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The venatio could also involve animals being pitted against each other. Below we see an elephant with a rider fighting with a bull that has been tethered to a ring in the ground to force it to fight.
Despite the cruelty and bloody nature of the venatio, there was one aspect of this spectacle that had a lighter side. Occasionally their would be a performance of trained animals as in modern circus. Below, in the midst of a deer and wild goat hunt by a hunter and dogs, a dwarf (right) signals to what appears to be a wild boar sitting up on its haunches.
Below is another performance of trained animals with a man riding a camel leading a tamed lion on a leash. Seneca mentions other such performances (Ep. 85.41): ...a trainer inserts his hand into the jaws of a lion, a keeper kisses his
tiger, a very small Ethiopian orders an elephant to kneel down and to walk a
tightrope.
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