Seldom-Seen Species: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Animal characters in fiction run the gamut. Just a look at the listing in [[Animal Stereotypes]] shows that there are plenty of common enough animals that are used for their distinctive traits (presumed or real).
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]].
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Four of the five main characters of ''[[
* ''[[Transformers]]: [[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
== [[Film]] ==
* How many fictional meerkats can you name outside [[The Lion King|Timon]]?
** Well there is [[Compare the Meerkat
** The sequel prominently featured okapi, a close relative to the giraffe.
** Zazu, another character from ''The Lion King'', is actually a Red-Billed Hornbill. Who looks nothing like an actual hornbill and more like a toucan instead.
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** Besides the three named lemur characters belonging to the above species, the lemurs appearing in the background belong to various other species. A tenrec also appears in one scene.
** In the sequel, aside from the typical African fauna, there are some dik-dik antelopes.
* The background animals from the "Noah's Ark" segment from [[Fantasia
* ''[[Dinosaur]]'' not only featured obscure dinosaurs (such as Iguanodon for the hero and Carnotaurus for the villain), but also [[Anachronism Stew|modern Sifaka lemurs.]]
* Disney's ''[[Atlantis:
* ''[[Finding Nemo]]'' featured clownfish, regal tangs, moorish idols, yellow tangs, royal grammas, four-striped damselfish, cleaner shrimp, [[Everything's Even Worse
* This part of the song "Under the Sea" from ''[[
{{quote|
The plaice plays the bass, now that's sounding sharp
The bass plays the brass, the chub plays the tub
The fluke is the Duke of soul (yeah!)
Oh, the ray he can play, the lings on the strings
The trout's rocking out, the blackfish he sings
The smelt and the sprat are all where it's at
And, oh hear that blowfish blow! }}
** The newt and trout are ''especially''
** [[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.
* The different species of owls from [[Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of
** 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
** The sequel features two krill, one named Bill and one named Will.
* Other than the main heroes (mammoth, sloth, and saber-toothed cat or ''Smilodon''), [[Ice Age]] and its two sequels were filled to the brim with prehistoric animals that went beyond the stock animals that is so nauseatingly typical in any other movie. You had glyptodonts (salesman Sid's sidekick who got eaten by the marine reptiles, Cretaceous the ''Metriorhynchus'' and Maelstrom the ''Globidens''), the sad and farting chalicothere, gray trunked ''Palaeotherium'', the rhino-looking ''Brontops'' brothers who were harassing Sid in the first movie, a long necked and trunked exasperated ''Macrauchenia'', and giant ''Gastornis'' birds. In the third movie, 'Dawn of the Dinosaurs', it went beyond [[Stock Dinosaurs]] to include a family of ''Triceratops''-looking ''Chasmosaurus'', small stegosaurid ''Kentrosaurus'', a giant pterodactyloid ''Quetzalcoatlus'', ravenous wolfish ''Guanlong'', and a white ''Baryonyx'' named Rudy - Buck's eternal enemy and threat to the ''T. rex'' family.
* ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'' prominently featured secretary birds.
* ''[[The Princess and
* ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'' showed [[Misplaced Wildlife|ring tailed lemurs in mainland Africa]].
* ''[[
** And yes Disney fans, the Aracua or Speckled Chachalaca (called the Aracuan Bird in the film) [[wikipedia:Speckled Chachalaca|is real]]... though like many of the older examples on this page, the real bird looks and acts ''nothing'' like it's more famous animated equivalent.
* In the most recent film of ''[[The Time Machine]]'', one of the Eloi men is seen carrying a live black-furred animal over his shoulder, which appears to be a binturong.
* 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
== [[Literature]] ==
* 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
** A "sea cow"
*** Most likely referring to the [[wikipedia:
* 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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110305143809/http://www.suite101.com/content/the-lammergeier-rarest-raptor-in-europe-a271073 lammergeier] in [[Iain M Banks]]'s ''Feersum Endjinn''.
* Bears are common enough in fiction, but how many times have you seen a ''sloth'' bear? Probably just in Rudyard Kipling's ''Jungle Book,'' and the Disney cartoons it inspired.
* ''Velociraptors'' (along with a few other genre) were obscure back when ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' was written. But then the book and movie popularized them so that they are inescapable in dinosaur media these days. ''Dilophosaurus'' is an example that never caught on quite as much.
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* ''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]] ==
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* The titular character of the PBS children's show ''[[Zoboomafoo]]'' is a Sifaka lemur, who for some reason is actually anthropomorphosized by being fed.
* [[Sesame Street|Sesame Street's]] South African co-production, Takalani Sesame has a giant meerkat named Moshe.
* When ''[[Super Sentai]]'' and ''[[Power Rangers]]'' does an animal theme (which is often), usually have [[King of Beasts|some]] [[Big Badass Wolf|stock]] [[Big Badass Bird of Prey|badass]] [[Everything's Even Worse
** ''Kakuranger''/''Mighty Morphin'' Season 3 infamously had the aforementioned frog, as well as a crane.
** ''Gaoranger''/''Wild Force'' included a giraffe, a deer, an armadillo, and a hammerhead shark.
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== [[Music]] ==
* The [[
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]''
* ''[[Ty the Tasmanian Tiger]]''
* ''[[Bubsy]]'' the bobcat.
* MANY [[Pokémon]] are actually based on obscure animal species. We have Pangolins
** It's safe to say that Game Freak has [[Shown Their Work]] concerning a lot of species and other biological life. Even the ones that aren't based directly on specific animals are instead based on old myths
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Knuckles and Tikal the Echidna.]]
* ''[[Mega Man X|Mega Man X6]]'' has [http://megaman.neoseeker.com/w/i/megaman/9/98/Infinity_Mijinion.jpg Infinity Mijinon]. In case you're wondering, he's a [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Daphnia_pulex.png water flea]!
** ''[[Mega Man X Corrupted]]'', a fan-made ''[[Mega Man X]]'' game. Compared to the original X series, there's a Milodon (aka Megatherium), [[wikipedia:Hoatzin|Hoatzin]] and Rafflesia!
* The ''[[Darius]]'' series has a whole slew of them, in the form of [[Humongous Mecha]] sea creatures. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811184919/http://images.wikia.com/darius/images/f/ff/ADefenderKbio.gif Absolute Defender]- [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Monocentris_japonica.jpg pinecone fish], [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091231071149/darius/images/c/cd/GDTripodSardinebio.png Tripod Sardine]- [http://starofthelost.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/deepsea-tripod_fish_j02-illustration_closeup.jpg tripod fish], [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091228015509/darius/images/7/70/FFan0.gif Folding Fan]- [http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Images/11416/DSCF0121edited_big.jpg fanfish], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120617091128/http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091231180230/darius/images/b/b7/GDThe_Embryonvz01bio.png The Embryon]- [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Sea_angel.jpg sea angel],[http://darius.jp/dbac/game/images/bs_16.png Brightly Stare]-[https://web.archive.org/web/20140523154926/http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/210/cache/fish-transparent-head-2_21052_600x450.jpg Barrel Eye fish], and more.
* [[Zoo Tycoon]] contains too many examples to list.
* [[Chimera Beast]] features two giant monsters inspired by lamprey, and related species, as it's first boss.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Roland le Fay, the pangolin from ''[[Concession]]''.
* [[Nature of
* 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.
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* The ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' universe includes a marmot (Cro-Marmot). Note that the ice encased Cro-Marmot isn't shown engaging in any marmot-esque activity. Or any activity, period.
* The middle portion of the song "In the Ocean Blue" from ''[[Charlie the Unicorn]]'', which sounds an awful lot like the [[Pokémon|Pokerap]]:
{{quote|
Armorhead, Hammerhead, Anaconda, Flathead
Manta ray, Stingray, Fangtooth Moray
Goblin shark, Grass carp, Round River Bat Ray
Noodlefish, Hagfish, Man o' War, Ladyfish
Black eel, baby seal, Sprat, Koi, Electric eel
Lamprey, Pejerey, Yellow-edged Moray
Salmon shark, Sleeper shark, Leatherback, and Eagle ray! }}
** Much like with the previous example from [[The Little Mermaid]], the anaconda, koi, electric eel, alligator, lungfish, and grass carp are ''especially''
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[
* Rufus the naked mole rat from ''[[
* ''[[
* The Tasmanian Devil from ''[[
** Also, [[Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner
* Lil'Beeper and Dizzy Devil from ''[[
* Tiko from ''[[
* ''[[Go, Diego, Go
* ''[[
* 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 ''[[
** Calhoon Q. Capybara and Who Who the ring tailed lemur (who looks vaguely like a red panda) from "Back In Style" count too.
* Rocko the wallaby in ''[[
* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' series shows not only the [[Stock Dinosaurs]], but also features several more obscure dinosaurs as well.
* The film ''[[Rio]]'' has a number of more obscure bird species, most prominently, the Spix's Macaw.
* ''[[Dinosaur Train]]'' primarily features many obscure dinosaur genera.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Adventures
* ''[[Miscellaneous Disney Shorts|The Pelican and the Snipe]]'' starred [[Exactly What It Says
== Other ==
* ''[[Walking
** The original WWD featured coelophysis, postosuchus, placerias, thrinaxodon, peteinosaurus, ornitholestes, anurognathus, dryosaurus, ophthalmosaurus, liopleurodon, eustreptospondylus, cryptoclidus, hybodus, perisphinctes, ornithocheirus, iguanodon, utahraptor, tupandactylus, polacanthus, iberomesornis, leallynasaura, muttaburasaurus, koolasuchus, coatimundis, torosaurus, anatotitan, dromeosaurus, didelphodon, quetzalcoatlus, deinosuchus, and dinilysia.
** The Ballad of Big Al had dryosaurus, ornitholestes, anurognathus, and othnielia.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Animal Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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