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'''Nearly-Normal Animal'''s come in three types: largely normal, mostly normal, and almost normal.
* '''Largely-Normal Animals''' clearly have thought processes and often [[Intellectual Animal|human-level intelligence]] but don't talk freely with humans. These animal characters may talk to each other, essentially [[Animal Talk|having their own language]], but humans won't understand them. That is, unless they [[Speaks Fluent Animal|can talk to animals]] or if the language is able to be learned. Their thought processes and personality is still very much like that of whatever animal they are. Many of them are able to make human-like arm and hand gestures and some can even grasp objects as if they have opposable thumbs. A few examples are bipedal even if their species isn't naturally so, but the majority of them stay on four legs if they are a four-legged animal in [[Real Life]]. A few Largely-Normal Animals can sometimes act like the more anthropomorphic [[Civilized Animal]] or [[Funny Animal]] when required by a joke.
* '''
* '''Almost-Normal Animals''' have very few human and/or a few [[All Animals Are Dogs|doglike]] characteristics (e.g., greater frequency of uttering sounds, human-like expressions) that don't detract from their animality, but they allow an audience not well versed in the way of animal behavior to understand what's going on in the animals' minds. Can be merely a result of [[Did Not Do the Research]] or completely intended. They don't make human-like arm or hand gestures and they stay on all four legs if they're four-legged animals.▼
▲'''Almost-Normal Animals''' have very few human and/or a few [[All Animals Are Dogs|doglike]] characteristics (e.g., greater frequency of uttering sounds, human-like expressions) that don't detract from their animality, but they allow an audience not well versed in the way of animal behavior to understand what's going on in the animals' minds. Can be merely a result of [[Did Not Do the Research]] or completely intended. They don't make human-like arm or hand gestures and they stay on all four legs if they're four-legged animals.
This is the low end of the [[Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism]]. The next step up is [[Partially-Civilized Animal]].
Related to [[Amplified Animal Aptitude]].
See [[Speech-Impaired Animal]] and [[Talking Animal]] for
{{examples}}
==
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* [[Uplifted Animal|Ein]] from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. He is smart enough to read, play chess, figure out stuff Spike and Jet can't and even hacking. Problem is, he's otherwise a totally normal dog—he just has human-like intelligence—and thus he can't speak, only bark and point out stuff.
* The cats in ''[[Chi's Sweet Home]]''
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* Hot Dog of ''[[Archie Comics]]'' would act like this in his own title, where he was revealed to have a high-tech super-structure ''underneath'' his common dog house. The series didn't last long.
* The dogs, wolves, and other animals in ''[[Balto]]''▼
* The birds and other animals in ''[[Rio]]''▼
* The animals in ''[[Happy Feet]]'', though the penguins are [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]]▼
* The wolves and other animals in ''[[Alpha and Omega]]''▼
* Pooka, Anya's dog in ''[[Anastasia]]''.▼
* The dinosaurs from ''[[The Land Before Time]]''.▼
* The animals in ''[[Open Season]]'', though some of them lean a little into [[Civilized Animal]] territory.▼
* Spike is usually a MNA example, but in ''[[Rugrats Gone Wild]]'', he falls in this level and is shown to speak [[Animal Talk]].▼
* Tiger the cat and Nugent the dog from ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]''▼
* The animals in the first ''[[Ice Age]]'' film, but not in the sequels.▼
* The dogs, pack rat, and iguana in ''[[Beverly Hills Chihuahua]]''▼
==== Disney and Pixar ====
* The animals in ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]''
* [[Figaro]] and Cleo from ''[[Pinocchio]]''
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* The dogs in ''[[Up]]''
=== [[Literature]] ===▼
▲=== Film - Animated ===
▲* The dogs, wolves, and other animals in ''[[Balto]]''
▲* The birds and other animals in ''[[Rio]]''
▲* The animals in ''[[Happy Feet]]'', though the penguins are [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]]
▲* The wolves and other animals in ''[[Alpha and Omega]]''
▲* Pooka, Anya's dog in ''[[Anastasia]]''.
▲* The dinosaurs from ''[[The Land Before Time]]''.
▲* The animals in ''[[Open Season]]'', though some of them lean a little into [[Civilized Animal]] territory.
▲* Spike is usually a MNA example, but in ''[[Rugrats Gone Wild]]'', he falls in this level and is shown to speak [[Animal Talk]].
▲* Tiger the cat and Nugent the dog from ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]''
▲* The animals in the first ''[[Ice Age]]'' film, but not in the sequels.
=== Film - Live Action ===▼
▲* The dogs, pack rat, and iguana in ''[[Beverly Hills Chihuahua]]''
▲=== Literature ===
* The cast of ''[[Watership Down]]'', both books, film, and TV series.
▲=== Live Action TV ===
* The titular kangaroo of ''[[Skippy the Bush Kangaroo]]'' not only showed a remarkable understanding of English, but would often imitate human behaviors like playing a piano or the drums.
* ''[[Lassie (TV series)|Lassie]]'' can not only understand, but also bark in some sort of code that humans understand to mean [[Timmy in a Well]].
=== [[Newspaper Comics]] ===▼
▲=== Newspaper Comics ===
* The four-legged ''[[Garfield]]'' in the earlier comic strips.
* The four-legged Snoopy from the earlier ''[[Peanuts]]'' comic strips.
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* All of the wolves of [[Off White]].
* All of the cats in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130921163905/http://nekothekitty.smackjeeves.com/comics/979494/751-wait-what/ Neko the Kitty Comics]
=== [[Web Original]] ===
* From the [[Reincarnation Fantasy]] Isekai web novel ''[[Tori Transmigrated]]'' by "Aila Aurie", Tori's cat Alexander (who turns out to be a specimen of a possibly-supernatural breed of cat) is clearly intelligent enough to understand human speech and even hold conversations with humans, even if the only thing he can say in reply is "''nyaow''". Similarly, Toni's horse Layla appears to possess near-human intelligence as well. In both cases, it's suggested that the animals have been affected by a variety of magic from the setting that can provide intelligence buffs.
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* The animals in ''[[Krypto the Superdog (animation)|Krypto the Superdog]]'' except Mechanicat, who is a cyborg [[Funny Animal]] cat. The animal characters sometimes lean toward the [[Civilized Animal]] trope at times.
* The animals in the ''[[Curious George]]'' movies and TV series are this, though [[Curious George]] is a non-talking [[Civilized Animal]] himself.
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* ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' are usually shown as this, though sometimes they are shown as [[Civilized Animal]]s.
* All animals in ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' except the agent animals, who are [[Civilized Animal]]s.
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* Mabari war hounds of the ''[[Dragon Age]]'' series are said to be smart enough to talk, wise enough not to. They're certainly able to understand what people say and [[Dragon Age II|Hawke's]] mabari was able to learn to play cards. Dwarven enchanter Sandal even seems to have figured out how to speak "mabari speak."
== Mostly-Normal Animal ==
===
* The penguins in ''[[Mr Popper's Penguins]]''▼
* Azreal in ''The Smurfs''. He bangs his head on a table (in a way that only a human could) in one scene, and aside from that looks like a normal cat (to the point where he looks like motion capture of a real cat in the CGI scenes)▼
* The equine cast in ''[[Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron]]'' have some slightly doglike behaviour and expressions. They have human eyebrows and visible, white sclera. The narrator is a horse, and the horses have a sense of humour and can plan ahead. At least some individuals also have romantic love, although Spirit's home herd seems to follow the normal stallion/harem order.▼
* Dragon the cat from ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'', as in the book.▼
* The hawk from ''[[Rango]]''▼
==== Disney and Pixar ====
* Dinah the kitten from ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' is between this and a LNA.
* Brutus and Nero the crocodiles from ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]''
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* Kevin the bird in ''[[Up]]''
* Waffles and Chainsaw from ''[[Goof Troop]]''
* [[Goofy]]'s cat, Mr. Pettibone, from ''[[House of Mouse]]''
* Buster, Darby's pet dog, and the squirrels from ''[[My Friends Tigger And Pooh]]''
=== [[Literature]] ===▼
▲* The equine cast in ''[[Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron]]'' have some slightly doglike behaviour and expressions. They have human eyebrows and visible, white sclera. The narrator is a horse, and the horses have a sense of humour and can plan ahead. At least some individuals also have romantic love, although Spirit's home herd seems to follow the normal stallion/harem order.
▲* Dragon the cat from ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'', as in the book.
▲* The hawk from ''[[Rango]]''
▲* The penguins in ''[[Mr Popper's Penguins]]''
▲* Azreal in ''The Smurfs''. He bangs his head on a table (in a way that only a human could) in one scene, and aside from that looks like a normal cat (to the point where he looks like motion capture of a real cat in the CGI scenes)
▲=== Literature ===
* Dragon the cat from ''[[Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH]]''.
=== [[Western Animation]] ===▼
▲=== Western Animation ===
* Kitty, Eric Cartman's cat from ''[[South Park]]''.
* Pussyfoot the kitten from ''[[Looney Tunes]]''.
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* Many non-anthropomorphic animals in ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''.
== Almost
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* The other animals in ''[[Chi's Sweet Home]]''
* Erika's dog Zach from ''[[Ginga e Kickoff!!|Ginga E Kickoff]]'' is a mean soccer player.
* The otherwise completely normal moth that Gargamel saw in ''[[The Smurfs (film)|The Smurfs]]'' is able to carry out his order to send a swarm of moths. His order backfired and the moth sent a swarm of ''flies'' instead, but still.▼
==== Disney and Pixar ====
* The rat from ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]''
* Glut the Shark from ''[[The Little Mermaid]]''
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* Sven the reindeer from ''[[Frozen (Disney film)|Frozen]]''.
===
▲* The otherwise completely normal moth that Gargamel saw in ''[[The Smurfs (film)|The Smurfs]]'' is able to carry out his order to send a swarm of moths. His order backfired and the moth sent a swarm of ''flies'' instead, but still.
* In the book ''Indian Paint'', the horses were almost normal, and completely unable to talk. This is particularly interesting because part of the book was told from the point of view of one of them.
=== [[Western Animation]] ===▼
▲=== Western Animation ===
* Many of the animals in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Snowball II the cat and Santa's Little Helper the dog are normally this type.
* Many non-anthropomorphic animals in ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
▲{{related|Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism}}
[[Category:Animal Anthropomorphism Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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