Wolves and Coyotes
Wolves and Coyotes
Creators and Tricksters
This chapter focuses on an intriguing aspect of the relationship of humans with wolves in North America and parts of eastern Siberia—that wolves are considered “creator” figures, suggesting that they played an important role in the way humans conceived of themselves as they adapted to new environmental conditions. Thus, wolves could function as both teacher and creator to peoples who were willing to respect wolves as hunters and pay attention to the examples they set. A related trope, often confused with the creator figure, is the idea of smaller canids such as coyotes and foxes as “trickster” figures. The chapter then addresses why tricksters among many American tribes are scavengers and omnivores, for example, coyotes and ravens, occupying an ecological mediating position between herbivores and carnivores and “in between” in terms of subsistence strategies.
Keywords: humans, wolves, North America, creator figures, coyotes, foxes, trickster figures, American tribes, scavengers, omnivores
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