Petting Zoo People: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"Heaven take it away! Hippopotami should not have human hands and carry torches... men should not have the heads of crocodiles..."''|'''[[H.P. Lovecraft]]''' and '''Harry Houdini''''s ''Under the Pyramids''.}}

* They may feature animal-like claws or pads on their hands, or may stand on [[wikipedia:Digitigrade|digitigrade]] feet resembling the animal's hind legs.

* Their body frame can be measured by human proportions, e.g: six to eight "heads" tall, legs comprising half their body height, etc.

* They display all the mannerisms of a human individual, such as speaking human language (unless they're [[The Speechless]]) and wearing clothes on their body. The type of clothes varies with each setting; Petting Zoo People in 'modern' or science fiction settings will wear modern-day attire, while individuals in fantasy or "native" settings might wear only a loincloth and jewelry, or even forego clothing entirely. Petting Zoo People are much more likely to be [[Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal|Fully Dressed Cartoon Animals]].

* A female will typically have humanlike, styleable [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|hair on her head]], while a male's head simply has the same pelt as he has on the rest of his body.

** Though males with similarly humanlike hair is not uncommon. Sometimes this is also inverted with Petting Zoo People lions and those based off of lions, where the males are known for their manes.

* While a [[Beast Man]] may have [[Animal Eyes]], they will usually have human eyes (with perhaps a wider variety than [[Common Eye Colors]]).

 

In-universe, Petting Zoo People are generally a distinct species from both humans and animals (as opposed to a [[Half-Human Hybrid]]), assuming the [[Elephant in the Living Room|subject is actually brought up]] rather than [[Law of Conservation of Detail|simply glossed over]], and may inhabit a [[World of Funny Animals]].

* Borderline LBB have a animal-accented human face and body frame with the animal's ears, nose, tail (where applicable), markings, and sometimes fur, feathers, or scales. They have a mostly or nearly human-shaped head and little or no semblance of their species' muzzle. If they are a bird, they have the beak or bill respective to their species that is small regardless of their species on an otherwise human-shaped head. These are not to be confused with a [[Beast Man]], which although he/she looks like this variant, he/she is a human with several animalistic physical and even behavorial traits.

 

 

A midpoint between the [[Funny Animal]] and [[Little Bit Beastly]] on the [[Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism]]. Supertrope of [[Intelligent Gerbil]]. See also [[Humanoid Female Animal]], where different ''genders'' of the same species possess differing levels of anthropomorphism. See also the subtrope [[Barefoot Cartoon Animal]], for when characters with this design are overwhelmingly drawn barefoot, despite being normally clothed otherwise.

== Anime & Manga ==

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has a whole race of them, the Beastmen.

* Tony Tony Chopper from ''[[One Piece]]'' fits this trope while in his [[Half-Human Hybrid|hybrid form]]. However, his normal form is a [[Funny Animal]] (he is a reindeer) while his human form is a [[Beast Man]].

** Foxy also had three rat Petting Zoo People in his crew who helped him prepare for the grand match of Davy Back Fight.

== Comic Books ==

* When Kurt Connors from the ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider Man]]'' comics becomes the Lizard he falls under this trope.

** Arguably the design shift was codified with Patrick Spaziante's work, who did art for the comic rather early in its run (his earliest art for Issue 25 already uses a rather humanoid Sally for example); however, the designs only became consistent around the time artists such as Butler and Jay Axer began doing pencils for the series. This is true for Sally Acorn at least. Bunnie's more humanoid redesign was due to a canonical upgrade for her robotic limbs while Lupe was noticably more humanoid than the others, even in [[Sonic Sat AM|the cartoon]].

* ''[[Maus]]'', a story about the Holocaust, with different species standing in for different nationalities/races.

* ''[[Blacksad]]'' is one of the currently most famous examples in the European comic book world, starring mostly animals of all kinds with very human-like bodies, ranging from straight-up PZP to Borderline [[Little Bit Beastly]].

* ''[[De Cape et de Crocs]]'': The main leads are an anthropomorphic fox and wolf. They also are noblemen; and both have human [[Love Interests]]. Their sidekick is a rabbit (and former Guard of the Cardinal!)

** Many of them are even more humanoid than Goofy or Max, who are also supposed to be [[Dogfaces|dognoses]].

** A lot of [[Dogfaces|dognoses]] have a coloring that indicates a lack of fur and some of them (like Roxanne from [[A Goofy Movie]]) even border on [[Little Bit Beastly]].

== Fan Art ==

* Disney characters [[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Maid Marian]], [[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Gadget Hackwrench]], and [[Tale Spin|Rebecca Cunningham]] are borderline Petting Zoo People in their [[Canon]], but are usually full-on Petting Zoo People in fanart. [[Self Fanservice|This is because furries need something that caters to their personal tastes.]]

* Fanart of Cleo from ''[[Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats]]'' usually shows her with [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|Wrong-Type-of-Mammal Mammaries]], which she does not have in the show's [[Canon]].

* Sawyer from ''[[Cats Don't Dance]]'' is a [[Funny Animal]] on the verge of looking like a borderline PZP in the movie, but is a Petting Zoo Person in most fanart.

* Penelope Pussycat from [[Looney Tunes]] is a [[Civilized Animal]] in the [[Canon]], but she is often drawn as a Petting Zoo Person in fanart.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[The Tower of the Elephant]]", a prisoner in the tower has the head of an elephant and the body of a man.

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Kull]] story "The Shadow Kingdom" the Snakemen have human bodies and reptilian heads.