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Throughout account , various animals have been link with death . But why have sealed creatures become synonymous with the final stage of life ? Some are known for feasting on the dead , while others have a more nebulous connection to the Grim Reaper . From dragonflies to hornbills , here are seven animals that have been historically associated with dying and the hereafter in differentcultures .
Hornbills
The southerly ground hornbill ( Bucorvus leadbeateri ) is a carnivorous bird that hunt for minuscule animal and insects and isfound across grassland , savannah and receptive forest area .
The bright - beaked Hunter are learn as bringers of death and demolition in nine commonwealth across southern and easterly Africa , according to a 2014 survey of 98 people described in theJournal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine . In general , hoi polloi consider the southerly hornbill to be a regretful omen . In Zimbabwe and Malawi , some people guess that a hornbill perching on the roof of a domicile would bring bad luck to the house ’s occupants , the report reported . If hornbill are spot in grouping of odd numbers , it is considered a sign of death . In Tanzania , the chick is perceived as a toter of dead soul and angry spirit .
Dragonflies
In Japan , blood-red dragonflies ( Sympetrum frequens ) come forth as adults from downcast grasslands and migrate up to high mickle to feed . Their abundance grow in the beginning of autumn where they condescend from the mountains to breeding ground at low level .
This timing falls perfectly in line with the summertime festival of Obon , which celebrates spirits of the dead return to visit their make love ones . The large cherry skeeter hawk were view as messengers of these spirits , allot to a 1959ethnographic study .
Vultures
It ’s no surprise that vultures make the list of fauna colligate with death . predator use their incrediblesense of smellto discover carrion from more than a mile away . And their penchant for encircle carcase while in flying and pluck the flesh off from carcasses does n’t help .
Surprisingly , however , in ancient Egypt , the marauder was seen as a symbol of cleanliness within the rope of living and last . accord to theRoyal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland , vultures became the emblem of the deity , Maut , or " the mother of all . " Ancient Egyptians may have trust that all vultures were female and ad libitum born from orchis . This led to the vulture being worn as a headdress by the wives of Pharaoh of Egypt and by female pharaohs for protection .
Some civilization see vulture as holy ways to throw away of the dead . A Zoroastrian residential area in India known as the Parsis , as well as Vajrayana Buddhists in Tibet rely on vultures to exhaust their dead in a practice session have intercourse as " sky burial , " according to theScience History Institute Museum and Libraryin Philadelphia .
Crows (Corvus sp.) are highly intelligent birds commonly associated with death.
Bats
In some cultures , batshave long been colligate with end .
For example , the Māori citizenry of New Zealand , associate bats with the hokioi , a mythical nocturnal bird that is read to foretell last . consort toThe Raupo Book of Maori Proverbs , a common locution was " the bat fly at twilight , the hokioi fell at nighttime . " Legend has it that the bird had never been witness , only get word in the night by its screams in the darkness .
It ’s potential the hokioi was actually a now - out bird known as theHaast ’s eagle(Hieraaetus moorei ) , a wench of fair game that was big enough to havecarried off a minor child .
Southern ground hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeateri) are found solely in Africa.
Owls
Owls may be associated with death in part because they are largely nocturnal . In many cultures , they are symbolic representation of death and messengers sent by gods from the underworld , harmonize to the book " Owl " ( Reaktion Press , 2009 ) by Desmond Morris .
For illustration , in Roman mythology , the sound of an owl hoot is a sign of imminent death , accord to the book . Owls were believed to have predicted the death of several Romanist emperor butterfly , as their demise followed after the sound of an bird of night .
exchangeable impression were key out during an interviewsurveyconducted in the Highlands of Scotland of the Nyeri District of central Kenya . Seventy - two husbandman were interviewed at eight owl territories , with 2 to 12 interviews conducted per district . When asked , " What does your ethnical community believe about bird of night ? " , 76 % of farmers react by saying that an owl ’s cry get end .
An autumn darter dragonfly (Sympetrum frequens), found only in Japan.
Crows
Carrion Crows ( Corvus corone ) are highly intelligent birds that eat anything from berry to decompose flesh of dead brute . In Irish folklore , the Badb is one of a ternion of war goddesses that took the form of a line-shooting , according to a nineteenth - C article publish in theProceedings of the Royal Irish Academy . This folklore , the clause suggest , said she was capable to foreshadow bloodshed , which terrify soldier on the battlefield .
Rats
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A group of Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus).
rat are perhaps an unsurprising introduction to the list . The rodents carrymany pathogens , some of which are deadly .
For example , crumb were fault for the fourteenth - centuryBlack dying , which was cause by the feast of the bacteriaYersinia pestis . Until recently , masses opine that rats harbored fleas that conduct the pathogen . The pestilence ultimately vote down at least25 million peoplein Europe in only five years .
Studiesin recent days , however , paint a picture that rats were not theprimary disease vector . Rather , humans , and the flea and body insect they carried , led to most of the disease ’s feast .
The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)
A Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo)
Rats (Rattus sp.) are known for carrying many pathogens, some of which can be deadly.
