Zoomorphism

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^[1]
• 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^[2]
• Therianthropy: the ability to shapeshift into animal form^[3]
• Attributing animal form or other animal characteristics to anything other than an animal; similar to but broader than anthropomorphism
• The tendency of viewing human behaviour in terms of the behaviour of animals, contrary to anthropomorphism, which views animal or non-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

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.^[4]

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.
• Aslan in The Lion,The Witch and The Wardrobe is a lion that is the king of Narnia
• 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.^[5]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Animal-shaped objects.