In 16 operas from the central European opera repertoire a bear, vulture, lynx or wolf are explicitly mentioned and thus appear relevant to the question of acceptance formation. The bear, wolf and lynx mostly appear as real figures, whereas the vulture is mentioned once metaphorically. German operas of the earlier romantic convey mostly a positive image of the bear, lynx and wolf, but in operas from Slavic countries and in German 20th century operas all three animals have a negative image.