dead.
Unusual among felines, jaguars enjoy water and can be seen near streams and in wetlands. As such, they also are associated with the growth of vegetation, abundance, and fertility.
References:
Saunders, Nicholas J. (June 1994). "Predators of Culture: Jaguar Symbolism and Mesoamerican Elites". World Archaeology.
de Orellana, M., Olivier, G., Derais, J., Taube, K., Pope, Q., Chinchilla Mazariegos, O., Sugiyama, N., Vargas, R., Hermann Lejarazu, M. A., Marin, C., & Ruiz Medrano, E. (2016). JAGUAR. Artes de Mexico, 121, 64-80. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24878528
Werness, H. B. (2004). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art. Spain: Continuum. 242-243.
The Political Economy of Ancient Mesoamerica: Transformations During the Formative and Classic Periods. (2007). United States: University of New Mexico Press. 50-56.
Scientific Name: Rangifer tarandus
Status: Vulnerable, due to climate change, shifting vegetation patterns, and ineffective land use.
The Sami people of Sapmi have an intricate relationship with reindeer. They are semi-nomadic reindeer herders, moving through the inhospitable environments and treeless tundras alongside the migratory reindeer. They, and other reindeer-herding indigenous people in the Siberian subarctic regions maintain a delicate balance and harmony in their relationship to the creatures.
For the Koryak people in Far Russia, reindeer are also respected, sacred, and an integrated part of their daily life and survival. The Koryak have a legend of how Raven, the creator and first-ancestor, flew out into the stars, and returned bringing reindeer to the people.
References:
Jochelson, Waldemar. "The Mythology of the Koryak." American Anthropologist, vol. 6, no. 4, 1904, pp. 413-425.JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/659272
Charrin, Anne-Victoire. "The Discovery of the Koryaks and Their Perception of the World". Dept of Russian Language and Literature, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Arctic, Vol 37 No 4. Dec 1964. Paris, France. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.559.6027&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Dolitsky, Alexander B., translated: Michael, Henry N. "Ancient Tales of Kamchatka" Publication no 19, Alaska-Siberia Research Center, Juneau, Alaska, 2002.
Scientific Name:
Status: While the folklore tradition of the world is rich with stories and beliefs about bees, they often focus on the domesticated honeybees, which play such a crucial role in their connection with humans for agriculture, as well as in our use of honey and wax. We often forget, then and now, that the bees that truly need our attention and saving though, are the wild native bees that live in all regions, hurting for pesticides, lack of native flora, and habitat destruction.
The Hindu divinity Bhramari is the "goddess of black bees". She is a resplendent goddess adorned with garlands and hornets and bees that swirl around her. She earned this name and title when she defeated the asura demon Daityas, who invaded the heavens and attempted to dislodge the gods from their abodes.
The wives of the gods pleaded and supplicated, at which she answered. Swarms of black bees flew from her hands. They were innumerable, and their humming filled the air, and blocked out the light of the sun so that the sky went from blue to black night. As the demons were defeated and driven away, the bees flew off into the world, living emblems of Bhramari's protection of the world.
References:
Devi Bhagavata Purana (one of 18 Manapuranas of Hinduism), 13th chapter of 10th book. Translation: https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk10ch13.htm#page_1046
Scientific Name: Oryctolagus cuniculus
Status: While it has been introduced to other continents and spread across the world, sometimes with disastrous invasive species results, they are Endangered within their native range of Europe because of hunting and habitat loss, and the gap they leave in the ecosystem results in decline of the native predator animals that rely upon them for food.
Across many cultures of the world, the rabbit is associated with women and female deities, lunar cycles, fertility, and rebirth. The power to bring life to the world is the power of creation and regeneration.
To the ancient Romans, rabbits represented love, lust, and fecundity. The rabbit was a favored icon for both Venus (goddess of love) and Diana (goddess of the hunt). This was largely due to misconceptions about reproduction that were put forward by Aristotle, among others, and led to a kind of mystical apprehension of rabbit reproduction.
In later medieval times the rabbit was an outright symbol of the feminine, and can be seen in this thinly veiled guise in many carvings and illuminations.
References:
Abraham, Claude K. "Myth and Symbol: The Rabbit in Medieval France." Studies in Philology, vol. 60, no. 4, 1963, pp. 589-597. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4173435.
Birch, S. (1858). History of Ancient Pottery ... Illustrated with Coloured Plates and Numerous Engravings. United Kingdom: John Murray. 95-96.
Scientific Name: Alligator sinensis
Status: Critically endangered, habitat fragmentation and loss, and extreme population declines
The Chinese mythical dragon (called a loong) is a fantastic celestial creature that is depicted as a chimerical conglomeration of attributes from a variety of earthly creatures. It has the serpentine body of a snake, the scales of a carp, the mane of a lion, antlers of a deer, and claws of an eagle. They are majestic symbols of power and tied to the elements and the land as spirits and guardians.
The inspiration for loong was once thought to be snakes, or lightning, but modern archaeologists now speculate that the original prototype for the loong imagery was very likely the Chinese alligator, based on findings of depictions of the alligators on ancient relics. Over the centuries, the muddy dragons of the Yangtze River evolved in the minds and hearts of people to become the celestial loongs.
References:
Barbour, Thomas. "A Note Regarding the Chinese Alligator." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 62, no. 2, 1910, pp. 464-467. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4063434. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.
Hopkins, L. C. "Dragon and Alligator: Being Notes on Some Ancient Inscribed Bone Carvings." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1913, pp. 545-552. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25189020. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.
Cartwright, Mark. "The Dragon in Ancient China", World History Encyclopedia, Sept 2017. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1125/the-dragon-in-ancient-china/
