A bonnacon’s defensive tactics in medieval natural history

Abstract

The bonnacon, an animal described in the medieval bestiary, when pursued by hunters, squirts a cloud of boiling dung at them, wounding both dogs and men. Another bestiary animal, the onager, also used its dung in a deceptive way to avoid pursuit. These defensive tactics can be related to similar tactics reported in medieval sources for two birds, the grey heron ( Ardea cinerea) and the little bustard ( Tetrax tetrax) when attacked by hunters’ falcons. Was the fabled defensive behaviour of the bonnacon transferred to a completely different species when passing through the medium of experti, huntsmen, foresters and falconers, where the actions of animals were observed but not correctly interpreted as to cause and effect? This paper traces the bonnacon in late medieval history and studies the apparent portability of its defensive behaviour among different species.