Venezualian Mythology

Wako

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Tradition / Region: Colombian Mythology, Venezuelan Mythology
Alternative names: —
Category: Cave dweller

The Myth

The Wako are animal spirits that resemble large pacas covered in spots, with long, vicious fangs. They live underground in large groups, digging extensive burrows filled with small entrances, passages, and places where they can hide. Their presence can be recognized by their distinctive call, which sounds like ao, ao, ao, ao.

The Wako are flesh-eating creatures that also prey upon humans. Anyone who enters their underground dwellings is pursued through the tunnels and devoured. They have one unusual weakness, however: they will not chase a person who is completely naked.

According to one story, a Cuiva man whose wife had left him decided to enter a Wako burrow, despite his son’s attempts to stop him. He began digging into a hole where a Wako had been seen. As he reached into the opening with his hand and quickly pulled it back, the disturbance frightened the creatures inside.

The Wako rushed from their burrow, calling ao, ao, ao, ao, and attacked the man. When they had finished, nothing remained of him.

Another story tells of a man whose pregnant wife had been killed and eaten by the Wako. Seeking revenge, he entered their underground dwelling and fought the creatures inside. He succeeded in destroying the entire nest of Wako.

Sources

Countess Sica. “Wako.” A Book of Creatures. March 25, 2019. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://abookofcreatures.com/2019/03/25/wako/

Auñ Pana

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Tradition / Region: Yanomami Mythology, Brazilian Mythology, Venezualian Mythology
Alternate Names: Pehiwetinome
Category: Fish

The Myth

In the deep waters of the Yanomami world dwell the Auñ Pana, enormous fish feared by all who travel rivers and crossings. Though they are fish, they bear arms like humans, and their bodies are covered in coarse hair. They are said to possess dark, uncanny powers, and their hunger is for human flesh.

The Auñ Pana do not swim alone. They move in schools with creatures known as the Pehiwetinome, beings just as vast and just as murderous as themselves. Together they haunt the deepest waters, waiting for the careless or the unlucky.

Once, a group of Yanomami people attempted to cross a bridge spanning the river. As they passed over it, Auñ Pana and Pehiwetinome rose from below and began to bite through the wooden supports. Their teeth tore the bridge apart until it collapsed into the water, breaking into a drifting raft.

Some of the Yanomami survived the fall, but they did not remain human. In the aftermath of the destruction, they were transformed into monkeys and pigs, condemned to live forever changed.

Thus the Auñ Pana are remembered as beings of the depths who devour flesh, destroy human works, and blur the boundary between human and animal through terror and transformation.

Sources

A Book of Creatures contributors. (n.d.). Aun-pana. In A Book of Creatures, from https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/09/11/aun-pana/