12 Common Animals in Folklore and Their Meanings

Key Themes

• Folklore is the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, shared across generations.
• Animals are simple and creative outlets for informing the reader of a magical experience, while still having a sense of reality.
• Many animals will have different meanings based on what the specific culture perceives that animal to represent.

No matter what culture someone hails from, they will have their mythology and folklore. These stories provide people with a sense of community, purpose, and identity regarding who they are as individuals and how to behave with family and others. Some stories will inspire hope and belief to become better, while others will warn against wrongdoings and explain why the world functions before an age of science and deeper understanding.

A common element in folklore is the usage of animals. Humans and animals have been connected since the first proto-humans made cave drawings. While humans sought to understand the world, they turned to animals as examples to explain phenomena like the wind, lightning, or luck.

Follow along as this article highlights several popular animals written in folklore and their various meanings.

What is Folklore?

First, what is folklore? Folklore refers to traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community that are shared across generations through word of mouth or other means of communication.

This can include:

• Myths
• Dances
• Food preparation
• Fairy tales
• Urban legends

Those old stories parents tell their children before they go to bed about behaving or else a boogeyman or witch will come to take them away in the night are examples of folklore.

Why Use Animals in Folklore?

The most popular folklore stories are told to children as a means to teach them their cultural heritage, as bedtime stories, or as a warning against misbehaving. For example, during the winter holidays, good children are rewarded with clothing and presents from Santa Claus, while naughty children receive coal or a possible beating from Krampus (in parts of Europe).

However, animals make several stories feel creative and magical. Like, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” uses anthropomorphic bears as imagery for a loving family living in the woods. If they were real bears, Goldilocks would never enter their den, and if the bears were human, then it would raise more questions about why a little girl is breaking into a stranger’s home in a civilized community.

Additionally, animals are a way of helping children learn about nature and their surroundings. In the Goldilocks example, children learn to stay away from a family of bears and not to break into stranger’s homes. In “Red Riding Hood,” children learn not to trust wolves and never go into the forest alone because of wolves and intelligent animals.

Popular Animals in Folklore and Their Meaning

With an understanding of why animals are used in folklore and storytelling, we can get into the fun part of highlighting popular animals in folklore and the different meanings they have for different cultures.

This article aims to enlighten readers by providing a brief aspect of other culture’s ideologies. It would be too much to explain the whole culture so if a specific idea piques a reader’s interest, then take some time to dive deeper.

Eagles

Whether they are golden eagles or bald eagles, these majestic birds are unanimously seen as sacred animals of the sky. It is simple to understand why considering they are massive birds of prey, with excellent senses to hunt prey, soar above the clouds with relative ease, and perch overlooking their surroundings like an apex predator or spiritual guardian.

Common eagle imagery includes:

• United States national symbol and bird.
• Ancient Roman and Greek symbol of Aquila, the bird that brought Zeus’s thunderbolts.
• Mexican and Egyptian coat of arms symbols.

Native American tribes see eagles as sacred birds of the sky. Eagles are so holy; their feathers are considered worn with dignity and pride.

Vultures

Vultures are common symbols of death, rebirth, patience, and protection. They are not the most popular birds for average people because of their unique diet of carrion (dead meat), but they serve an important role in the environment. Without their diet of removing deadly bacteria in the world, those bacteria could get into the water supply and spread untold illnesses to thousands.

Fables and fairy tales like to use vultures as precursors to death. The symbol of a group of vultures circling overhead is a real trait they perform to determine if an animal is dead. Seeing them circling above is a direct indicator that death is near.

Fun fact, vultures are communal eaters. They will fan their wings and make gestures to inform other vultures it is safe to eat.

Common vulture imagery includes:

• Greek gods used vultures to represent death and decay
• The Bible used vultures as symbols of judgment, shame, and the spread of disease
• European countries saw vultures as animals of danger or strife approaching
• Native American cultures revere vultures for their large winds, being creatures of awareness and emissaries of rebirth, as well as death and suffering.

Owls

Owls represent wisdom, change, intuition, self-actualization, and knowledge. They appear in fairy tales, commercials, movies, and media as creatures of wisdom and knowledge to guide those lost in the woods.

Owls got their intellectual reputation because of their unique manner of facial structure and flight. These birds of prey have large eyes which scan the night for prey. Their wings do not produce sounds like other birds, making them silent fliers in the darkness. Humans saw these traits of an animal constantly observing its surroundings as a symbol of intelligence and wisdom, capable of seeing the truth and deeper meaning of anything through the darkness surrounding them.

Common owl imagery includes:

• Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom and war used owls as her symbol.
• Native American beliefs range regarding owls; some are mischievous because they are active at night, others are beings of insight and truth, and others believe they are magical.
• Owls are messengers of magic or keepers of knowledge in libraries.

Bears

Bears are symbols of strength, power, healing, wisdom, and medicine.

Readers will notice many animals on this list are symbols of wisdom. Animals are deeply connected to the natural world, which requires a deep understanding and connection to one’s surroundings to comprehend. Having the ability to fathom the world outside one’s mind are attributes of a wise person or being.

Bears are also representatives of parenting, rebirth, and protectors of the forests. Their ferocity and deep love for their cubs are easy to translate as loving parents, while their large size and immense strength are easy to reference for protectors of nature. The themes of rebirth come from their hibernation cycle of resting throughout the winter, and being reborn or coming alive in the spring when everything is new.

Common bear imagery includes:

• References to “mama bear” or calling children “cubs.”
• Toy using bears as sources of comfort and companionship.
• Native American and Asian cultures use bear organs in medicinal remedies and spirits of medicine.
• Fairy tales depicting bears as travelers in dreams or symbols of sleep.

Wolves

Wolves represent loyalty, family ties, intelligence, and communication.

Unlike domestic dogs, wolves have a primal nature which gives them stronger ties to nature. They are accomplished hunters, working in tandem with one another to accomplish a goal through clear communication and trust. Wolves form strong bonds with one another, clear representations that wild animals may form communities. The ability to communicate through several vocal ranges like barks, whimpers, and iconic howls in the night leads readers to believe they are intelligent animals.

Alternatively, wolves are dangerous wild animals that are commonly used to steal or eat children who wander in the woods at night. By embellishing their intelligence and communication to human-like standards, they become terrifying threats to misbehaving children.

Common wolf imagery includes:

• The big bad wolf in several fairy tales.
• Werewolves can be depictions of evil monsters or sages becoming one with nature in the form of a wolf.
• Wolf howling at the moon.
• Wolves raising children in the woods such as Roman children Romulus and Remus or Mowgli from “The Jungle Book.”

Foxes

Foxes represent cunning, intelligence, magic, and slyness.

In the wild, foxes are excellent problem solvers, thinking through puzzles to hunt and forage for food. They possess good memories, remembering the entrances and exits of burrows around their territory. Scientists suggest the average fox is smarter than most dogs.

Fables and folklore of foxes will focus on their intelligence and cunning, being fierce predators or cunning thieves to trick the main character with superior language, resourcefulness, or magic.

Common fox imagery includes:

• Kitsune, magic foxes in Asian culture.
• Foxes as tricksters or swindlers.
• Knowledge seekers running in libraries.

Cats

Cats represent divinity, mischief, and good and bad fortune.

Throughout human history, cats have been part of the culture because of the mutually beneficial nature of the human-cat relationship. Depending on the culture and meaning of other imagery, cats are versatile in how they are shown in folklore.

Common cat imagery includes:

• Black cats symbolize bad luck in Western culture but good luck and prosperity in Eastern culture.
• Egyptian gods like Bast and Sekhmet.
• Mischievous pets alongside witches.
• Reliable guardians and hunters chase away mice to protect their families.

Snakes

Snakes represent omens of evil, destruction, temptation, or love, health, disease, medicine, and rebirth.

Depictions of snakes will vary in folklore based on how the culture views them. Many cultures find snakes threatening and deadly animals, being the cause of humanity’s fall from grace and symbols of evil or destruction. Alternatively, snakes will also be symbols of health and rebirth because of their ability to heal and shed their skin, metaphorically letting go of the past self to become someone new. Snakes are also symbols of the Earth as they slither across the ground on their bellies, making them spiritually one with the planet.

Common snake imagery includes:

• World-eating serpents (Jormungandr and Apophis).
• Quetzalcoatl, the creator god of Mayan culture.
• National symbol of health.
• Representations of evil (The Bible and association with the Devil).
• Evil wizards using snakes.
• Giant protectors of nature and keepers of knowledge.

Crocodiles

Crocodiles represent strength, protection, fertility, survivability, adaptability, and the subconscious.

All members of the crocodilian family live near sources of water and are shown capable of adapting to land and wet climates. Humans recognize those abilities, seeing these animals as extensions of those skills. Crocodiles become symbols of fertility because of their unique habit of coming on shore often, wetting the ground to allow new life to spring forth.

Crocodiles are metaphorical symbols of the subconscious regarding dreams. In dreams, water is strongly associated with the subconscious and the dreamer’s thoughts. By navigating through the water or seeing crocodiles in dream sequences, the crocodiles help represent the ability to transition thoughts between the conscious mind (the surface) and the subconscious mind (underwater).

Common crocodile imagery includes:

• Sobek, the crocodile god of Ancient Egypt.
• Native American creation story of alligators.

Sharks

Sharks represent power, authority, tenacity, protection, and guidance.

Modern media depicts sharks as man-eating killing machines with only a desire to devour anything within their jaws. However, real sharks use their strength to hunt prey with which they are familiar. They are powerful animals that fear very little and symbolize the kings of the ocean.

Cultures that live near the ocean like Hawaiian tribes revere sharks as protectors and guides to those lost at sea. They pray to several shark gods, with some tribes believing sharks are their ancestors watching over the family from afar.

Common shark imagery includes:

• Dakuwanga, shark god of Fiji.
• Kamohoali’I, the shark god of Hawaii.
• Human-shark hybrids.
• Giant shark movies.

Dolphins

Dolphins represent playfulness, good luck, and protection.

It is easy to understand how dolphins are benevolent beings thanks to documented cases of dolphins protecting people in the ocean. Dolphins enjoy interacting with boats and sailors as they swim in a ship’s wake, making it appear as if the dolphins are protecting them from harm and blessing their voyage. Additionally, their ability to communicate and leap nearly 6 feet in the air shows they like to play and are highly intelligent.

Common dolphin imagery includes:

• Dolphins swimming near boats.
• Rescuing people stranded out at sea.
• Performing tricks at aquariums or playing in the ocean.
• Smiling animals who love to socialize in cartoons.
• The Boto Amazon River dolphin story

Whales

Whales represent peace, wisdom, and longevity.

A common theme humans relate to animals is their large size equating to long life and wisdom. It takes time to grow big and strong, and giant animals indicate higher levels of thinking, making them wiser than others. They are highly respected among cultures because they provide food, oil, and income for those living by the sea.

Whales are the biggest animals on the planet. They show clear signs of intelligence by communicating with their pod members and spending their time peacefully swimming for food instead of attacking other animals smaller than them. Rogue whales are excellent fictional adversaries to highlight their great strength and instill fear of an animal capable of thinking how to use its massive weight.

Common whale imagery includes:

• “Moby Dick,” the story of a rogue whale and an obsessed captain.
• The Bible.
• Asian culture with fisher and yokai.

Each culture has its unique views on each animal, with some having opposite meanings. Still, animals will always be tied with human culture as methods of explaining the world to younger generations and as ways to respect how beautiful and versatile nature is.