How can animals such as owls, lizards, and sea eagles function as local symbols in Oceanic literature?

In Oceanic literature, animals such as owls, lizards, and sea eagles function as local symbols by serving as markers for specific geographic locations, political territories, or land divisions.1

Because Oceanic oral traditions often rely on an allusive style, the full meaning of a text is frequently inaccessible without an intimate knowledge of the local landscape and political geography. In this context, these animals act as shorthand references: an owl may symbolize one specific place, a lizard another, and a sea eagle a third.1

These symbolic associations are deeply embedded in the culture's oral traditions, where they are often part of a complex symbolic vocabulary used in myths and public orations. To interpret these symbols correctly, one must understand the cultural significance of the places mentioned, as well as the specific creatures or beings associated with those areas and the groups that benefit from them.12