Zoomorphism

"Zoomorph" redirects here. For the toy line, see Zoomorphs.

Zoomorphic decoration from the Book of Kells

Zoomorphism is the shaping of something in animal form or terms. Examples include:

• Art that imagines humans as non-human animals
• Art that portrays one species of animal like another species of animal
• Art that creates patterns using animal imagery, or animal style
• Deities depicted in animal form, such as exist in ancient Egyptian religion
• Cartozoology: The science of discovering and studying animals street layouts as they appear in maps.
• Therianthropy: the ability to shapeshift into animal form
• The tendency of viewing human behaviour in terms of the behaviour of animals, analogous to anthropomorphism, which views animal behaviour in human terms

The word derives from the Greek ζωον (zōon), meaning animal, and μορφη (morphē), meaning shape or form.

Examples

Zoomorphic representation in religion

• The appearance of the Holy Spirit as a dove in the New Testament.
• Mark the Evangelist as a lion in later Christian iconography.
• The Egyptian gods were often depicted as zoomorphic or as hybrid

Zoomorphism in literature

• In 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck, Lennie is described as a bear, "...and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws."

Zoomorphic language for things, ideas

• A literary phrase such as "The roar of the ocean".
• Sin lurking like a beast waiting to devour Cain in Genesis.

Other

• Fenrisulfr, a wolf in Norse mythology
• Airavata, the king god of elephants in Indian mythology.
• Clawfoot bathtub, with feet in the shape of a lion's paws
• The sphinx from the "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles
• Elephantine Colossus, a hotel
• Equestropomorphism, animating objects that take the actions of a horse. For instance, in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the army that fights the Nazis is composed of anthropomorphized knightly body armor and equestropomorphized horse armor.
• In The Flintstones and Night at the Museum, the dinosaurs Dino and "Rexy" behave and vocalize like dogs.
• Robotic pets, like AIBO, modeled on dogs or other animals
• In 2010 city planners from Southern Sudan, which would become independent a year later, unveiled plans for the city center of its capital, Juba, to be built in the shape of a rhinoceros. The city of Wau was to be transformed in the shape of a giraffe.