Non-Humans R Us Newsletters

Anthros

The last time I wrote a newsletter about Anthros, I wrote that the creatures that have been termed anthros had been around since at least the 1930’s, with Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and their various friends, foes, and rivals from other animation companies. Upon further research, I’ve discovered the creatures have been around longer than that- far longer. It seems that, back when Ancient Egyptians, and others, were making images of their Gods and Goddesses, the artisans gave them human bodies, and animal heads, and had them wearing clothes- classic depictions of an anthro in most stories, minus the lack of fur/feathers/scales over the rest of the body.

For the most part, anthros show up in Fantasy and Sci-Fi types of stories, though they will also show up in Mythology, Horror/Scary, Animal, Supernatural, and other like genres. For the most part, anthros are sentient, though they do have some animal tendencies. How they act depends on the story- hostile to each other/humans or if they are peaceful, along with other factors.

The origins of Anthros tend to vary. In stories where the origin isn’t discussed, it can be safely assumed that the anthros evolved from a more feral version- similar to humans evolving from an ape ancestor.

In a fantasy story, anthros might have been created by the use/misuse of magic- for instance, a wizard/magician/sorcerer might have needed a servant/bodyguard/test subject, but there were no nearby villages to get one from, so they made due with an animal living in the place- mouse/rat/cat/dog/whatever. Given how well the new servant handles things, the person tells his/her fellow magic users, and they make their own man-animal servants as a result. A potential problem is, the magic doesn’t just affect the servants, but other animals they come into contact with. Of course, the magic user could have instead changed a regular human, or mixed them with some animal.

In a sci-fi story, anthros might be the result of science, or are aliens. In the case of science being the factor- it might have been a need for cheap laborers, replenishing the population, or some other such factor. Either animals were mixed with human DNA or humans were mixed with animal DNA. In the case of aliens, they might have come in peace, they might be refugees fleeing a more powerful force, or they might have come to conquer.

In a Mythology story, they could be gods of some sort- much like with the Ancient Egyptians.

In any case, all have certain things in common. They tend to be sentient- self-aware. Most are humanoid, in that they walk upright, have opposable thumbs, and most tend to talk- at least in their own language. In some cases, they wear clothes, though this tends to depend on the author/artist. They also possess certain traits of their animal counterparts- such as diet; a wolf anthro will rarely eat a carrot, and conversely, a rabbit anthro will rarely eat a steak. Also, rodent-based anthos are rarely comfortable around feline-based anthros. Other such things apply as well.

Commonly, anthros are based off of mammals, though bird and reptile based anthros are frequently used. Anthros based off of amphibians are less common, while fish are rarely used, and those based off of insects, and other animals, are almost never used. Animals used may be real or fictional, living or extinct. Common anthros include felines, canines, dinosaurs, dragons- basically any animal that the writer found interesting at the time.

Relationships between different anthro types, and even humans, depends on the story. In a war story, it will likely be race versus race. In a slavery story, one, or more, race(s) will have conquered the others. In an erotica story, things will be more of a sexual nature. In a vore story, part of the population is food for the other part. There is also the Everyday-type story, which mirrors Real Life. In some stories, anthros are basically in the same role as their “real” counterparts, just humanoid and intelligent- as in the case of the webcomic “Newshounds”, where dogs and cats walk upright, wear clothes, talk, can hold jobs, like serving in the military, but really have no legal rights- beyond the cruelty to animals thing- can’t vote, can’t sue, can’t just get a new owner, or other such things- their Owner is supposed to take care of that. In Micro/Macro stories, one race is larger than the other- by 10Xs or so, and things can be tricky in those cases. It all depends on the author(s).

Commonly, the abilities of anthros are a mixture of humans and animals’. Let’s take a wolf anthro for instance- as there are plenty of stories about them. Like all anthros, wolves have sentiency, language, a humanoid form, and most other human attributes and abilities. They will also have a heightened sense of smell and hearing- like a regular wolf. As to whether or not they have color vision, like humans, or see primarily in black and white, like regular wolves, this may depend on the writer. In most other aspects, anthros are like humans, in how they behave, reproduce, and other such things, with certain animal tendencies thrown in.

Now, there are several types of anthros, beyond the different races. Some resemble intelligent animals- like the animals from the animated 101 Dalmatians movie by Disney. Others seem to be an even blend of human and animal, like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, and the Thundercats. Others still seem to be mostly human, with some slight animal features, such as tails and ears- such as the king from the fairy tale The King with Horses’ Ears. Then there are those known as the Taurs- which, much like centaurs, have the lower body of an animal, a humanoid upper body, but the head, and fur/feather/scales of the animal they are modeled after.

I hope this helps you on your quest to understand creatures from the realms of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror/Scary.