Animal artifacts and products

Things that animals make often appear in symbolism. The bird's nest is perhaps the most common symbol in this category, with perhaps the honey-comb or bee-hive second. Other animal created structures include the beaver's dam, the hornets' nest, the tunnel of the mole, the fox-hole, and the spider web. Termite nest, ant colony, dung ball (scarab) and sea-shell also have symbolic values. Quite a special class of symbols derive from creatures' economic products: silk, pearl and coral for ornamentation; milk and honey as human food; musk and ambergris for perfumes; and numerous others including guano and manure, sponge and caviar, and horn and ivory.

The symbolic meanings of animal artifacts and products are commonplaces. To the above items may be added furs and skins. To the primitive mind, from the Paleolithic era to modern times, the fur and skin of animals has had magical symbolic significance. This increases fur and leather demand, and hence increases the slaughter of wild animals and endangered species.