The article is devoted to the analysis of the fictional animal images’ semantics in the works of Julio Cortázar. Mythological creatures, extinct animals and the ones created by the writer’s imagination can be reader’s guides to the reality of fantasy as well as means of a more complex character portraying or elements of the author’s self-reflection. Cortázar follows a bestiary tradition revived in Latin America in the 20th century; while creating his images he refers to different myths and legends of the New World or of European origin, thus making his bestiary a part of the context of the world culture; in the same time he transforms them and includes in his own artistic code. Its decoding opens new perspective for study of the prose of Julio Cortázar.