16. Animals

See also 45. BIRDS ; 61. BULLS and BULLFIGHTING ; 70. CATS ; 88. COCKS ; 125. DOGS ; 164. FISH ; 211. HORSES ; 225. INSECTS ; 353. REPTILES ; 374. SNAKES ; 423. WOLVES ; 427. WORMS ; 430. ZOOLOGY

acrodontism

the condition of having teeth without roots attached to the alveolar ridge of the jaws, as in certain animals. —acrodont, adj.

amensalism

a parasitic relationship between animals that has a destructive effect on one and no effect on the other. See also 44. BIOLOGY ; 319. PLANTS .

Animalia

the realm of animals; the animal kingdom.

animality

1. the state of being an animal.

2. animal existence or nature in human activity; the animal in man as opposed to the spiritual.

anthropoglot

an animal with a tongue like that of man, as the parrot.

anthropoid

a creature resembling man, as an ape. —anthropoid, anthropoidal, adj.

anthropopathism, anthropopathy

the assignment of human feelings or passions to something not human, as a deity or an animal. —anthropopathic . adj.

artiodactyl

a hoofed animal having an even number of toes or digits on each foot, as pigs, sheep, deer, etc. —artiodactylous, adj.

bestiarian

1. an advocate of kindness to animals.

2. British. an antivivisectionist.

bestiarist

a compiler or writer of bestiaries.

bestiary

an allegorical or moralizing commentary based upon real or fabled animals, usually medieval and sometimes illustrated.

biodynamics

the study of the physiological processes of plants and animals. —biodynamic, biodynamical, adj.

bioecology

the branch of ecology that studies the interrelationship of plant and animal life in their common environment. —bioecologist, n. —bioecologic, bioecological, adj.

biostatics

the study of the relationship between structure and function in plants and animals. —biostatical, adj.

biota

the animal or plant life of a particular region.

brachiation

a method of movement, characteristic of certain animals, by swinging with the arms from one hold to another.

carcinology

the branch of zoology that studies crustaceans. —carcinologist, n. —carcinologic, carcinological, adj.

carnivore

a meat-eating animal. Cf. herbivore . —camivorous, adj.

commensalism

a relationship between animals or plants in which one lives with or on the other without damage to either. Cf. parasitism .

conatus

a vital force in plants or animals, similar to human effort. See also 319. PLANTS .

doraphobia

an intense fear of contact with animal fur or skin. —doraphobe, n.

echinology

the study of sea urchins. —echinologist, n.

epizoism

a nonparasitic relationship between animals in which one animal lives on the surface of the other.

epizootic, epizooty

a disease affecting many animals at the same time; an epidemic amongst animals. —epizootic, adj.

epizootiology, epizootology

the science concerned with the factors involved in the occurrence and spread of animal diseases. —epizootiologic, epizootiological, adj.

estrus, oestrus

the condition of being in rut or sexual arousal, applied particularly to the female. Also spelled estrum, oestrum . —estrous, oestrous, adj.

ethology

the study of animal behavior in relation to habitat. —ethologist, n. —ethological, adj.

extispicy

haruspicy. —extispex, n. —extispicious, Obsolete, adj.

fauna

1. the animal life of a particular time or region.

2. a study of or treatise on the animal life of a particular time or region. —faunal, adj.

faunist

a person who studies or writes on animal life; a naturalist.

faunology

zoogeography.

haruspication

haruspicy.

haruspicy

a form of divination by natural phenomena, especially from inspection of the entrails of animal sacrifices. Also called extispicy, haruspication . —haruspex, aruspex, n. —haruspical, adj.

helminthology

the study of worms, especially internal worms.

herbivore

a plant-eating animal. Cf. carnivore . —herbivorous, adj.

heterosis

abnormal development, especially increased size, in plants or animals, usually as a result of cross-breeding.

inquiline

an animal that inhabits the burrow, nest, or other habitation of another animal. —inquiline, adj.

lipotype

a particular type of animal life whose absence is a characteristic of a region. —lipotypic, adj.

locoism

a disease, chiefly of farm animals, characterized by paralysis and impaired vision and caused by eating locoweed.

manticore

a mythical or fabulous beast with the head of a man, the body of a lion or tiger, and the feet and tail of a dragon or scorpion. Also spelled mantichora .

morphology

the branch of biology that studies the structure and form of animals and plants. —morphologist, n. —morphologic, morphological, adj.

musomania

an abnormal love for mice.

musophobia

an abnormal fear of mice.

nealogy

the science of the early or youthful stage of animal development. — nealogic, adj.

oestrus

estrus.

organism

any animal or plant.

organography

the scientific description of the organs of plants and animals and of their structure and function. —organographist, n. —organographic, organographical, adj.

organology

the study of the organs of plants and animals. —organologist, n. —organologic, organological, adj.

ovipara

pl. animals that lay eggs. Cf. ovovivipara, vivipara . —oviparity, n. —oviparous, adj.

ovovivipara

pl. animals that lay eggs that are hatched in their bodies, so that young are born alive, without connection to a placenta.

parasitism

a relationship between animals in which one gains sustenance from the other. Cf. commensalism . See also 44. BIOLOGY ; 319. PLANTS .

phylon

a group with genetic relationship. Cf. phylum.

phylum

any of the major subdivisions of the plant or animal kingdom. Cf. phylon . See also 247. LINGUISTICS .

piggery

a place where pigs are kept; pigpen; pigsty.

predacean

a carnivorous animal. —predaceous, predacious, adj.

predation

a relation between organisms or animals in which one feeds on the other. —predatory, adj.

quadrat

a plot of land, square or rectangular, marked off or set out for the study of plant or animal life.

rabbitry

1. rabbits collectively.

2. a place where rabbits live or are kept.

relict

an animal or plant surviving in one area after becoming extinct else-where; a survival of an earlier period. — relict, adj.

rookery

a breeding or nesting place of rooks or of any gregarious bird or animal.

stirpiculture

selective breeding to develop strains with particular characteristics. —stirpicultural, adj.

sybotism

Rare. the business and art of raising swine.

taxidermy

the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the skins of animals so that they appear lifelike. —taxidermist, n.

terrarium

a container for keeping small animals.

theriomancy

a form of divination based upon observation of the movements of animals. Also called zoomancy .

theriomorphism

the worship of deities that are partly animal and partly human in form. Also called therianthropism, theriolatry . — theriomorphic, theriomorphous, adj.

thremmatology

the branch of biology that studies the breeding of domestic plants and animals.

ungulate

a mammal having hoofs, as the cow, horse, etc. —ungulate, adj.

vaccary

Obsolete. a cow house, shed, pasture, or other place where cows are kept. Also vachery .

virilescence

a condition of some animals, and especially of some fowls, in which the female, when old, assumes some of the characteristics of the male of the species. —virilescent, adj.

vivarium

an enclosed environment, as a glass container, in which plants or animals are raised under conditions that approximate their natural habitat. Also vivary .

vivary

a vivarium.

vivipara

pl. animals that bear living young. Cf. ovipara, ovovivipara . —viviparity, n. —viviparous, adj.

vulpicide

1. the killing of a fox by methods other than by hunting it with hounds.

2. the killer of a fox.

zoanthropy

a derangement in which a person believes himself to be an animal and acts accordingly. — zoanthropic, adj.

zoiatria

the science of veterinary surgery.

zoobiology

zoology.

zoogeography

the distribution of animal life by geographical location. —zoogeographer, n. —zoogeographic, zoogeographical, adj.

zoogony, zoogeny

1. the generation of animals.

2. a study of animal generation. —zoogonic, zoogenic, adj.

zoography

1. the branch of zoology concerned with animal description.

2. pictorial art in general, but especially that which shows animals. —zoographer, n. —zoographic, zoographical, adj.

zoolatry

the worship of animal gods. Cf. theriomorphism . Also called zootheism . —zoolater, n.

zoology

the branch of biology that studies and classifles all living creatures. —zoologist, n. —zoological, adj.

zoomancy

a form of divination based upon the observation of animals or their movements under certain circumstances. Also called theriomancy .

zoomania

an abnormal love of animals.

zoometry

the measurement and comparison of the sizes of animals and their parts.

zoomorphism

the attribution of animal form or nature, especially to a deity. —zoomorphic, adj.

zoonomia

zoonomy.

zoonomy, zoonomia

the laws of animal life or the animal kingdom. —zoonomist, n. —zoonomic, adj.

zoopathology

the study or science of the diseases of animals; animal pathology. Also zoopathy .

zoopathy

zoopathology.

zoopery

the performing of experiments on animals, especially the lower animals. —zooperal, adj.

zoophilia

a love of animals. —zoophile, n.

zoophilism, zoophily

love of animals. —zoophilist, n. —zoophilous, adj.

zoophobia

an abnormal dread of animals. —zoophobe, n.

zoophysics

the study of animal physiology and form. —zoophysical, adj.

zoophysiology

the physiology of animals, as distinct from that of humans.

zoophyte

an animal, as a sponge, coral, etc, that resembles a plant more than an animal; any of the Zoophyta. —zoophytic, zoophytical, zoophytoid, adj.

zoophytology

the branch of zoology concerned with the zoophytes. —zoophytological, adj.

zooplasty

the process of surgically grafting tissue from a lower animal onto the human body. —zooplastic, adj.

zoopsia

a form of hallucination in which the sufferer imagines he sees animals. Also zooscopy .

zoopsychology

a branch of psychology that studies animal behavior.

zooscopy

zoopsia.

zootaxy

zoological classification; the scientific classification of animals.

zootechny

the principles of animal husbandry. Also spelled zootechnics . —zootechnician, n. —zootechnical, adj.

zootheism

the worship of animal gods; zoolatry. —zootheist, n.

zootomy

1. the dissection of animals other than man.

2. the anatomy of animals. —zootomist, n. —zootomic, zootomical, adj.

Animals

Animals are believed to exhibit psychic faculties similar to human beings. In her account of a case of haunting in Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 8, R. C. Morton mentions two dogs who saw a ghost. The medium Mrs. J. H. Conant believed that her pet dog and cat saw the spirits she described clairvoyantly. The dog barked and snarled; the cat arched its back, spat, and ran to hide. Sir William Barrett recorded the case of the Montgomery sisters who saw a ghost floating across the road; their horse stopped and shook with fright. The watchdog of the Rev. Samuel Wesley crouched in terror during the poltergeist manifestations at Epworth Vicarage (see Epworth Phenomena ). In a poltergeist case on the Baltic Island of Oesel in 1844 a number of horses were frightened by thunderous noises coming from a nearby underground vault. The case is described in Robert Dale Owen 's Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World (1860).

Ernesto Bozzano collected many cases (published in the Annals of Psychic Science in 1905 and in Animaux et manifestations metapsychiques in 1926) in which animals as agents induce telepathic hallucinations; in which they act as percipients simultaneously with, or previously to, human beings; in which they see human or animal phantoms, collectively with human beings in which phantom animals are seen in haunted spots or periodically appear as a premonition of death. Out of a total of 69 cases, in 13 the animals were subject to supernormal psychic perceptions in precedence to humans, and in 12 they perceived things that the persons present were unable to see. In more than one-third of the cases, therefore, the animals' perception had precedence to humans. Bozzano pointed out that animals, "besides sharing with man the intermittent exercise of faculties of supernormal psychic perception, show themselves furthermore normally endowed with special psychic faculties unknown to men, such as the so-called instincts of direction and of migration, and the faculty of precognition regarding unforeseen atmospheric disturbances, or the imminence of earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions. Although man is destitute of such superior faculties of instinct, nevertheless these same faculties exist in the unexplored recesses of his subconsciousness." (See also Earthquake Prediction )

In the case of avalanches, the presentiments, especially attributed to horses, are still more mysterious. The deathhowl of dogs in anticipation of the death of their master or a member of the household is a well documented phenomenon. Gustave Geley recorded a personal experience of this in From the Unconscious to the Conscious (1920).

Supernormal perception may also work in a lower scale of life. Sir William Barrett suggested that the color changes of insect life to suit the environment might be due to causes of stigmata, i.e., suggestion unconsciously derived from the environment.

That there may be latent high faculties in animals which vie with the powers of genius was demonstrated by the famous case of the Elberfeld Horses, although many scientists have been skeptical of the evidence. An Italian horse, Tripoli, showed similar talent after a course in mathematics. The dog Rolf, of Mannheim, learned to calculate by attending the lessons given to a child. (See Proceedings of the ASPR, Vol. 13 [1919]). Rolf sired Lola who attained considerable fame as narrated in Henry Kindermann's Lola; or, The Thought and Speech of Animals (1922). She could calculate, tell the time, and phonetically spell out answers to questions. When she was asked what was the name of the Mannheim dog, she replied "mein fadr" (Mein Vater) i.e., "my father." All present had expected her to answer "Rolf."

Carita Borderieux's Les Nouveaux Animaux Pensants (Paris, 1927) tells the story of Zou, the author's calculating dog. In Proceedings of the ASPR Vol. 38, Theodore Besterman described his personal encounter with Borderieux's dog and claims to have discovered that the dog interpreted unconscious movements of Borderieux's hand. Unconscious movements were also put forward to explain the phenomena of the Elberfeld Horses, but they often gave correct answers to mathematical problems when the answer was not known by the questioner.

Unconscious signals or secret code falls far short as a theory of explanation in the case of Black Bear, the Briarcliff pony, who not only solved mathematical problems and spelled answers by selecting letters from a rack, but, according to narratives in the journal Psychic Research (April 1931), exhibited clairvoyant or telepathic powers by correctly describing playing cards which were turned face down. Black Bear either answered correctly or refused to venture an answer at all. He was never at fault and solved his problems with a supreme indifference. Mrs. Fletcher, one of his visitors, whose birthday was to occur shortly—a fact which could not normally have been known to either Black Bear or Mr. Barrett (his trainer)—asked these questions: "Black Bear,—there is an anniversary coming soon. Can you tell me what it is?" The pony spelled out "Birthday." Mrs. Fletcher then said "That is right, now, can you tell me when it will be?" and Black Bear replied "Friday." "What date will it be?" was the next question, and Black Bear at once spelled out "August 3rd."

Regarding the survival of animals, no definite proof is available. Materialization seances in which animals are seen do not offer evidence in themselves of survival. It is the continuation of personality and memory of which proof is demanded. Obviously, the barking of dogs is not sufficiently expressive for the purpose. After-death communications, however, do assert that animals also survive. Nevertheless, as an interesting speculation, the direct voice communication given to H. Dennis Bradley should be registered. According to Bradley, animals such as tigers and snakes, etc., go to an animal kingdom, there to be redrawn upon for physical life on Earth. Animals, such as dogs and cats, that are capable of love and loyalty live with the spirits in their plane. Said Andrew Lang, "Knowing cases in which phantasms of dogs have been seen and heard collectively by several persons simultaneously, I tend to agree with the tribes of North-West Central Queensland that dogs, like men, have khoi—have spirits."

In various countries of the world, the special sensory abilities of animals have been used in war and defense situations. Robert Lubow, professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University, Israel, revealed various extraordinary developments in the use of animals in his book The War Animals (1977). The Russians trained porpoises and dolphins to recognize different kinds of metal plates in warships in order to lay mines beside enemy ships, rather like the story in the film Day of the Dolphin. In Hong Kong, police tested the use of rats to sniff out heroin. In Britain, the Royal Air Force devised a system of coating aircraft flight detectors ("black boxes") with a special substance odorless to human beings but detectable by trained dogs, who can locate the recorders after a crash. During the Vietnam war, Prof. Lubow successfully trained nearly one hundred dogs to find mines and booby-traps. Insects were used at military establishments to detect the presence of intruders. Pigeons were trained for aerial reconnaissance to identify man-made objects from natural features of the landscape; a radio direction finder would be triggered by the pigeon's landing, transmitting the information to a remote patrol. In Israel, dogs have been used successfully to detect letter-bombs in the mail. The scent of the explosive is apparently perceptible to a dog even in a sack of 600 letters.

(See also Anpsi )

Sources:

Boone, J. Allen. Kinship with All Life. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954.

Bozzano, Ernesto. "Animals and Psychic Perceptions." Annals of Psychic Science (August 1905).

Burton, Maurice. The Sixth Sense of Animals. New York: Taplinger, 1973; London: Dent, 1973.

Gaddis, Vincent, and Margaret Gaddis. The Strange World of Animals and Pets. 1970. Reprint, New York: Pocket Books, 1971.

Kindermann, Henny. Lola; or, the Thought and Speech of Animals. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1923.

Lilly, J. Man and Dolphin. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961.

Lorenz, Konrad. King Solomon's Ring. New York: Time, 1962.

Lubow, Robert. The War Animals. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.

Maeterlinck, Maurice. The Unknown Guest. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1975.

Schul, Bill. The Psychic Power of Animals. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1977.

Selous, Edmund. Thought-Transference (or What?) in Birds. London: Constable & Co. Ltd., 1931.

Animals

In the early days of space travel, scientists wanted to ensure that animals could survive spaceflight before they attempted to send humans. During these first animal flights, scientists were able to test how a living organism would react to the unique environment of spaceflight—including such factors as cosmic radiation , the high rate of acceleration during the flight, and the effects of reduced gravity, also known as microgravity, on the body's cells and vital organs (e.g., the heart and lungs). The evaluation of animals in space also gave scientists information on how the brain would behave in microgravity.

Dogs Lead the Way

The first animal was launched from the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico on June 14, 1949. Albert 2 was a monkey, and he traveled 134 kilometers (83 miles) above Earth in a V-2 rocket . His heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate were analyzed, but he died on his way back to Earth when the rocket's parachute failed to open. The first successful live-animal spaceflight happened on September 20, 1951, when the Soviet Union sent a monkey and eleven mice into space and back in a rocket. Then on November 3, 1957, the Soviets sent a dog named Laika in a special animal compartment on Sputnik 2. Laika became the first animal to orbit Earth, although she died after four days in space.

On August 19, 1960, the Russians sent up two dogs, Strelka and Belk, on Sputnik 5. These two animals survived fifteen orbits, returned to Earth, and later gave birth to litters of healthy puppies. The following year, two Soviet missions, Sputniks 9 and 10, each carried dogs that survived the flight and returned home. After these and other successful dog flights, scientists began sending monkeys and chimpanzees, because their bodies most closely resembled the human body. These missions paved the way for human space travel because they proved that vital organs, such as the brain, heart, and lungs, could function in microgravity.

The Neurolab Shuttle Mission: How the Brain Works in Space

In April 1998, animals played an important role on the Neurolab mission aboard space shuttle flight STS-90. This mission was dedicated to studying the effects of weightlessness or microgravity and other aspects of the space environment on the nervous system. Researchers were interested in how microgravity affects an animal's sensory systems. Signals from the sensory systems relate to balance, vision, and muscle movement and allow an animal to maintain stable vision, posture, coordination, and motion. A variety of species were on Neurolab, including rats, mice, swordtail fish, toadfish, crickets, and snails. Such experiments help scientists develop computer models so they can study how living organisms change while in space, including how their development and growth are affected. Studies on the brains, bones, muscles, and hearts of animals in space help scientists keep track of the effects that the space environment has on humans.

NASA Pulls Out of Bion Mission

In the United States, animals used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are protected under regulations outlined in the "Principles for the Ethical Care and Use of Animals." In the mid-1990s, NASA was criticized by animal rights activists for participating in the Bion 11 and Bion 12 missions. The Bion programs were cooperative ventures between the United States, Russia, and France, and were intended to study the effects of low gravity and space radiation on primates such as monkeys. Activists claimed, however, that these studies were unnecessary because humans were already safely spending extended periods of time in space.

In December 1996, the Bion 11 satellite sent two rhesus monkeys into space, and they returned to Earth safely two weeks later. But the day after their return, one of the monkeys died after it had an adverse reaction to anesthesia when researchers where trying to surgically remove bone and muscle tissue samples. The second monkey also had an adverse reaction, although it survived. The Bion missions were the first that involved placing animals under anesthesia immediately upon returning to Earth after spending extended periods of time in a low-gravity atmosphere.

NASA investigated the Bion mission and determined that the monkeys were at a great risk when exposed to the anesthesia so soon after returning to Earth. Because of this risk, NASA declared that the United States would not participate in Bion 12 or any other future Bion missions.

see also Life Support (volume 3); Primate, Non-Human (volume 3).

Julie L. McDowell

Bibliography

National Research Council. Space Science Board. Human Factors in Long-Duration Spaceflight. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1972.

Internet Resources

The Brain in Space: A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Neuroscience. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. <http://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/Curriculum.Support/Life.Science/Biology/The.Brain.in.Space/index.html>.

"NASA Suspends Future Participation in Bion Missions." American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology. <http://www.asgsb.org/newsletter/v13_2/bion.html>.

animals were employed by every combatant country for a variety of tasks, including transporting supplies (see logistics), hauling artillery, finding mines, and as mascots.

General Slim listed carrier pigeons, dogs, ponies, mules, horses, bullocks, buffaloes, and elephants as all being used by his Fourteenth Army in the Burma campaign. His elephant companies helped build hundreds of bridges as well as laying log causeways, launching ships, and transporting supplies. The Japanese used elephants to transport mortars and ammunition during their advance into Burma from Thailand in 1941 and they used a column of 350 of them during their Imphal offensive in March 1944. The British prized them highly and managed to capture more than 1,600 from the Japanese.

During the North African campaign the British Royal Army Service Corps formed animal transport companies which each contained 308 load-carrying mules. As every mule could carry 72 kg. (160 lb.) this gave each company the ability to ‘lift’ about 22 tons. Mules were also used extensively during the Sicilian and Italian campaigns with the Fifth US Army employing fifteen Italian pack trains totalling nearly 4,000 mules in the Apennines during the last winter of the war. In Italy the French Expeditionary Corps, whose North African Goums were skilled in mountain warfare, were almost entirely reliant on them for their logistics.

But, as in the First World War, the horse was the most commonly used animal in combat. Cavalry was more widely employed than might be supposed and two American generals, Patton and Truscott, were convinced that if they had had a cavalry division during the Sicilian campaign they could have prevented Axis forces from escaping across the Straits of Messina. The French and the Poles used cavalry units during the first months of the war, as did the British. The last cavalry charge of the war probably took place in November 1941, when the Red Army's 44th Mongolian Cavalry Division was wiped out near the village of Musino by a German infantry division during the German–Soviet war, but the Red Army, as well as the Germans (see Soviet exiles at war) and Japanese, continued to use cavalry divisions throughout the war for patrolling and mopping-up operations.

Horses were most commonly used for hauling guns and transport wagons, with the German Army relying on them the most. In 1939 a German infantry division required between 4,077 and 6,033 horses to move, and even panzer divisions used them. The Germans assembled 625,000 horses for the invasion of the USSR in June 1941 (see BARBAROSSA). Of these 180,000 were lost during the first winter. The casualty rates for horses on the Eastern Front were staggeringly high, with the USSR, which also used horses extensively until Lend-Lease trucks became available, losing two-thirds of its 21 million horses.

Dogs were used for patrol and guard duties—one was reportedly parachuted on operations mounted by the Special Air Service—and in the Pacific war scout dogs were trained to detect Japanese troops at 27 m. (30 yd.) in all conditions and sometimes as far away as 275 m. (300 yd.). The UK and USSR also trained dogs to detect mines, engineers using them throughout the Normandy campaign of June– August 1944, and later in the Netherlands. One Soviet mine dog, called Zucha, apparently found 2,000 mines in 18 days. The Red Army also used dogs to destroy German tanks by training them to crawl under them. An explosive charge with a trigger device was strapped to the animal's back and when the trigger device touched the tank's underside it detonated the 11.8 kg. (26 lb.) charge. During the Stalingrad and Kursk battles 25 tanks were destroyed by dogs, but the method proved a double-edged weapon as the animals, having been trained with Soviet tanks, were more inclined to crawl under them than under German ones. An astonishing variety of animals was kept by many members of the armed forces of the combatant nations as pets and mascots, but perhaps the most unusual was Wojtek, a brown bear cub acquired by soldiers of Anders' Army in Persia. Wojtek saw action during the battle for Monte Cassino with the 22nd Transport Company of the Polish Army Service Corps when he helped move ammunition boxes. After the war he was given to Edinburgh zoo and lived to the age of 22.

Bibliography

Cooper, J. , Animals in War (London, 1983).
Williams, J. H. , Elephant Bill (London, 1950).

Animals. The resemblances between many animals and humans, not least in their dependence on food and air, has given to animals a special status in all religions. Thus it has been widely believed that suprahuman realities, not least divine and diabolic, can take on the form of animals. They can also epitomize, in the form of totems, the networks of relationship which constitute a human society. Bearing, as they do, the obvious signs of vitality, animals have been a major part of sacrifice, becoming instrumental in expressing the many needs which humans have felt in their relation to God and to each other. Some religions (e.g. Islam) have retained animal sacrifice (ʿId al-Aḍḥā), but others have reacted strongly against the efficacy of such acts (e.g. Buddhism and Jainism). However, even in religions where the sacrifice of animals has taken, or does take, place, animals may be given a high and revered status. Judaism and Islam emphasize that they come from the hand of the Creator, and while they are to some extent given to humans for their use and food (e.g. Qurʾān 16. 5–8), this is within limits, and must always be in the context of kindness. Among Hindus, there is a controlling sense that that which alone is truly real (whether conceived of as Brahman or as God) underlies and guarantees the subsistence of all appearance: ‘This form is the source and indestructible seed of innumerable incarnations within the cosmos, and from it the appearances of all different living beings are created, heavenly beings, animals, humans, and all other kinds.… Thus you should regard deer, camels, monkeys, donkeys, rats, reptiles, birds and flies as though they are your own children’ (Śrimad-Bhagavatam). This underlying attitude is epitomized in the sacred cow (go). Not surprisingly, animals can be the focus of worship and in particular can be the forms of incarnation (avatāra). The principle of ahiṃsā, emphasized and reinforced among Jains and Buddhists, led to a strong preference for vegetarianism (for this issue in general, see FOOD). An attempt to mobilize the resources of religion for greater care of the environment and of animals within it was made in the Assisi meetings and declarations in 1986.

animals. From the time of the earliest Celtic traditions at Hallstatt and La Tène, certain animals had continuous associations in iconography and in storytelling. Shape-shifting gods and heroes transformed themselves into animals. In Celtic Christianity some saints, such as St Pol of Brittany, were thought to have power over the animals, while others, Sts Ailbe and Ciwa, were thought to be suckled by animals (wolves), as was Bairre, an ancestor of Amairgin. See BADGER; BEAR; BIRDS; BOAR; BULL; CAT; COCK; COW; DOG; OTTER; RAM; STAG; SWAN. The boar held a special place in Celtic iconography from earliest times, while the Continental Celts seem to have given most esteem to the horned, stag-like god Cernunnos. Anne Ross devotes a lengthy chapter to divine animals in early Celtic art in Pagan Celtic Britain (London, 1967), 297–353. See also BIRDS; FISH.

animals According to the Creation myth (Gen. 1: 28) humanity was given dominion over all sentient beings. This has often been accepted as divine authority for treating animals as property for food, religious sacrifices, and sport. Modern animal lovers in Western countries are inclined to reject this understanding of the text and respond with a moral generosity which believes that the rich and powerful have no absolute power but rather a duty to protect those parts of the Creation which are vulnerable and powerless. In the OT world wealth was measured by the size of herds (Job 1: 3) and religious zeal by sacrifices (Deut. 15: 21). In Christian worship animal sacrifices are abolished (Heb. 10: 4) by reason of Christ's perfect sacrifice.

animals. Because of its belief in rebirth, the Buddhist view of animals is more sympathetic than the traditional Western one. The fact that human and animal forms are seen as interchangeable leads to a greater feeling of kinship between them. For this reason, together with the ethical principle of ahiṃsā, many Buddhists are vegetarians (see diet). At the same time it is recognized that humans and animals are by no means equal. An animal rebirth is lower on the hierarchical scale (see six realms of rebirth) and to be reborn as an animal is seen as a great misfortune and due to the accumulation of bad karma.