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Great Bustard

Otis tarda

Status: Vulnerable. Inhabiting the steppes of Turkey, the remaining population of individuals is small and declining.

The Simurgh is found in Persian tales, and is a great avian creature as large as thirty birds, and bears as many colors in its plumage. It lives in Gaokerena, the Tree of Life. Descriptions of the Simurgh vary. Sometimes it is said to have the form of a raptor, and at other times the claws of a lion, head of a dog, and feathers of a peacock. Some tales tell of the Simurgh having a human female face.

The Simurgh is ancient and embodies purity and healing. When it takes off from Gaokerena, the leaves and seeds are shaken loose, dispersed by his great wingbeats to drift across the world and take root in a wild diversity of healing herbs and plants.

In the Shahnameh, a Persian epic poem written by Ferdowsi in the 9th century, a feather from Simurgh is rubbed on a deathly wound suffered by the hero Rustam, and he is healed by its power.

 

References:
carnoy, Albert J. "Iranian Mythology", Marshall Jones company, Boston, 1917. https://archive.org/details/IranianMythology/page/n9/mode/2up

Harper, P. O. (1961). The Senmurv. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 20(3), 95-101. https://doi.org/10.2307/3257932