Armenia – Animals
Because of Turkifization Turkey has removed the Armenian nams of places and animals – what is Armenian cat they call Turkish.
Armenian Dog:
Aralez
Aralezes (also Aralezner in plural; in Armenian: Արալեզ) are dog-like creatures, or spirits, in Armenian cultural beliefs or in the Armenian mythology, who live in the sky, or on mount Massis (Mount Ararat), according to other imaginations.
Armenians believed that aralezes descended from the sky to lick the wounds of fallen or injured warriors of armenian troops and heroes so they could relive or resurrect. Name of this spirit-dogs was taken from Ara the Beatiful as they were praised with Ara the Beautiful and Shamiram (Semiramis) in Old Armenia.
According to Armenian historians, when Mushegh Mamikonyan died, his relatives placed his corpse on a tower, hoping that aralezes would lick and revive him. Also, a similar event had taken place before this, when aralezes had licked and revived Ara the Beautiful, king of Armenia, that was killed in war with Assyria (Semiramis loved him and let warriors to brought him).
In the Armenian history, is told that the last event was probably a sort of lie, uttered by Shamiram, Ara the Beautiful’s lover, who had killed Ara accidentally during war, and had told Ara’s people that his corpse was placed on mountains, where aralezes would revive him. But she had chosen a man who looked like Ara, had dressed him like Ara, and had lied to the people that this last was alive.
Armenian Gampr is a landrace breed native to the Armenian Highlands. It sits within the Ovcharka group of livestock guardian dogs which can be found throughout the Transcaucasus area. Gamprs differ by their vital capacity, independence, mind, strong self-preservation instinct, capacity for trustworthy defense and protection of livestock, and exclusive friendliness to humans. The Gamprs are very tied to people, especially those dogs that live in human houses, considering themselves a family or pack member.
The modern Gampr has changed little within the history of its existence in Armenian Highlands. It is one of few natural breeds not subjected to hard selection by phenotype. They preserved the genetic variation that other dog breeds had initially. This genetic variation was promoted by spontaneous and, in some cases, intentional periodic matings with locally indigenous wolves (still present).
This breed’s head is large, well-outlined and well-developed but lacks prominent cheekbones. The back is wide, straight, muscular and strong. At the withers, the height in male dogs is 65 centimetres (26 in) or more, and in female dogs is 62 centimetres (24 in) or more. Weight corresponds to the total size of the dog, and usually varies from 45 to 60 kilograms (99 to 132 lb).
The Armenian Gampr has a well-developed undercoat, in order to protect it under harsh conditions. Depending upon the coat length, there are two types: long-haired, with long top hairs, and short-haired, with dense, relatively short hair. A brown or piebald coat is undesirable according to the breed standard.
Gampr dogs are not trained, instead performing the necessary functions naturally. The Armenian word “Gampr” means “watchdog”, but the same breed may instead be called a “gelkheht” (from “gel” – “wolf” and “khekhtel” – “to choke”) if it is predisposed to be used as a wolfhound; a bear-hunting dog is known as “archashoon” (“bear-dog”); an avalanche dog is named “potorkashoon”, and a shepherd dog is named “hovvashoon”.
The Armenian Gampr is not recognized by any of the major kennel clubs or other fancier organisations around the world. The path to recognition by these larger organizations is begun by small breed clubs who later apply to the larger breed clubs for recognition.
In 2006, Rohana Mayer began the Armenian Gampr Club of America in order to begin the conservation of the breed. The AGCA has created a registry and pedigree database including health information, and evaluations for individuals within the breed to maintain consistency with historically correct type, and breed dogs of the highest quality. Rohana Mayer collected DNA samples, and paid for the genetic analysis of the breed with Embark Vet, the most thorough and in-depth dog DNA analysis group in the world.
As an offshoot of the Armenian Gampr Club of America, The Armenian Gampr Club of Canada began soon after. In April 2011, a new organisation called the International Kennel Union (IKU), but acts in 17 countries, including Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and others, officially recognized the Armenian Gampr as Armenia’s national dog breed.
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Armenian Shepherds: the Gampr – Deified as Aralez
Armenian Cat:
Van was an Armenian city, but were cleansed through the genocide
Armenian Horse:
The Mitanni were closely associated with horses. The name of the country of Ishuwa, which might have had a substantial Hurrian population, meant “horse-land”. A famous text discovered at Hattusa deals with the training of horses. The man who was responsible for the horse-training was a Hurrian called Kikkuli.
Kikkuli, “master horse trainer (assussanni, virtually Sanskrit aśva-sana-) of the land Mitanni” (LÚA-AŠ-ŠU-UŠ-ŠA-AN-NI ŠA KUR URUMI-IT-TA-AN-NI) was the author of a chariot horse training text written in the Hittite language, dating to the Hittite New Kingdom (around 1400 BC). The text is notable both for the information it provides about the development of Indo-European languages and for its content.
The terminology used in connection with horses contains many Indo-Aryan loan-words (Mayrhofer, 1974). Some theonyms, proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni exhibit an Indo-Aryan superstrate, suggesting that an Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the Hurrian population in the course of the Indo-Aryan expansion.
Cradle of Civilization 
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