Some of these ghosts were responsible for transforming ordinary humans into man-eating weretigers. Alternatively, the ghosts of people who had been killed by tigers could become a malevolent supernatural being known as "Chang" (伥), devoting all their energy to making sure that tigers killed more humans. Chinese legends often describe weretigers as the victims of either a hereditary curse or a vindictive ghost. These tales travelled through the rest of India and into Persia through travellers who encountered the royal Bengal tigers of India and then further west. In India, the weretiger is often a dangerous sorcerer, portrayed as a menace to livestock, who might at any time turn to man-eating. Mainland Asian werecats usually become tigers. Huge paw prints were found to be much larger than any known big-cat, but Hitchens dismissed the case, believing it more likely to be a lion with gigantism. No actual evidence of such a creature existing has ever been documented, but in 1938 a British administrator named William Hitchens, working in Tanzania, was told by locals that a monstrous cat had been attacking people at night. The Nunda are believed by some to be a variation of therianthrope that, by day, is a human, but by night becomes the werecat. Many of these tales say it is more ferocious than a Lion and more agile than a Leopard. In Africa, there are folk tales that speak of the "Nunda," or the "Mngwa," a big cat of immense size that stalks villages at night. Such a being may have been a king or queen in a former life. In reference to werecats who turn into lions, the ability is often associated with royalty. When these gods mate with humans, offspring can be produced, and these children sometimes grow up to be shapeshifters those who don't transform may instead have other powers. In the case of leopards, this is often because the creature is really a leopard deity masquerading as a human. Africa Īfrican legends describe werelions, werepanthers or wereleopards. During the witch trials, all shapeshifters, including werewolves, were considered witches whether they were male or female. They are generally labelled witches, even though they may have no magical ability other than self-transformation. Some European werecats became giant domestic cats or panthers. Folklore Europe Įuropean folklore usually depicts werecats as people who transform into domestic cats. Werecats are increasingly featured in popular culture, although not as often as werewolves. ĭepending on the story in question, the species involved can be a domestic cat, a tiger, a lion, a leopard, a lynx, or any other type, including some that are purely mythical felines. Īiluranthrope is a lesser-known term that refers to a feline therianthrope. Its root word ailouros is also used in ailurophilia, the most common term for a deep love of cats. A werecat (also written in a hyphenated form as were-cat) is an analog to " werewolf" for a feline therianthropic creature.Īiluranthropy comes from the Greek root words ailouros meaning "cat",< and anthropos, meaning "human" and refers to human/feline transformations, or to other beings that combine feline and human characteristics.
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