Book of Mormon/Animals

FAIR Answers Wiki Table of Contents

Animals or possible animal products referred to in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Criticisms related to animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon
• Horses in the Book of Mormon
• The ass or donkey in the Book of Mormon
• Bees in the Book of Mormon
• Cattle in the Book of Mormon
• Elephants in the Book of Mormon
• Sheep in the Book of Mormon
• Goats in the Book of Mormon
• Silk or Silkworms and the Book of Mormon
• Swine in the Book of Mormon
• Cureloms and Cumoms in the Book of Mormon
• Serpents in the Book of Mormon
• Lions in the Book of Mormon
• Moths in the Book of Mormon
• Hens in the Book of Mormon

Criticisms related to animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Is it possible that Joseph Smith simply added the Book of Ether to the Book of Mormon as an "afterthought" in order to explain the variety of animals in the New World?

Horses in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why are horses considered an anachronism in the Book of Mormon?
• Question: What is the origin of the modern horse in the New World?
• Verses in the Book of Mormon that talk about "horses"
• Question:What role do horses not play in the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Have any ancient horse remains from the Nephite period been found in the New World?
• Question: Why don't potential pre-Columbian horse remains in the New World receive greater attention from scientists?
• Question: Could ancient Americans have expanded the definition of "horse" to include new meanings?
• "Pottery and other cultural materials were found in levels VII and above. But in some of those artifact-bearing strata there were horse bones, even in level II."
• Martin: "no theoretical reason why a herd of mastodons, horses, or ground sloths could not have survived in some small refuge until 8000 or even 4000 years ago"
• Grayson: "extinct North American mammals...losses began in Mexico and Alaska during the Pleistocene and ended in Florida perhaps as recently as 2000 years ago"
• Bernardino de Sahagun: "Fodder was provided the deer—horses—which the Spaniards rode"
• Sorenson: Horse bones in Yucatan "considered to be pre-Columbian on the basis of depth of burial and degree of mineralization"
• Question: Do Mormon apologists claim that the horse referred to in the Book of Mormon is actually a deer or tapir?

The ass or donkey in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why is the "Ass" (Donkey) mentioned in the Book of Mormon?

Bees in the Book of Mormon

Summary: Among the supposed Book of Mormon anachronisms is the mention of “bees” (Ether 2:3)...It should be noted firstly that the Book of Mormon's use of the term "bees" occurs in an Old World (Jaredite) setting, it is never used in connection with the New World.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Did the Jaredites bring swarms of bees across the ocean in their barges
• Padilla et al.: "The maya codex Tro-Cortesianus shows drawings of bees and parts of honey combs"
• Head: "The indigenous American bee is the melipona (a stingless bee). It produces only about one kilogram of honey per year"
• Ronan James Head, "A Brief Survey of Ancient Near Eastern Beekeeping"

Cattle in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Sorenson: "The Miami Indians, for example, were unfamiliar with the buffalo and simply called them 'wild cows'"
• Miller and Roper: "Bones of domesticated cattle...have been reported from different caves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico"
• Pietro Martire d'Anghiera (1912): "the Spaniards noticed herds of deer similar to our herds of cattle"

Elephants in the Book of Mormon

Summary: Elephants are only present in Jaredite times in the Book of Mormon. Both mammoths and gomphotheres are elephant-like creatures that are plausible candidates which may have lived up until Jaredite times.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: In what context are elephants mentioned in the Book of Mormon?
• Wikipedia: Mammoths "were members of the family Elephantidae"
• Johnson: "Probably it is safe to say that American Proboscidea have been extinct for a minimum of 3000 years"
• Miller and Roper: "This was long enough to bring them (mammoths) to the time of the Jaredites"
• Miller and Roper: "Evidence for the survival of the elephant can be found in Native American myths and traditions"

Sheep in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Miller and Roper: "there are sheep native to America. The most common type is the Mountain Sheep, Ovis canadensis"
• Wikipedia: Bighorn sheep "crossed to North America over the Bering land bridge"
• Interpreter Foundation Blog, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives"

Goats in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Miller and Roper: "Evidence of goats associated with pre-Columbian man also comes from caves in Yucatan"
• Miller and Roper: "In post-biblical Jewish literature some Jewish writers distinguished between wild and domestic cattle such as goats"

Silk or Silkworms and the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Sorenson: Linen and silk textiles in ancient America
• Armitage: "It is suggested by de Ávila Blomberg that wild silk was used in Oaxaca in pre-Columbian times"

Swine in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Why would the Book of Mormon mention swine if they were living the Law of Moses?
• Miller and Roper: "two distinct species of peccary live in Mesoamerica....They were hunted and eaten as early as Olmec times"
• Sorenson: "There is an animal which they call chic, wonderfully active, as large as a small dog, with a snout like a sucking pig. The Indian women raise them"

Cureloms and Cumoms in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Is the mention of "cureloms" and "cumons" a Book of Mormon anachronism?

Serpents in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Does the Book of Mormon accurately represent the behavior of serpents during a drought?
• John Tvedtnes, "Drought and Serpents"

Lions in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Are lions anachronistic to the Book of Mormon?

Moths in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Are moths anachronistic to the Book of Mormon?

Hens in the Book of Mormon

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Are hens anachronistic to the Book of Mormon?

Video

Part(s) of this issue are addressed in a FairMormon video segment. Click here to see video clips on other topics.
NB: Please note that reference is made to a potential pre-Columbian horse, the so-called "Spencer Lake," horse skull. This has now been determined to have been a fraud or hoax, and should not be considered evidence for the Book of Mormon account.