When you see this fox, what comes to mind? A childhood story, a song, a metaphor? What the fox or any other animal means, depends heavily on time, place, and culture. The fox has been a symbol of intelligence and cunning. It's also been a metaphor for sexual attractiveness. In medieval Europe, it was a symbol of the devil. But in China and Japan, people believed that the fox brings wealth. The historian Boria Sax, has long studied the representation of animals in different cultures, and his work will provide a foundation for our discussion. Sax points out that when we think about animals, it's too simplistic to think of them only in biological terms. Defining them only through biology tells us nothing about their identities. Biology gives us a species name or genetic characteristic or behavioral trait, but it tells us nothing about the role that animal has had in relationship with humans across millennia. He encourages us to think about animals in terms of a tradition. Doing so, he says, surrounds the animal with ideas and associations. This doesn't mean we'll neglect biology. It means we'll also include legends, myth, practices, and expectations, that had been built up around that animal over history. Fortunately, Sax gives us some guidelines for understanding this. He describes animals in five categories of tradition. One category includes metamorphosed animals. These are animals that can change into human beings and vice versa. The frog that turns into a handsome prince, is a classic example. In myths of many cultures, transforming into an animal was a form of punishment. For instance, in Greek myth, the goddess Diana changed the hunter Actaeon into a stag after he happened upon her bathing in a spring. The Roman poet Ovid, describes how Athena became enraged at the maiden Arachne and transformed her into a spider, which gave us the taxonomical name Arachnida. We can include werewolves in this category too. The second category of tradition consists of divine animals. Some of the earliest include the animals who were part of the Egyptian Pantheon, such as Hathor, depicted as a cow, Bastet depicted as a lioness or as a cat, and Anubis, the god of death, who has the head of a jackal. In Christianity, Jesus is equated with the Lamb of God. The dove is another divine animal, a universal symbol of peace. The third category includes demonic animals. The wolf is a good example here, appearing as the villain in countless tales and fables, and no species has been given as many demonic roles as the snake, from the book of Genesis to horror movies. Another example of demonic animals are witch's familiars. In medieval and early modern Europe, cats in particular, were thought to be the devil in animal form. Folk beliefs held that they assisted witches in their evil deeds. Black cats were considered especially demonic. This did not bode well for cats or for women who happened to have them as companions. Cats still suffer from this association with evil today, and superstition still surrounds black cats who are often abused because of it. In the fourth category of tradition, we find satirical animals. From ancient Greece, we find the animals in Aesop's Fables showing us the folly of human behavior or teaching us a lesson. In the tortoise and the hare, the hare is so confident that he can win a race with a tortoise, that he takes a nap halfway through. The tortoise, slow and steady wins the race. Finally, we have the tradition of political animals. There are few better examples than the characters in George Orwell's 1945 book, Animal Farm, which satirizes the Russian Revolution. Another example is the two-volume graphic novel, Maus, by Art Spiegelman, whose father survived the Holocaust. Spiegelman drew Nazi cats persecuting Jewish mice. Boria Sax has written, "Every animal is a tradition, and together, animals are a vast part of our heritage as human beings." This framework of animals as tradition connects us with how animals are woven into human existence. The representation of people and the issues that concern us in terms of animals can give us a broader perspective. It allows us to look beyond our immediate, personal or collective interests. It can defuse tensions, providing a way to comment on subjects that might otherwise be too sensitive. As Sax writes, "For us, animals are all the strange, beautiful, pitiable, and frightening things that they have ever been. Gods, slaves, totems, sages, tricksters, doubles, clowns, companions, lovers, and far more.
