The Animals Of James Bond

Over its 25-film history, the James Bond films have often used animals as a storytelling tool, be it as a threat to 007 (Blofeld’s piranhas in You Only Live Twice), establishing character (Kincaid’s gundogs in Skyfall), adding exotic spectacle (the elephants and tiger seen on safari during Octopussy) or providing comic relief (the St. Bernard who brings Bond a tipple in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). Here are ten great animal appearances from the 007 menagerie…

Dr. No’s Tarantula

As seen in: Dr. No (1962)

On-screen: Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) instructs Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) to kill Bond (Sean Connery) with a deadly tarantula. In a tense scene, Bond lies in bed and feels the presence of the arachnid, watching it crawl slowly over his body. When the spider moves off the bed, Bond dramatically bludgeons it with his shoe.

Off-screen: After a plastic spider didn’t work, the team tried a real tarantula, but with a piece of perspex between the animal and the actor — the ruse was abandoned when the camera was constantly caught in the reflection. When director Terence Young decided the spider should be seen moving across 007’s body, Connery steadfastly refused, so stuntman Bob Simmons stepped in.

Blofeld’s Turkish Angora Cat

As seen in: From Russia With Love (1963)

On-screen: Played by a returning Anthony Dawson (but we never see his face), Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s introduction to the series — in a meeting where he hires Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) to steal the Lektor machine and kill 007 — is also our first glimpse of his now iconic cat, a white, blue-eyed Turkish Angora. The cat later appeared in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever (wearing a diamond collar), For Your Eyes Only, and Spectre, where the cat jumps on Bond’s lap when Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) reveals his identity as Blofeld.

Off-screen: The only film that features Blofeld but not his cat is No Time To Die.

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Bond’s Seagull

As seen in: Goldfinger (1964)

On-screen: In the pre-credit sequence, Bond (Sean Connery) approaches a Mexican port from the water as part of a mission to blow up a drug manufacturing complex. He sports a seagull atop his dry suit as a creative means of disguise.

Off-screen: In previous drafts of the screenplay, Bond avoided detection by wearing a dead dog in his head!

Largo’s Sharks

As seen in: Thunderball (1965)

On-screen: Bond (Sean Connery) infiltrates Emilio Largo’s (Adolfo Celi) compound at night, but, trying to make his escape, becomes trapped fighting an assailant under a metallic cover in a swimming pool. 007 kills his attacker but faces a new threat when sharks are let loose from a separate pool. Using his Q Dept. rebreather, Bond stays beneath the surface and opens the hatch allowing the sharks to glide past. He then swims through the tunnel and slips out of the empty pool.

Off-screen: For the shot of Connery watching the sharks swim by, the actor refused to get in the water with the animals, so production designer Ken Adam (once again) employed a plexiglass tunnel so the actor could be kept safe from the sharks. Connery insisted not only that director Terence Young tried the shot out first but also that he stayed inside the pool for the take. During one take, a shark breached the tunnel and ended up nose to nose with the star, meaning that, at one point in the sequence, Connery is clearly not acting.

Emilio Largo was not the only Bond villain to keep sharks. Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) in Live And Let Die, Karl Stromberg (Curt Jürgens) in The Spy Who Loved Me, and Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) in Licence To Kill all deployed the apex predators for nefarious reasons.

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Mr Wint’s Scorpion

As seen in: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

On-screen: Ordered by Blofeld (Charles Gray) to kill every link in a chain of diamond smugglers, assassins Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) confront dentist turned diamond smuggler Dr. Tynan (Henry Rowland) in the South African desert. While Kidd feigns a toothache, duping Tynan into staring into his mouth, Wint slips a scorpion inside the dentist’s shirt, the sting killing in seconds. “One of nature’s finest killers, Mr. Wint” says Kidd. “One is never too old to learn from a master,” replies Wint.

Off-screen: The scorpion scene was shot in two ways; firstly with the creepy critter shoved in Tynan’s mouth, as per Ian Fleming’s novel and the screenplay, and then with the scorpion dropped down Tynan’s back. The latter version made the final cut. A scorpion also features in Skyfall when Bond (Daniel Craig), drinking in the Calis Beach Bar, amps up the jeopardy by balancing a scorpion on the back of his hand.  The scorpion used in the film was fully CGI, meticulously modelled from a live Blond Desert Hairy scorpion by the VFX team.

Tee Hee’s Crocodile

As seen in: Live And Let Die (1973)

On-screen: On the hunt for Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) in Louisiana, Bond is captured and taken to a crocodile farm — a sign warns ‘TRESPASSERS WILL BE EATEN’. Bond is led to a bridge as Kananga’s henchman Tee Hee (Julius Harris) points out Old Albert, the crocodile who severed his arm. As 007 steps onto an island, the bridge starts to retract, leaving Bond stranded as crocodiles start moving in for the kill. Bond uses his magnetic watch to draw a boat towards him, only to find it is tethered to a branch. All looks lost until Bond spots that the crocodiles are lined up like stepping stones, so he skips on top of the reptiles to safety.

Off-screen: The crocodile farm was owned by Ross Kananga, who also doubled for Roger Moore on the stepping stones stunt — in one of the takes, a crocodile tore the heel off Kananga’s shoe. Kananga also inspired the name of Live & Let Die’s chief villain.

Drax’s Reticulated Python

As seen in: Octopussy (1983)

On-screen: Searching for Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale)’s research facility in the heart of a Brazilian jungle, Bond (Roger Moore) follows one of Drax’s accomplices (Irka Bochenko) into a temple and discovers a bevy of beautiful women. Distracted, Bond steps on a rock that tips him into a pond that is home to a reticulated python. The snake wraps himself around 007, attempting to squeeze him to death, until Bond stabs the reptile to death with a hypodermic pen: “I discovered he had a crush on me.”

Off-screen: The underwater sequences were shot by cameraman Lamar Boren in Silver Springs, Florida yet much of the footage shot was deemed unusable as the colour of the real python didn’t match the colour of the fake snake that Roger Moore battled with on set.

Zorin’s Race Horse

As seen in: A View To A Kill (1985)

On-screen: Pegasus is the wonder horse of industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken). After winning at Ascot in the last few seconds of the race, Pegasus becomes frantic but is calmed down by Zorin’s accomplice, May Day (Grace Jones). Suspecting Zorin’s is boosting his steeds through drugs, Bond (Roger Moore), accompanied by trainer Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Macnee), travels to Zorin’s stud farm in Chantilly, where the pair discover Zorin is using implanted microchips to release steroids, triggered by a riding crop or Zorin’s cane.

Off-screen: The horse racing element of the film was added because producer Cubby Broccoli had a passion for breeding and racing horses, owning an impressive stable himself.

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Sanchez’s Iguana

As seen in: Licence To Kill (1989)

On-screen: If Blofeld’s pet of choice is a cat, Licence To Kill’s chief villain, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), is often seen with an iguana on his shoulder. In one moment, the reptile is seen wearing a jewel-encrusted collar, a gaudy signifier of Sanchez’s criminality and decadence.

Off-screen: The character has another animal association: Sanchez uses a stingray tail to whip his mistress, Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto). The idea was taken from Ian Fleming’s short story The Hildebrand Rarity, where it is used by Milton Krest.

Q’s Cat

As seen in: No Time To Die (2021)

On-screen: Q (Ben Whishaw) is preparing for an intimate dinner when Bond (Daniel Craig) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) interrupt his plans and enlist him to analyse files relating to Project Heracles. Looking around Q’s stylish apartment, Bond notices Q’s hairless Egyptian Sphinx cat and quips, “You know, they make them with hair these days?”

Off-screen: The cats were included as a callback to Q, referencing that he owned cats in Spectre. The cats were placed on set weeks before filming started to allow them to acclimatise and, come the filming, were very well behaved.