divided into three divisions: the Beast Division, the Being Division, and the Spirit Division. According to Fantastic Beasts, a "being" is generally defined as "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws." This includes humans, dwarves, house-elves, giants, goblins, hags, veelas, and vampires. Fairies, pixies, gnomes, and most other creatures are classified as "beasts." Affairs related to ghosts are relegated to the Spirit Division. These definitions are not without problems: Werewolves and Animagi are typically in human form, but may transform into an animal. (A werewolf transforms from the human state only at the full moon, but an Animagus is a human who has learned to transform into an animal at will.) Their classification is unclear, and offices responsible for werewolves exist in both the Beast and Being Divisions. Dangerous creatures such as Banshees and Dementors have never been officially classified. In addition, some sentient creatures such as centaurs, leprechauns and merpeople have been controversially rejected from the "being" status in favour of "beast" status. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them also assigns a threat rating to each creature, in the form of "X" marks. Five Xs means "Known wizard killer/impossible to domesticate". Four Xs means "Dangerous/requires specialist knowledge/skilled wizard may handle". Three Xs means "Competent wizard should cope". Two Xs means "Harmless/may be domesticated". One X means "boring". Creatures that need to be treated with a sophisticated amount of respect, e.g. centaurs, unicorns, phoenixes, and merpeople, are also given a XXXX rating. Classification Below is a list of magical creatures mentioned in the Harry Potter universe. For a list of magical plants mentioned in the series, see List of fictional plants. Beasts – A gigantic spider that is capable of human speech. – A serpent-like creature created from ashes from a magical fire. – A greyish-green, mournful, looking bird also known as the "Irish Phoenix". Basilisk – A giant snake whose stare can kill people in seconds, however it will petrify its victim when seen through a reflective surface. They are created illegally by having a toad sit on and hatch a chicken's egg. Bicorn – A cow-like creature that sheds its horns annually. At least one of its horns is used as one of the ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion. Bigfoot/Sasquatch – A humanoid ape-like creature native to North America.