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In ancient Africa, there was a legend that the warrior Tantu asked Anansi the Spider to create a totem that would give the wearer all of the powers of the animal kingdom, if they would use the power to protect the innocent.

As shown in the pages of Animal Man, it is possible that the " Anansi " who Tantu met, may have been a member of the alien race who gave Buddy Baker the ability to " tap the morphogenetic field " — or, as shown in the pages of Justice League, the aliens may have been Anansi in disguise.

This field allows Buddy to imitate the abilities of nearby animals.

According to the Animal Man series, Mari's Tantu totem may tap into that same field.

Tantu used the totem to become Africa's first legendary hero.

The totem was later passed down to Tantu's descendants until it reached the McCabes.