Zilant (; ) is a legendary creature, something between a dragon and a wyvern. Since 1730, it has been the official symbol of Kazan. This winged snake is mentioned in legends about the foundation of Kazan. A Zilant is a legendary creature with the head of a dragon, the body of a bird, the legs of a chicken, the tail of a snake, the ears of a canine, the red wings of a bat or bird, sharp teeth, dark-gray feathers and scaly dark-gray skin. Nomenclature and etymology The word Zilant is the English transcription of Russian , itself a rendering of Tatar /, pronounced (or sometimes ) and meaning a snake. The Tatars themselves, on the other hand, frequently refer to this creature with the Persian word (dragon) or ('Dragon-snake'). Tatars regarded it as a repulsive creature, corresponding to European and Persian dragon. According to Idel-Ural beliefs, any snake that survives for 100 years turns into an . The Zilant/Ajdaha differs from ('White Snake'), which is the king of snakes. or Şahmara (from Persian (king) and (snake) advised and helped epic heroes (), often by giving them gifts. As regards his beneficial influence on humans, resembles a Chinese dragon. Chuvash and Mari (ethnic groups living in the area of Kazan alongside the Tatars) also have legends relating to the foundation of Kazan, but none of them refer to the Kazan dragon. After the 16th century, Russians acquired the foundation legend from Tatars. For Kazan Russians, Zilant had negative connotations, as it was represented as a Slavic dragon rather than as a snake. Western culture has strongly influenced the popular perception of Zilant among citizens of Kazan, and many modern citizens imagine Zilant largely as a classically Western wyvern or dragon - as depicted in films. No strong evidence survives that an image of a dragon or snake with wings occurred in any coat-of-arms of Kazan city or of the Kazan khanate before the Russian invasion of 1552. (Islam - the official faith of the khanate - prohibited making images of animals.) Modern Tatar villages do not have any such thing as coats of arms nor symbols of towns. (Note however that all raions of Russia adopted coats of arms recently (ca. 2004) and that the Russian Empire's uyezd centers had coats of arms before 1917). Zilant is proper name in the Russian language and the role of Zilant as a