Zoomorphic figurine, Yurugu figurine

The figurine depicts a pale fox (Vulpes pallida), a predatory mammal from the canine family found in Africa in the Sahel zone. It is small, with an elongated narrow muzzle, similar to a fennec in shape, but with longer legs and smaller, more rounded ears. Its fur is light grey and its tail is red and fluffy. In Dogon country, it is often mistakenly called a jackal.Under the form of a pale fox hides Yurugu (Ogo), one of Amma's descendants. The Creator of the world turned Yurugu into a fox to punish him for the incest he committed when he became intimate with Earth, his mother, which disrupted the entire process of creation. The body of a small animal moving on four paws is a testimony to the fall of Yurugu, who was doomed to search for his twin sister without success. Although Yurugu is a negative character in Dogon mythology, he proved to be an important factor leading to the development of life on Earth. Indeed, the world in which the Dogon live was created as the result of the opposing actions of Yurugu and Amma. The jackal Yurugu is held in high esteem among the Dogon. At the beginning of each rainy season, the fortune-tellers celebrate Bulu Yurugu, i.e. his festival. It is to give thanks for the divinations received the past year and to renew the covenant made by the first male diviner and the fox. When the Dogon find the body of a dead pale fox in the bush, they give it a burial like a human. Its remains are wrapped in cotton strips and hidden in a cleft in the rock.The figurine was a part of a divination set.

Ewa Prądzyńska