ABSTRACT
This chapter offers some insights about human involvement with animals in situations of immigration and exile as well as in the context of large-group issues such as national identity, ethnic conflict, and war. Large-group animal symbols which are used as childhood suitable reservoirs have intimate relationships within all children's, as well as adults', internal worlds. Man's relationship to animals is culture-bound and is subject to change with alterations in his environment. This is especially true of migration from predominantly agrarian societies to industrialized nations, but it is also valid for migrations from rural areas to large cities within the same country. Many national or ethnic groups' identities are represented by animal symbols. The symbolic significance of animals is sometimes obvious and primal, such as those associated with fertility, warfare, wisdom, or specific behaviors, while in other cases animals are used as symbols for complex and abstract ideas and beliefs.
