Ah, Fair Asgard... The Realm Eternal. Home of the Norse Gods, and my favorite childhood "superhero".  The God of Thunder, the Son of Odin, Prince of Asgard - The Mighty Thor. Thor and Namor  had no small part in my choosing English as a major at the University of Southern California.  A God  and a monarch taken from ancient Earth legends. Rare air culturally and artistically.   At FW Gregory Junior High School, I excelled in honors English, then later at McMain Magnet in Advanced Placement English.  Langauge Arts, Drama, and English was always a way for me to express myself - comic books and films were a logical extention of my childhood interests and creativity.  Whereas the Vikings did worship the gods of Asgard, Stan Lee's Thor had very little in common with the Norse God the fierce pirates  worshipped as early in the 8th century.  Verily, the original son of Odin had red hair, was very crude, cursed like a sailor and was NOT fit for family consumption! The original God of Thunder's mode of transportation was a small chariot pulled by two goats. This very subject was touched upon by Earth bound cameraman Red Norvell, a tragic mortal who usurped the power of the God of Thunder.  (Mighty Thor #276-278)

There are real and imaginary animals in Asgard, the most important ones usually evolve around Ragnarok -  the end of  everything for the Norse Gods.  The Fernis Wolf, the Serpent of Midgard and the fire demon Surtur spell doom for the Norse Gods - not even Lord Odin and the God of Thunder can overcome these foes.  However, like all world religions, there is life, death, then re-birth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/overview_vikings_01.shtml

http://www.viking-mythology.com/theNineWorlds.php

http://thenorsegods.com/