The Angha, or simurgh, is depicted in Iranian art as a kind of peacock with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion. She is a benevolent creature, associated with fertility and purification, and serves as an intermediary between the earth and the sky. She has a great hatred of snakes, and a Kurdish folk tale tells of a hero who was granted a boon after killing the serpent that was trying to eat her young.