Dragons, Dogs & Amadillos?

[Koen G]

I don't think any animal is depicted, but I'm going to assume, as René says, that it's a ram. Then, given that it's on an element representing the boundary of the cosmos, the only possible conclusion is that it's the sign of Aries.

I've always been skeptical of that view, since I tended to see the lines as scales. But I was surprised to see that manuscript-internally, they are best explained as a somewhat compressed version of the pattern the manuscript uses to indicate (thick?) fur. It just took me some time to "unsee" the scales.

I'm not sure if we should just default to "ram" now though. It's an option, but there are some differences with the Zodiac section's Aries. For example, the Voynich artist seems to have been aware of the fact that rams have a two-part hoof, while the mystery creature has... well, I guess it depends which foot you look at. The rear one almost looks like a paw with four claws. But the next one looks like it has two parts, and the front one maybe three?

Given the cloud band, it could be a constellation, as is demonstrated by the use of the motif in the Tübinger Hausbuch discussed throughout this thread. But the iconography of the animal would deviate quite a bit from what we'd expect of Aries.