The 12 animals and how the race story goes
Twelve animals, one river, and a rat who got a lift.
4 min read · Published 21 August 2026
The short answer
The order runs Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. The traditional explanation is the Great Race: the Jade Emperor summoned the animals and ranked them by arrival. The Rat rode across the river on the Ox's back and jumped off at the bank to finish first, which is why the smallest animal leads and the strongest is second. The story is a folk explanation attached to an ordering that comes from the twelve earthly branches.
The race
The Jade Emperor announced a race to determine the order of the years. The animals had to cross a wide river to reach him.
The Rat, unable to swim well, persuaded the Ox to carry it across — and as the Ox reached the bank, the Rat leapt from its head and finished first. The Ox came second and, in most tellings, took it well.
The Tiger arrived third, having fought the current the whole way. The Rabbit fourth, crossing by hopping between stepping stones and a floating log. The Dragon fifth, which puzzled everyone — it could fly — and explained it had stopped to bring rain to a village and then blown the Rabbit's log to shore.
The Snake was sixth, having hidden in the Horse's hoof and startled it at the finish, taking seventh from it. The Goat, Monkey and Rooster arrived eighth, ninth and tenth on a raft they had built together. The Dog was eleventh, having stopped to bathe. The Pig twelfth, having stopped to eat and then to nap.
The cat, in most versions, is not in the zodiac because the Rat failed to wake it. Which is why, the story says, cats chase rats.
The twelve, in order
| # | Animal | Branch | Element | Traditionally associated with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rat | 子 Zi | Water | Resourcefulness, quickness, adaptability |
| 2 | Ox | 丑 Chou | Earth | Endurance, reliability, patience |
| 3 | Tiger | 寅 Yin | Wood | Courage, intensity, unpredictability |
| 4 | Rabbit | 卯 Mao | Wood | Care, diplomacy, avoidance of conflict |
| 5 | Dragon | 辰 Chen | Earth | Power, ambition, good fortune |
| 6 | Snake | 巳 Si | Fire | Depth, discretion, strategy |
| 7 | Horse | 午 Wu | Fire | Energy, independence, restlessness |
| 8 | Goat | 未 Wei | Earth | Gentleness, artistry, sensitivity |
| 9 | Monkey | 申 Shen | Metal | Cleverness, invention, mischief |
| 10 | Rooster | 酉 You | Metal | Precision, confidence, frankness |
| 11 | Dog | 戌 Xu | Earth | Loyalty, fairness, watchfulness |
| 12 | Pig | 亥 Hai | Water | Generosity, appetite, good humour |
Note the element column. Each branch carries a fixed element, which is separate from the year element that changes across the sixty-year cycle. A Rat is always a Water branch, but a given Rat year might be a Metal Rat or a Wood Rat.
The animals are branches first
Each animal is a name for one of the twelve earthly branches, which are the units of an old calendrical and astronomical system. The branches do more than count years: they also divide the day into twelve two-hour periods and the year into months.
This is why you have a birth-hour animal as well as a birth-year animal, and why the branches carry elements. The zodiac you know is one application of a system doing several other jobs.
It is also why BaZi uses the same twelve animals in four different positions — the branches are the building blocks, and the year animal is one instance of them.
The regional variations
Not every country uses the same twelve. Vietnam has a cat where China has a rabbit, and a buffalo rather than an ox. Thailand replaces the Dragon with the Naga, the serpent of Buddhist tradition. Japan's twelfth animal is the wild boar rather than the domestic pig.
Those substitutions are covered in how the Chinese zodiac differs across Vietnam, Korea and Japan, and they tell you something about how the system travelled: the structure was adopted intact and the creatures were adapted to local imagination.
Common questions
- What is the order of the Chinese zodiac animals?
- Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. The order is traditionally explained by the Great Race myth, though it derives from the twelve earthly branches of the Chinese calendar.
- Why is the Rat first in the Chinese zodiac?
- In the Great Race story, the Rat could not swim well and persuaded the Ox to carry it across the river, then leapt from the Ox's head at the bank to finish first. It is why the smallest animal leads and the strongest is second.
- Why is the cat not in the Chinese zodiac?
- In most versions of the Great Race, the Rat was supposed to wake the cat and did not, so the cat missed the race entirely. The story is given as the reason cats chase rats. Vietnam's zodiac does include a cat, in place of the rabbit.
- Do the zodiac animals have elements?
- Yes. Each animal corresponds to an earthly branch with a fixed element — the Rat is Water, the Tiger is Wood, and so on. This is separate from the year element, which cycles through all five across the sixty-year cycle.