Tarand

The tarand appears in the corpus of classical natural-history writers rather than in a mythic cosmogony: Aristotle names a rare beast called tarandos in Scythia that changes the colour of its hair to its surroundings; Pliny and Aelian repeat and expand the marvel in their natural histories (placing it in Scythia), and Solinus records a related-sounding Parandrus in Aethiopia. Medieval and Renaissance authors (e.g., the York Mystery Cycle, Rabelais) inherit and adapt the creature from these classical attestations, using it both as a natural wonder and as a rhetorical or allegorical trope.

Classical descriptions present a large, sturdy ungulate about the size of an ox or bullock with a stag-like head bearing branched/branching horns, cloven hooves, very long hair likened to that of a bear, and an exceptionally tough hide. Pliny and later writers emphasize the hide's toughness (noting its use in making breast-plates and covering shields). The overall impression in the sources is of a heavily built, hairy, horned beast with armour-like skin.

The central extraordinary trait reported in the sources is the ability to change external colour — Aristotle and Pliny describe the tarand taking on the colours of trees, shrubs, grass, rocks and the ground so as to be difficult to catch. Pliny explicitly compares the tarand to the chameleon and to other colour-changing animals (polypus, certain wolves/Lycaon). Aelian and Rabelais amplify the account: Aelian stresses transformation of hair as well as skin into many colours, and Rabelais gives anecdotal, quasi-volitional instances (the animal turning grey near one person, red near another; shifting through green, yellow, blue, tawny and purple over time). The classical authors treat the trait as a natural marvel rather than a supernatural power; behaviourally the colour-change is often linked to fear and hiding.