Aztec and other pre-conquest Mexican mythologies are chock-full of shapeshifters, each with a different totem animal depending on the nahual's birthday. In the Aztec calendar, various days are named after animals, and we've heard of nahuales who could take the forms of eagles, jaguars, snakes, coyotes, you name it. If it lives in Mexico, there's probably a person somewhere who can change into it.
In Aztec myth, the nahuales were the protectors and servants of Tezcatlipoca, one of the foremost gods of war and sacrifice. (The god's name means something like "smoke mirror" and refers to an Aztec method of divination using bowls of mercury.) The nahuales were hunted during and after the conquest, when a special arm of the Inquisition was set up to eliminate them. Not only are they shapeshifters, but more often than not, they're sorcerers and necromancers as well. One of the most famous was Nezahualcoyotl, "The Fasting Coyote," who was a philosopher-king of Texcoco and who-after his official "death" in 1472-was still said to be advising Montezuma at the time of the conquest. According to the same stories, Nezahualcoyotl survived the conquest and disappeared to fight again another day.
Nahuales aren't like werewolves in that they don't infect people with their bite. They're more likely just to kill you. And then, when you're dead, they might call up your spirit and put it to work for them. Nasty critters.
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