The animal itself
Salmon navigate thousands of kilometres to the exact stream they hatched in, using an imprinted memory of its smell plus the earth's magnetic field. Most die within weeks of arriving.2 of 2 calendars · 80 searches a month
Salmon
The salmon is read as returning to the source against the current. It appears in both of the birth calendars we cover. The two are presented online as interchangeable, yet they name the same animal on only 17 days of 365 — 4.7% of the year.
Which calendar assigns it, and when
Celtic calendar
5 August – 1 September
Its tree
Hazel
Native American calendar
22 July – 21 August
Its zodiac sign
Leo
Unusual: salmon appears in both calendars. The two systems agree on only 17 days of the year out of 365, so an animal claimed by both is the exception rather than the rule.
What it stands for, and where that came from
Returning to the source against the current — the only animal in either calendar defined by going back rather than forward.
Honoured in: Irish myth makes the salmon the holder of all knowledge; Pacific Northwest nations treat its return as the central annual event.
Counted across all 39 animals
Where the salmon sits
22/39
animals here carry a birth-date range. The other 17 are symbols
people choose, not ones a date assigns.
4.7%
of the year — 17 days out of 365 —
is where the two calendars name the same animal. The rest of the time they
disagree.
29th
most looked-up of the 39 animals we cover.
Both calendars are published online as though interchangeable. They are not, and the disagreement is the reason two sites can give you different animals for the same birthday. How the two calendars differ →
Searched about as often
Salmon is ranked 29 of 39 by search demand. Of all 39 animals here, 22 sit in one of the two birth-date calendars and 17 are searched as symbols only.