History InformedSpecies / WesternAnimation

** The guinea pigs in "The War of Art" look more like hamsters with heads like pug dogs and pink cat-like noses. They can even rear up on their hind legs like hamsters, but not like real guinea pigs.

** The guinea pigs in "The War of Art" don't look too much like guinea pigs, having heads like pug dogs with pink cat-like noses and being able to rear up on their hind legs like squirrels (which guinea pigs can't do).

** The guinea pigs in "The War of Art" have heads that look more like those of pug dogs with pink cat-like noses.

** Zig-zagged with the guinea pigs in "The War of Art". While they have bodies and colors of guinea pigs, their heads look more like those of pug dogs with pink cat-like noses. This makes them look more like a cross between a pug and a guinea pig.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons'' short "The Arctic Giant" features the titular giant, which is claimed in the narrative to be a Tyrannosaurus. To most viewers, it looks more like a NotZilla; even when one takes ScienceMarchesOn into account, it's far larger and stronger than any T-rex, was found in Siberia, and has back spines, snakelike fangs, and four-fingered hands.

* The titular dinosaur from ''[[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons The Arctic Giant]]'' is labeled as a ''Tyrannosaurus'', but it looks more like Godzilla[[note]]even though the cartoon ''predates'' Godzilla[[/note]] than anything else.

** Zig-zagged with the guinea pigs in "The War of Art". While they have bodies and colors of guinea pigs, their heads look more like those of pug dogs with pink cat-like noses.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** The blind cave salamander from "Phineas and Ferb Save Summer" doesn't resemble any known species, instead looking more like a surface-world salamander with gills looking more like those of a fish. And while it is correctly described as lacking eyes, it is drawn as looking like it has EyesAlwaysShut instead.

* Several characters of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' don't exactly look like the animal they are supposed to be. For example, the Chameleon Brothers look more like some kind of theropod dinosaur than actual chameleons.

** The guinea pigs in "The War of Art" look more like a cross between a pug and a guinea pig than an actual guinea pig.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalShorts'' entry "The Arctic Giant" features the titular giant, which is claimed in the narrative to be a Tyrannosaurus. To most viewers, it looks more like a NotZilla; even when one takes ScienceMarches on into account, it's far larger and stronger than any T-rex, was found in Siberia, and has back spines, snakelike fangs, and four-fingered hands.

*** She looks like a mouse in the live adaptation.

* The main trio of ''WesternAnimation/MegaBabies'' look more like colored monsters or space aliens than human beings.

* [[WesternAnimation/TheNutshack The Nutshack]]: [[Main/{{Cyborg}} Horat]] is supposed to be a [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsier tarsier]], a lemur-like primate, but he could easily be mistaken for some sort of giant rat (especially since [[NonIndicativeName the word “rat” is in his very name]]).

* [[WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends Smiling Friends]]: [[SpeciesSurname Mr. Frog]] doesn’t look anything like a frog. Instead, he just looks like a green, bipedal {{Cephalothorax}} with big lips.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Rise]]'' [[AdaptationSpeciesChange makes them all specific species]], and [[AvertedTrope averts this trope]] with Leo, Raph, and Mikey, who are a red-eared slider, snapping turtle, and box turtle respectively and look the part. Donnie [[ZigZaggedTrope is more complicated]]--he's a soft-shelled turtle who lacks the distinctive long snout, but a {{Flashback}} showed he had one pre-mutation, so that's likely more a result of the mutation than an actual error.

** The ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "Clan of the Cave Goof" had a dinosaur resembling an outdated tripod-stanced tyrannosaur which was referred to as a ''Brontosaurus'' by Pete. It didn't help it was shown eating meat, despite Goofy correctly pointing out ''Brontosaurus'' are herbivores. However, Pete may have called the creature a ''Brontsaurus'' out of his own ignorance.

** The ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' episode "Clan of the Cave Goof" had a dinosaur resembling an outdated tripod-stanced tyrannosaur which was referred to as a ''Brontosaurus''. It didn't help it was shown eating meat, despite Goofy correctly pointing out ''Brontosaurus'' are herbivores.

* Although mutated from ordinary turtles into the crime-fighting ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' they are today, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael have little to no resemblance towards any real world turtle species other than their nondescript shells, looking more like green-skinned, [[TheNoseless humanoids]] with three-fingered hands. This despite the fact that most turtles (besides sea turtles) have five claws.

** [=SpongeBob=] looks more like a dish sponge than an actual sponge, even though he is supposed to be the latter. This is because Stephen Hillenburg couldn't do an appealing caricature of a real sea sponge, and he felt that a synthetic one worked better for the "[[StealthPun squeaky clean]]" nerd look he was going for. It also implies that he's "a square peg trying to fit into a round hole." Much of his family funnily, do look more like actual sponges, being beige-brown and round rather than square and yellow. There have been several jokes throught the series that point this out.

* [[WesternAnimation/TheNutshack The Nutshack]]: [[Main/{{Cyborg}} Horat]] is supposed to be a [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsier tarsier]] a lemur-like primate, but he could easily be mistaken for some sort of giant rat (especially since [[NonIndicativeName the word “rat” is in his very name]]).

* The protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/{{Catscratch}}'' are cats, however Mr Blik and Waffle barely resemble cats. They're bipedal and have skinny, long ears. They resemble rabbits more than cats, especially Waffles with his floppy ones.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThreeTwoOnePenguins'':
** The Bandicoot King looks less like a bandicoot and more like a cross between a dog and a kangaroo.

* In ''The Devil and Daniel Mouse'' the devil's associate Weez Weezel looks more like a wolf or coyote than a weasel.

** Suzy Sheep doesn't look like an actual sheep at all, rather looking more like a polar bear.

** Pedro Pony looks nothing like a horse, looking more like a hamster with a pig nose.