From donkeys to elephants and everything in between, cartoonists have drawn a zoo of animals to represent and insult politicians in ways words simply can't. With tigers, goats, lions, and crocodiles, cartoonists anthropomorphize political parties, institutions, and the individuals that lead them. When cartoonists want to be less subtle about a particular insult, they turn to caricatures with symbols of power, greed, failure, and weakness galore. If readers ever worried that cartoonists trended toward unprofessionalism and crude humor, the artists frequently included sophisticated allusions to Shakespeare and biblical stories. 

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Cartoonists often build on the symbols utilized by their predecessors in addition to creating their own. Symbols form from current events and reflect the public reception and opinion of the time period. Some symbols are timeless while others only last for a presidential administration. Whatever the longevity of a symbol, understanding how a particular symbol has been used in political cartoons before can be the key to decoding the message of the cartoon. Below is an evolution of how gross obesity, teddy bears, bumble bees, giant thumbs, Roman columns, and other odd symbols critiqued generations of American events and individuals. 

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