Lycanthropy - Regional Varieties

Regional Varieties

Although the term lycanthropy properly speaking refers to metamorphosis into a wolf (see werewolf), lycanthropy is in popular practice used of transformation into any animal, even though the proper term is therianthropy. In India and the Asian islands the tiger is the most common form; in North Europe, the bear (see berserker); in Japan, the fox, tanuki (raccoon dog), and sometimes a wolf; in Africa, the leopard, hyena, or lion; and in South America, the jaguar. Though there is a tendency for the most important carnivorous animal of the area to take the first place in stories and beliefs as to transformation, the less important beasts of prey and even harmless animals like the deer or rabbit also figure prominently among the were-animals. Other cases are the were-shark of Polynesia and were-crocodile of Indonesia and Egypt.