Seldom-Seen Species: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Then there's the Seldom Seen Species — that is, a species that, once you see it, makes you think, "Hey, you don't usually see that animal!" In some cases, this may be a forced attempt to avoid the countless existing [[Animal Stereotypes]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Well there is [[Compare the Meerkat|Alexandr and Sergei]].

** The sequel prominently featured okapi, a close relative to the giraffe.

** [[Prequel|''Ariel's Beginning'']] has a manatee named Benjamin serve as Marina del Ray's [[The Dragon|Dragon.]]

* Although not exactly cute in the ordinary sense (think [[Ugly Cute]]), the animals in [[Rango]] are not the typical animals you find in an animated movie about desert animals. Cases include Priscilla the oddly adorable, big-eyed cactus mouse, Beans the [[Love Interest]] and desert iguana, and the burrowing owl mariachi band.

** An echidna and a Tasmanian devil also show up.

* In [[Happy Feet]], one can count several different types of penguins beyond the generic black and white ones seen in typical media. Mumble and Gloria are emperor penguins, the Latino-accented [[Plucky Comic Relief|Plucky Comic Reliefs]] are Adelie penguins, and the guru voiced by [[Robin Williams]] is a Rockhopper penguin. Chinstrap Penguins and African Jackass Penguins are also seen briefly during Mumble's imprisonment in the marine animal exhibit. In addition to the penguins, there's the [[Nightmare Fuel]]-laden leopard seal, a herd of elephant seals, and a gang of skuas.

* Shifu the Red Panda and Tai Lung the snow leopard from ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]''

* Besides the usual chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, [[Rise of the Planet of the Apes]] featured a bonobo named Koba too.

 

* The owls in [[Harry Potter]] include some commonly-mentioned species, but also the lesser-known eagle owl and Scops owl. Similarly, lesser-known mythological creatures such as basilisks and Hippogriffs appear.

* ''[[Redwall]]'' is known for focusing on the seldom used ends of the mustelid spectrum, such as stoats.

* ''Rikki-Tikki-Tavi'', the [[Rudyard Kipling]] book about a mongoose. The story also features such seldom-seen Indian fauna as the krait, the muskrat <ref> oddly, as the muskrat is not native to India--Kipling may have been referring to some other, vaguely similar animal, such as the bandicoot rat</ref>, and the tailorbird.

* A mongoose also appears in the [[Sherlock Holmes]] story, "The Adventure of the Crooked Man."

* [[Andre Norton]]'s Beast Master novels included meerkats: Hing in ''The Beast Master'' and ''Lord of Thunder'', and Ho in ''The Beast Master''.

* ''The Immortals'' quartet ([[Tortall]]) featured pygmy marmosets in the third book.

* The [[Spellsinger]] series includes increasingly-exotic species among its [[Funny Animal]] cast in its later books, including the likes of the pangolin, javelina, silky anteater, viscacha, and aye-aye.

 

== [[Live Action Television]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Bubsy]]'' the bobcat.

* MANY [[Pokémon]] are actually based on obscure animal species. We have Pangolins <ref> the Sandshrew line</ref>, Hermit Crabs <ref> the Dwebble line</ref>, Tapirs <ref> the Drowzee and Munna lines</ref>, Dugongs <ref> the Seel line</ref>, Mongooses <ref> Zangoose</ref>, Weedy Sea Dragons <ref> Kingdra</ref>, Angler Fish <ref> the Chinchou line</ref>, Porcupine Fish <ref> Qwilfish</ref>, Mudskippers <ref> so i herd u liek Mudkipz</ref>, Cicadas <ref> the Paras and Nincada lines</ref>, Bagworms <ref> the Pineco and Burmy lines</ref>, Sea Slugs <ref> the Shellos line, Manaphy and Phione</ref>, Meerkats <ref> Watchog</ref>, Leaf Insects <ref> the Sewaddle line</ref>, Chinchillas <ref> the Minccino line</ref>, Lampreys <ref> the Tynamo line</ref>, etc. And that's ''not'' including the fossil Pokemon or plants!

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Off White]]'', the pack is [http://off-white.eu/comic/page-142 shown hunting a chamois.] This might be the one and only time you'll ever see one in any fiction whatsoever.

* ''[[Femmegasm]]'' has a tamarin monkey and axolotl as its lead characters.

* Tiko from ''[[Jana of the Jungle]]'' is a [[wikipedia:Water Opossum|yapok]], a little-known aquatic species of opossum. The show mislabels him a coatimundi, which is [[wikipedia:Coati|a completely different animal]].

* ''[[Go Diego Go]]'' features a lot of [[Seldom-Seen Species]], including spectacled bears, kinkajous and pygmy marmosets.

* The [[Classic Disney Shorts|classic]] [[Goofy]] animated short ''My African Diary'' featured hartebeest, which resemble medium-sized antelope whose horns are shaped like hearts, hence their name.

* Minerva Mink and Baynarts "Charlton" Woodchuck from ''[[Animaniacs]]''.