What animal did Enkidu live with before meeting Gilgamesh?

Enkidu lived with gazelles before meeting Gilgamesh.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Aruru creates Enkidu in the steppe as a wild man. He roams with the herds, eats grass, drinks from rivers, and lives outside human society. His closeness to the animals represents the untamed natural world, set against Gilgamesh’s life in the city of Uruk.

A hunter notices Enkidu freeing animals from traps and reports him to Gilgamesh. The king sends Shamhat, who introduces Enkidu to human food, clothing, speech, and customs. When Enkidu later tries to return to the gazelles, they flee from him: his encounter with civilization has changed him, and he no longer belongs fully to the animal world.

The story is sometimes simplified to say that Enkidu was simply raised by animals. More precisely, the epic portrays him as roaming and grazing with wild herds before Shamhat’s intervention. He eventually becomes Gilgamesh’s closest friend and companion.