The green or copper snake is though a symbol of healing and medical knowledge.

Predators, like the lion, cause fear because all they do is kill animals. But they are said to be useful by killing the sick, weak and elderly wildebeests, antelopes, and water buffalo, they are in fact preserving the strong and healthy and thus benefitting those species. Maybe some could say the same thing about the SARS-Cov-2 virus. It appears to be targeting the weak, sick, and elderly, and so some would say that it is strengthening the human species. In the same consideration to the lion, should more respect be given to the virus, and maybe this is why some countries are supporting "herd-immunity." I personally don't agree, but then it is food for thought.

I suggest the copper snake

That is a snake symbolizing poisonous and evil works on all mediums.

If you are interested in the wolf as evil symbolism in European culture, drop a note to Dave Mech (feel free to tell him I referred you) and ask if he has any copies of presentations at a Minnesota conference that took place back in the '80s, called "The Tale of the Wolf." I believe that one or more of the presentations dealt with that, and another person to write would be Valerius Geist in B.C.

Correction: The Minnesota conference was called "Unravelling the Tale of the Wolf." It was organized by Frank Onyellow and took place in 1977. I still think Dave Mech may be the best contact for tracking down presentations.

Indian mythology is full of references to various animals and reptiles There is a very strong and close-knit relationship between animals, men and gods including many natural elements as per the Vedic scriptures.

Please refer to this article for further references.

https://www.lntecc.com/homepage/documents/panchangam/2009_10.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199589425.001.0001

Often reptiles such as snakes, are misinterpreted as evil and diabolical creatures in many cultures worldwide. Which leads on killing many endangered snakes, and other legless lizards which look like snakes, and that affects in the whole ecosystem. Killing such harmless creatures, should be also considered as a threat to Envoirmental Security and Nature itself, which threatens directly and indirectly the animals kingdom chain.

There is, of course, the serpent in the Garden of Eden....

depends on a historical period the role of animals changes in the literature. you mentioned spiders in Persian literature spider from one angle is a mysterious subject which due to its characteristics has the knowledge but at the same time its home although based on complicated visuals and beautiful is very fragile and symbolizes the uncertainty of the wrld

The Franks Casket (7th cent.) here shows a death in battle bringing Valkyrie encountering the chosen warrior. In her horrifying appearance she is a winged animal mixbread (incluing a snake) dressed with a skirt, which refers to the human shape that she will adopt when she leads her hero to Walhal. For more just visit my website http://www.franks-casket.de/english/right01.html

Refer the poems of Ted Hughes. He is called as "animal poet".

You may have a look at (if you still haven’t) sections of larger publications/handbooks that discuss animal symbolism in world cultures, societies and art – most of them provide a comprehensive historical perspective on man’s relationship with particular animals, e.g.:

Dean Miller. Animals and Animal Symbols in World Culture. Cavendish Square Publishing, 2014, p. 122 & p. 124.

Hope B. Werness. Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in World Art. A&C Black, 2006, p. 380 & p. 385.

Salman Akhtar, Vamik D. Volkan, eds. Mental Zoo: Animals in the Human Mind and its Pathology. Routledge, 2018, chapters 7 & 8.

Consider the film The Hellstrom Chronicle from 1971 and the insect alien in Men in Black played by Vincent D’Onofrio. More positive portrayals include Charlotte’s Web and all the children’s books of Thornton W. Burgess. An underlying theme behind instilling fear of animals is competition for territory and food. By this measure humans are pretty terrifying animals who are in the process if cutting og Nature in a suicidal manner that threstens a ll life.

Indian Classics like Ramayana, Mahabharata had already maintained ecological balance but also have created myths that have granted a respectable space in human sociology. Snake worship (Nag Panchmi) and Cow Worship (Gaudan) are the brilliant symbols.

fascinating study! I don't have any clear recommendations, just struck about how interesting this is.

I guess the core issues is symbolic violence versus actual violence which would rule out Ireland, St Patrick and the snakes (the snakes came to actual harm), and cases like farming snakes as potent creatures (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-21332266), but it might leave space for Jörmungandr.

It sounds as if you're doing a philosophy project? Focusing on graphic novels would produce some really interesting data - by using the stories and images but also interviewing readers about their ethical views.

A good source for animal symbolism in general is Etymologiae XII by Isidore of Seville. 

Interesting examples can be found in medieval literature - the fight against a dragon (one of the well-known themes) is a direct reference to snakes; Isidore also mentioned dragons as a sort of snakes. A characteristic point of view provides the romance Iwein by Hartmann von Aue. The knight Iwein watches a fight between a dragon and a lion. He finds that the both animals are dangerous but he decides to help the lion as it is a "noble creature" and kills the dragon. There are also many examples in fantasy books and movies. Besides various dragons, there is the giant spider (Shelob) in The Lord of the Rings, giant snake in the old movie Conan the Barbarian etc.  Special topic are the classical fairy tales, but it is out of my expertise. It just captured my eye that in the german version of The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs (by Brothers Grimm) it is necessary to kill a mouse which is harming roots of a magical tree, but in the czech version (Tři zlaté vlasy děda Vševěda by Karel Jaromír Erben) it is a snake that has to be killed for the same reason.

Bishun Kumar

Interesting that in the film based on Hermann Hesse's novel, Siddhartha, it is a cobra which kills Siddhartha's beloved wife, though snakes were considered holy and wise in some versions of theology. Also interesting is that the Rod of Asclepius- Ράβδος του Ασκληπιού - emblem of healing for medicine is a snake (not to be confused with the caduceus which also has a positive connotation as the staff of Hermes). The myth of Tiresias has him changing genders when he strikes and wounds snakes as they are mating, and then switches back with the when he witnesses them again seven years later-- all this leading to him being blinded by Hera when he reports on which gender more enjoys sexual pleasure. Snakes were autochthonous- "sprung from the earth" - much as Athena sprang from Zeus's thigh. They had wisdom. Obviously also snakes and dragons as well as rats are somewhat revered or at least respected in Chinese astrology, since all 3 creatures have zodiacal years. The moral of all this may be that it is an ill wind that blows no good and that, as with humans, there are powerfully positive and negative individuals in all species. Cross-cultural influences shared by ancient Hindu, Greek and Egyptian mythology (Hermes Trismegistus) may have many antecedents in earlier Mesopotamian mythology as well- the caduceus may have originated with the Sumerian god Ningishzida, god of the underworld and the autochthonous vegetation which sprang.therefrom. By the way, lest anyone be under the delusion that I knew all this before I started writing, I owe huge thanks to Wikipedia for all but Hesse's novel and the myth of Tiresias. I confused the caduceus with the rod of Ascepius like many others in the USA, including health organizations who use the caduceus with its two snakes rather than the rod with its single snake and is entwined around a more primitive staff.