As described in research by the late Tu Erh-wei, anthropology professor at National Taiwan University, the ancient Egyptian system was led by the cat, while the Babylonian signs for Aries, Taurus, Scorpio etc. became matched with the Western system of constellations. The Tsaudyo tribe in Africa though have a system identical to the Chinese one, apart from having a crocodile in the place of the Chinese dragon (see table).
根據已故台灣大學人類學系教授杜而未的研究報告，古埃及的十二肖獸以貓為首；巴比倫的十二宮包括白羊、金牛、天蠍等，介於十二肖獸與西方星座之間；非洲部落 Tsaudyo 則除了龍換成鱷以外，其餘與中國全部相同。