Animal Stereotypes: Difference between revisions

The respective animal frequently follows the rules set by [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]].

 

 

Pretty much any [[Funny Animal]] story ever will use this. For personality traits of [[Muggles]], see [[Dying Like Animals]] and [[Fighting for Survival]].

[[The Other Wiki]] has attempted to make their own version of this page. [[wikipedia:Stereotypes of animals|You decide how good it is.]]

 

 

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* '''Barracudas and Pikes:''' [[Badass]] but cruel, ruthless and often evil. Voraciously hungry, expert killers.

* '''Bats:''' Nocturnal, often bloodthirsty and [[Bat Out of Hell|most likely evil]]. Another portrayal has them [[Cloudcuckoolander|quirky, eccentric or downright insane]], possibly due to their severe disorientation in daylight and/or habit of sleeping upside down. They might also have poor eyesight, which will cause them to fly in people's hair, against all of nature's logic. Usually male.

* '''Beavers:''' Industrious, with an air of a practical and unpretentious tradesman. Usually male.

* '''Bees:''' Hard-working, dutiful and territorial. They live in a [[Matriarchy]]; queens are almost always a stern and serious version of [[The High Queen]]. Fictional works [[Animal Gender Bender|may or may not be aware]] [[Insect Gender Bender|that workers are]] [[Always Female]].

* '''Boars:''' Extremely aggressive and irritable. Not predatory, but tough and quite dangerous if provoked. [[Always Male]]; wild sows rarely exist in fiction, but when they do, they usually have [[Children in Tow|several striped piglets following them]].

* '''[[A Load of Bull|Bulls:]]''' Short-tempered, [[Bull Seeing Red|especially around anything red]]. Intimidating, tough and [[Dumb Muscle|extremely strong, but somewhat stupid]]. May be portrayed as clumsy ("a bull in a china shop") or, more rarely, as [[Gentle Giant|Gentle Giants]].

** '''Moths:''' The [[Darker and Edgier]] version of butterflies, due to their association with the night. Harbingers of death and sorrow but also madness and suicide, being irresistibly drawn to light and fire. Think "like moths to a flame".

* '''Camels:''' Often portrayed as storing water in its hump in fiction even though in [[Real Life]], that hump stores fat. Not very energetic, but slow and steady once they get going; they can endure any hardship. Cranky, stubborn and bad-tempered, but not actually aggressive. Likes to spit.

* '''Eagles:''' They will usually pick up little children and carry them to their nest to feed them to their own young. (See [[Kidnapping Bird of Prey]] )

* '''Earthworms:''' Usually portrayed in a more positive light than other worms but just as unattractive.

* '''Ferrets:''' Clever and extremely playful, often hyperactive. Usually more like a land-based version of otters than like their weasel cousins, although evil, scheming, malevolent ferrets sometimes appear.

* '''Flies:''' Often considered of ill-omen, sometimes associated with the [[Devil]], due to their habit of buzzing around people as well as feeding and breeding on rotten meat and feces. Often symbols of disorder, peskiness and insignificance.

* '''Geese:''' Like ducks; more arrogant and irritable, but also more graceful in flight. A symbol of good luck, abundance, endurance, and the ability to find one's way home.

* '''Goats:''' In older European works, goats symbolize paganism, evil, and lust. Today they're mostly just portrayed as surefooted, [[Big Eater|constantly hungry]], and [[Cloudcuckoolander|a bit weird]], due to their habit of eating things like tin cans. They're also humble and quite stubborn, a little like donkeys, and can be surprisingly aggressive for smallish herbivores.

* '''Guineafowl and Turkeys:''' Dignified but snobbish, unpleasant and uptight. Usually bigger and a bit tougher than chickens, although not as aggressive as roosters. Not very bright, but not as amazingly stupid as real-world domestic turkeys can be either. Usually male.

* '''Gulls:''' Greedy and undignified but also brave in defying adversity and a symbol of freedom and travel. Gregarious, almost always seen in groups.

* '''Horse:''' Elegant, noble, passionate and spirited. Sometimes proud and vain. More often male in fiction; authors usually portray the stallion as not only dominating but leading the herd (rather than the boss mare, [[Did Not Do the Research|as in real life]].)

** Draught horses are always [[Gentle Giant|Gentle Giants]] [[Dumb Muscle|slow in both movement and wit]], sometimes depicted calm enough to sleep through an outright apocalypse. [[Truth in Television]] as breeding for huge strength but not gentle temperament would have been suicide.

* '''Hyenas:''' Basically [[The Hyena]]. Either a harmless jokester or the animal version of a horrific [[Monster Clown]]. Laughs like a maniac for no reason. If the writer is aware that hyenas are one of nature's few thoroughly matriarchal species, females may be bigger and stronger and dominate males, but don't count on it.

* '''[[Kangaroos Represent Australia|Kangaroos]]:''' Extroverted, good-natured characters, athletic yet laid-back. Usually female (although joeys are more likely to be male), they're devoted mothers. Sometimes, [[Did Not Do the Research|they're always shown with a pouch, no matter what.]]

* '''Maggots:''' Disgusting, filthy, repulsive, and mindless larvae of flies. Symbols of rot, decay and corruption.

* '''[[One for Sorrow, Two For Joy|Magpies]]:''' Cunning thieves with a penchant for shiny objects. Sometimes gossipy chatterboxes. May be good or evil.

* '''Mice:''' [[Nice Mice|Cuter and far more sympathetic than]] rats. Mice are more likely to be prey, whereas rats are almost always tough survivors. Often meek, humble, gentle and inoffensive. They are sometimes portrayed as huge cowards with a tendency to jump at little things, but [[David Versus Goliath|heroic and courageous mice]] are common as a subversion.

* '''Moles:''' Bright, technically minded, and a bit nerdy, often with a special talent for [[Tunnel King|digging]] or engineering in general. Usually short-sighted, though often in possession of [[Nerd Glasses]] that let them see after a fashion. What happened to the star nose? Sometimes they are [[Mole Miner|in miner attire]]. Usually male.

* '''Mongoose:''' Vaguely resembles a weasel, but is a cute and fearlessly heroic defender of the innocent (Rikki-tikki-tavvi is probably the [[Trope Maker]]). Although they look harmless, they take on terrifying enemies and win through a combination of agility, [[Guile Hero|wit]] and boldness; their fighting style resembles the [[Swashbuckler]] rather than a burly brawler. If paired with a specific enemy, it will always be a snake, usually a cobra. Usually male.

* '''Mosquitoes:''' Pesky, annoying, sometimes even dangerous bloodsucking flies. Often portrayed as bloodsucking [[Animal Gender Bender|even if]] [[Insect Gender Bender|they're male]].

* '''Neanderthals:''' The archetypical [[All Cavemen Were Neanderthals|Caveman]]. Often [[Dumb Muscle|stupider, taller and stronger]] than modern humans; tough survivors in fur skins always holding spears; carnivorous. Cavewomen are usually depicted as mannish and intimidating but can be of any shade between the [[Nubile Savage]] and the [[Brawn Hilda]].

* '''Octopus:''' Weird and otherworldly, probably the closest thing on Earth to alien life. May be either charmingly weird and likeable [[Cloudcuckoolander|Cloudcuckoolanders]], or malevolent and [[Eldritch Abomination|terrifyingly]] [[Starfish Alien|alien]], but tend to lean toward the former more.

* '''Opossums:''' Often portrayed as [[Good Ol' Boy|"rednecks" or "hicks"]]. Or just as having [[Deep South|Southern]] [[American Accents|accents.]] Or, alternately, as being somewhat raccoon-like in personality.

* '''Ostriches''': Panicky and frightened and will always stick their heads in the stand, even though none of them do this in real life.

* '''Otter:''' [[Fun Personified]]. Joyous, [[Playful Otter|playful]], expert swimmers and acrobats, very similar to dolphins. Laid-back and optimistic, they "go with the flow" rather than worrying how things will work out. Think [[Surfer Dude]], except that otters are usually portrayed as rather clever, rarely [[The Ditz]]. Almost always likeable and heroic, never as aggressive in fiction as real otters can be. Usually male.

* '''Owls:''' [[The Owl-Knowing One|Wise and mysterious]]. Smaller species of owl may be portrayed as [[Absent-Minded Professor|Absent Minded Professors]] or even [[Ditzy Genius|Ditzy Geniuses]], perhaps reflecting owls' disorientation in daylight. Alternatively, [[Owl Be Damned|scary harbingers of doom]].

* '''Pigs:''' [[Messy Pig|Greedy and slovenly]] in a comical way, but often intelligent and good-natured. More often male.

* '''Porcupines:''' Pragmatic and fearless, being well aware of how respected their defensive abilities are. May be either gentle and innocent, or prickly and irritable. Sometimes depicted as being able to actually shoot their quills, which they cannot do in [[Real Life]].

* '''Storks:''' Frequently cast as a [[Delivery Stork]], specialized in bringing newborn babies to their parents.

* '''Swans:''' Beautiful, graceful, and pure. Also a symbol of love, as swans mate for life. Sometimes vain, but rarely as large and aggressive as real swans are.

* '''[[Tanuki]] (or raccoon dogs):''' [[Tanuki|Sneaky, clever, bold, and rather cute.]] Often thieves (due to their facial markings, which resemble a bandit's mask), but usually [[Guile Hero|heroic]] or at least likeable ones. Usually male. Also portrayed as highly sexual and having large testicles.

** Note that although they look similar to raccoons, and tanuki in Japanese works are often turned into raccoons in Western adaptations, tanuki are not very closely related to racoons -- they're actually in the dog family.

* '''[[Wicked Weasel|Weasels, Stoats, Martens and Polecats]]:''' Scheming, [[The Starscream|treacherous]], cunning and malevolent villains, or else just plain [[Weasel Mascot|out of their minds]].

* '''Whales:''' [[Gentle Giant|Gentle, mysterious giants of the deep]], slow-moving and very wise. In older works like ''Moby Dick'', a furious force of nature able to destroy anything they choose, as powerful and inscrutable as the ocean itself. Today, in the post-whaling era, the latter role tends to be given to giant squid instead.

** The "lone wolf" in media is too cool or too tough for help, a badass who won't take nothin' from nobody. In reality, wolves are highly social and have difficulty functioning without a pack. Individuals found alone are usually young adults looking for a mate to start a new pack, and won't last long if they don't find one.

** In works where wolves are portrayed as social, the pack functions as a strict hierarchy, with an alpha male at the top and a bullied omega at the bottom; low-ranking wolves increase their status by defeating their superiors in one-on-one combat. [[Science Marches On|Up until recently]] this was thought to be true of real wolves, but in fact it's not -- it was based on studies of strange wolves thrown together in captivity, which tend to become neurotic and start acting out [[Prison Tropes]]. In the wild, a wolf pack is essentially a nuclear family; the alpha male and female are simply the parents of the lower-ranking wolves, who never rise up and challenge their parents for leadership -- they just leave and start their own packs once they're a few years old.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Oda compares a lot of his characters to animals. Zoro is apparently a shark. Sanji most resembles a duck, Franky is a bull, Robin a crane, Brook a horse.

* Kotaro Inugami of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' ''swears'' he's a lone wolf, cold and proud with no need for others (namely, girls), but his friend Negi more closely associates him with a Dog (it ''is'' his demon species after all...) And as wolves are very social pack hunters, a lone wolf is often hungry and also lonely. The "lone wolf" idiom is actually quite clever.

** Not really. The anime series has Ash's Squirtle (turtle-based) initially portrayed as a delinquent, Ash's Pikachu (a mouse) is at first defiant and strong willed (they both quickly become his loyal friends). Dawn's Piplup (penguin) has a tendency to be a self-absorbed drama queen.

* Mostly played straight in ''[[Princess Tutu]]''. The main character is a duck disguised as a girl, and she's shown as being clumsy and loud with a hidden grace. Both the [[Magical Girl]] she turns into and the Prince she's trying to save are represented by swans, appropriate since both are graceful dancers who are greatly defined by their love for others. Crows and ravens are the main villains, and the [[Dark Magical Girl]] is both referred to as a crow and a black swan, referencing ''[[Swan Lake]]'' and {{spoiler|referring to the fact that she herself is a loving person who's been twisted by evil}}. The trope carries over to most of the cast in some ways, with some exceptions.

== Comics ==

* Read through the ''[[Elf Quest]]'' Gatherum and and you'll find that the main characters (at least Cutter, Skywise, Leetah, and Rayek) were designed with animals in mind (bantam, fox, cat, and snake). The bantam is pretty unusual when people talk characters, especially for a protagonist, but in this case it relays Cutter as confident, frank and open, as well as being a ruler. Savah even refers to Cutter as a fighting cockerel at one point. And as Rayek has never been ''merely'' a villain, even the persona of a snake isn't wholly negative.

* Plenty of ''[[X-Men]]'', from Wolverine to Kitty, Toad, Sabretooth, Beak, Angel or The Cuckoos.

* In ''[[Blacksad]]'' all characters are anthropomorphic animals whose roles and personalities are mostly reflected on their animal traits (ex: nearly all the policemen are canid).

* [[Batman]] has a few. Besides the Bat himself,we have Catwoman, the Penguin, Killer Croc, and probably a few more.

** Arguable for Orson, while he likes bathing in mud, he is something of the [[Only Sane Man]] of the group, acting as a voice of morality and reason and being far more dedicated to work and order.

* ''Maus'' had Jews as mice, Germans as cats and Americans as dogs, among many other examples.

== Film ==

* ''[[Doctor Dolittle]]'': In the film version, during the song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-V7oua1EVs Like Animals]", Dolittle bristles at the animal stereotypes.

 

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** All the houses have associated animals:

*** Gryffindor, the house of the brave has the lion.

*** Slytherins, the house of cunning and slyness has the snake.

*** Ravenclaw, house of the intelligent and wise has the eagle for some reason

** He also doesn't really know how to spell. Even his own name is "Wol". Interestingly, some of the other characters have been found to be capable of spelling their own names.

** Played straight with the docile and cuddly Pooh Bear. Inverted with Tigger the bouncy funloving tiger.

** Piglet subverts it for the most part, being a [[Neat Freak]] and [[Extreme Doormat|extremely docile]]. Rabbit is [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All|pretentious]] and stuck up. Eeyore plays the donkey trope straight (though his Disney incarnation is far more recessive and mellow). Roo is a hyperactive joey (albeit partly due to Tigger's influence) however Kanga is calmer and closer to Earth (especially in the Disney adaptions).

** Reepicheep and his fellow talking mice avert their [[Animal Stereotypes]] ''hard''.

* The Daemons of ''[[His Dark Materials]]''. The series starts out in a world where people's souls take the form of [[Talking Animal|Talking Animals]] (called "dæmons", the dæmons of adults take the form of a specific animal that represents that person's personality in some symbolic way (although the symbolism can sometimes be very esoteric).

* Brian Jacques' ''[[Redwall]]'' series takes this trope and runs with it.

* The turtle stereotype is partially [[Averted Trope|averted]] in [[Discworld|Small Gods]] . as Om says, "Tortoises are cynics. They always think the worst is going to happen to them. Probably because it usually does."

** From the same book, the Ephebian goddess of wisdom is associated with penguins, thanks to a famous sculptor and [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|the way Discworld religion works]]. (She was supposed to be carrying an owl, but the sculptor had never seen one and just used the first exotic bird that came to mind.)

** Another aversion would be Definitely Not Squeak, the talking mouse from ''[[Discworld|Moving Pictures]]''. Toughest mouse in the house, and proud of it, he is outraged by Victor's assertion that "Mighty Hunter" wouldn't be a good name for him.

* Somewhat averted in ''[[Watership Down]]''. in which the rabbits are far from cute and cuddly, and generally act fairly realistically, although the do venerate a mythological [[Rascally Rabbit|Br'er Rabbit-like trickster figure.]]

* ''[[Firekeeper]]'' from the series of the same name. She was a [[Wild Child]] raised by wolves, so the fact that she identifies as a wolf who happened to be unfortunate enough to get born as a human makes sense.

* ''[[Neverwhere]]'''s Croup and Vandemar are human (or rather, human''oid'' - what they actually are isn't specified), but Richard finds they give him a very clear impression of "a fox and a wolf", respectively. Croup is short, redhaired, sneaky, and [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|talkative]], while Vandemar is hulking, greyhaired, menacing, ostentatiously carnivorous, and can produce a very wolf-like howl.

** Similarly, Hunter is frequently compared to a lioness (sleek, tawny, and deadly), and the Marquis de Carabas quite consciously chose Puss in Boots for his totem.

* The wild geese of ''The Wonderful Adventures of Nils'' are at first quite arrogant, proud of their ability to navigate and fly incredible routes. The domestic goose is quite a lucky guy and both he and Nils do return home safely.

* ''[[Animal Farm]]'' intentionally uses this trope, but with an interesting twist: the animal characters not only symbolize traits but political figures in the Soviet Union. Hilariously, Stalin is a pig.

* Both played straight and subverted in the [[Dragaera]] novels, where Dragaerans conform to some of the [[Animal Stereotypes]] of their respective Houses: Orca are aggressive and predatory, Yendi (snakes) are sneaky and treacherous, Teckla (mice) are timid and victimized, etc. Subverted with Daymar, from the House of the Hawk, who's a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] rather than regal.

* ''The Wind In the Willows''. Somewhat subverted here, however; the badger and mole stereotypes hold fairly true, but Rat is definitely a good guy (with the caveat that he's actually a water vole, not a true rat).

* [[The Dresden Files]] gives us the Denarians, many of whom turn into some form of animal when they're in combat mode. The animal is often said to be a reflection of personality.

* In the [[Tortall Universe]], Alanna eventually starts to be called The Lioness. She ''is'' brave, powerful, and prideful - and the King chooses her as his Champion. Given the male lion/royalty association and the whole thing where lionesses do most of the hunting, it's an interesting bit of symbolism.

* Rudyard Kipling confused a number of readers and interpreters of The Jungle Books by arbitrarily changing stereotypes between stories. For instance, Hathi the elephant in the Mowgli stories is an imposing, majestic, even terrifying character (as shown in "Letting In the Jungle"), and Kala Nag in "Toomai of the Elephants" is also quite impressive, but Two-Tails in "Servants of the Queen" is a judicious coward. The Bandar-log who abduct Mowgli are rather nasty, but the monkeys in "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat are playful and friendly. The cobras in "Rikki-tikki-tavi" are pure evil, but those in "The King's Ankus" are friendly to Mowgli, except for the white cobra that has literally gone crazy with old age. (It probably is not insignificant that Mowgli is Indian while Rikki-tikki-tavi's Teddy is English - in ''Kim'' Kipling described fear and loathing of snakes as a specifically white trait).

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** The cockroach wasn't meant to represent Sylar, it was meant to symbolize evolution in general.

* Angela from The Office is fussy, small and prudent. So fittingly, she has a bunch of pet cats, and dresses up as one for Halloween.

 

== Toys ==

 

 

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' is more subtle, but deserves note for using snakes as a symbol of rebirth (think ouroboros) rather than evil.

** The other animal nicknames do reflect their owners, though some (like Ocelot and Mantis) aren't as obvious as others.

** Assault onwards however broke Wolf from the mold and is now an honorable rival who won't hesitate to help you. Panther also makes his appearance, who follows the feline trope.

*** Also, all members of the Cornerian Fleet are dogs.

* ''[[Fur Fighters]]'' has a lot of this. Seeing that every character is an animal its not hard to see why. Plays most of the trope straight but there are a couple of subversions.

** Shou in ''UFO'' is a tiger youkai, and a perfect Tiger archetype: very proud, a natural leader, and [[That One Boss|very powerful]].

** Shou's subordinate Nazrin is a mouse youkai, and fits the more gentle rodent type: a tiny, tiny, clever commander, cute, trustworthy, and good at finding treasure.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Later on Ysegrin has been shown to be sagely and wise. He just doesn't like humans at all. [[Obfuscating Stupidity|He's simply pretending to be a dumb brute.]]

* ''[[Outside Interference]]'' has a rabbit named Hollie, who's apparently quite hung up on... [[Loveable Sex Maniac|what rabbits are famous for.]]

* ''[[The Dawn Chapel]]'' features a short story, ''The Apex Predator'', wherein a proud lion is presented with a series of affronts to his dignity, none of which are handled gracefully.

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', one of the superhero classifications is 'Avatar', meaning someone who can absorb a spirit and keep it alive, gaining its powers in exchange. The Avatars also tend to take on the characteristics of their spirit(s), sometimes physically as well. Aquerna (Middle English for 'squirrel') has the power of the SQUIRREL! She's curious, persistent, family-oriented, and sees herself as insignificant. At [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy, she's thought of as one of the school losers. She's still better off than the unnamed girl who has the spirit of the hamster, and has grown fur and cheek pouches too. Mongoose has the spirit of the mongoose, and as a result is playful, adventurous, and always looking for new things. There are lots more examples.

** The Zoo is a heroic team of Moreaus that have banded together for self-protection and to show humanity that they aren't monsters. They've unimaginably named themselves after their original species (Bloodhound, Buffalo, Fox, and Giraffe), and fight crime in Los Angeles.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** This is emphasized even more by the name the writers chose to give the panda: [[Meaningful Name|Po means 'peace' in Chinese]].

** In addition, while the 'slow-as-molasses' turtle stereotype is played laughingly straight in the candle-blowing scene, in flashback Master Oogway hands Tai Lung his family jewels [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|with an amazingly rapid-fire, complex, awe-inspiring pattern of nerve strikes]]: classic [[Old Master]] material.

{{quote| '''Onlooker:''' Well, ''that'' figures.}}

* [[Donald Duck]] of ''Disney'' is clumsy, dim but strong willed. Gladstone Gander is a chronically lucky arrogant dandy.

** On the topic of Disney, the stereotypes follow the main characters very well. [[Mickey Mouse]] has been portrayed as humble and inoffensive, however recently he's been shown to be going back to being mischievous, like he was in his earlier cartoons. [[Goofy]] is a very loyal friend, but he's known for not being the brightest. [[Pete]], Mickey's rival, is a cat, and is shown to be arrogant, lazy, and manipulative.

* ''[[Madagascar]]'' subverts several of these tropes. Alex the Lion is hardly brave or powerful (proud on the other hand...) Marty, the Zebra is the farthest thing from elegant, noble, and hard-working (although he is really stereotypically black). Gloria is far from a lazy, slobby hippo. The Penguins are the farthest thing you'll ever get from clumsy. And they don't even like cold weather. In the TV show, the elephant comes across as rather dense, the gorillas are somewhat thuggish, and Phil and Mason (chimps) are rather reserved and dignified.

* Almost everyone in ''[[Kaeloo]]''. [[Cats Are Mean|Mr. Cat]] is Smileyland's resident jerk, [[Nutty Squirrel|Stumpy the squirrel]] is hyperactive and [[The Ditz|a bit dim]] and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Kaeloo]] the frog seems to be in constant bliss and is [[No Sense of Personal Space|smotheringly]] "friendly". [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] with Quack-Quack and Bad Kaeloo as Quack-Quack is a diaper-wearing genius [[Speech-Impaired Animal|incapable of speech]] and [[Hulking Out|Bad Kaeloo]] is a monstrous [[Gender Inverted Trope|she-toad]] with [[Dumb Muscle|little obvious intelligence]] and a horrific mean streak.

* ''[[Get Muggsy]]'' plays raccoon, opossum and beaver straight, but averts most of the spider stereotypes.

* The episode of ''Darkwing Duck'' that has Bushroot creating and wanting to marry the vampire potato also has a weasel trucker pick up the heroes and give them some intelligent advice. He LOOKS evil, but was very amiable.