History InformedSpecies / WesternAnimation

** The episode "Patrick [=SmartPants=]" featured brain coral that looked nothing like the real animals, being cone-shaped rather than [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin brain-shaped]].

** Ankylo has a face that looks more like a cross between a warthog and a bulldog than a real ''Ankylosaurus''. His snorting VerbalTic didn't help, either.

** Princess Dei is supposed to be a ''Deinonychus'', but she looks more like a generic small theropod. In fact, she doesn't even have the sickle-shaped foot-claws the genus was named after.

** Al is a Basset Hound, but he looks like a Beagle.

** ''[[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.[[note]]Amusingly, the turtles ''were'' red-eared sliders in the original comics, but all of them lacked the distinctive FacialMarkings, which Rise!Leo has.[[/note]]

* 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzags]] this a little. Every sapient character who’s from Amphibia is supposed to be an amphibian, but the degree on how much they look like amphibians varies from character to character. Characters like Hop Pop and Mrs. Croaker actually look like FunnyAnimal frogs, and Grime looks like a FunnyAnimal toad. However, characters like Sprig, Ivy, and Maddie are supposed to be frogs, but they instead look like [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation technicolor]] cartoon humanoids. A [[https://www.bogleech.com/cartoons/amphibia-frogs.jpg one-off gag]] implies that their appearances are stylized for the viewer, and they actually look a lot more like real frogs.

* ''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.
** Really, Perry does not resemble a platypus very much. First off, he’s [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife blue]] as opposed to brown, and his beak and flippers are orange instead of black, making them more resemble that of a duck’s. His tail is flat and scaly like a beaver’s, while real platypus tails are rounder and furrier, and he has paws on his forelegs, while all four of a platypus’s feet are webbed (though to be fair, this was probably done so that it would be easier for Perry to have hands). Additionally, his body is in the shape of a perfect rectangular prism, which is unnatural not only for platypus, but almost every species.

** Really, Perry does not really resemble a platypus. First off, he’s [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife blue]] as opposed to brown, and his beak and flippers are orange instead of black, making them more resemble that of a duck’s. His tail is flat and scaly like a beaver’s, while real platypus tails are rounder and furrier, and he has paws on his forelegs, while all four of a platypus’s feet are webbed (though to be fair, this was probably done so that it would be easier for Perry to have hands). Additionally, his body is in the shape of a perfect rectangular prism, which is unnatural not only for platypus, but almost every species.

** The "turkey on a roll" that Yakko briefly takes out of the basket in "Broadcast Nuisance" doesn't look much like a turkey, since it has big feet and an upper beak that curves a little bit upwards.

** The yak from the opening ("And Yakko yaks.") looks more like an ox than a yak. Averted in [[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020 the 2020 revival]], where the yak looks much more accurate.

** Terrible Dactyl is yet another example of a [[PteroSoarer cartoony pterosaur]], having a ''Pteranodon'' crest along with teeth and a ''Rhamphorhynchus''-like tail.

* While he at least looks like one enough more than WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}, the titular Aardvark from ''WesternAnimation/TheAntAndTheAardvark'' doesn't look very much like an aardvark, having [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife blue fur]], a long snout more like that of an anteater's than an actual aardvark's, and long angular bent ears. Even more so in ''Pink Panther and Pals''. This time the Aardvark's snout is curved upwards like an elephant's and his tail is shortened. Interestingly enough, in the Latin American Spanish dub, he is outright named an anteater instead.

InformedSpecies in WesternAnimation

** Really, Perry does not really resemble a platypus. First off, he’s [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife blue]] as opposed to brown, and his beak and flippers are orange instead of black, making them more resemble that of a duck’s. His tail is flat and scaly like a beaver’s, while real platypus tails are rounder and furrier, and he has paws on his forelegs, while all four of a platypus’s feet are webbed (though to be fair, this was probably done so that it would be easier for Perry to have hands). Additionally, his body is in the shape of a perfect rectangular prism, which is unnatural not only for platypus’s, but almost every species.

* ''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.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzags]] this a little. Every sapient character who’s from Amphibia is supposed to be an amphibian, but the degree on how much they look like amphibians varies from character to character. Characters like Hop Pop and Mrs. Croaker actually look like FunnyAnimal frogs, and Grime looks like a FunnyAnimal toad. However, characters like Sprig, Ivy, and Maddie are supposed to be frogs, but they instead look like [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation technicolor]] cartoon humanoids.

* ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'':
** The titular cockroaches hardly resemble the actual insects due to their [[GagNose needle-like noses]], [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife unnatural coloring on their heads and torsos]], [[FourLeggedInsect the lack of a third pair of legs]] and ''[[ArtisticLicenseBiology vertebrate-like skeletons]]''.
*** Their country cousin from the episode, "Roachy Redneck", is even worse since he doesn't even have any wings nor antennae, the latter case being made obvious when his beret flies off from his head at one point [[https://youtu.be/PceTOAJFnbM?t=68 here]].
*** Lady K, likewise, looks so cartoonish and feminine that her resemblance to a cockroach may as well not be there at all.
** Oggy's [[CrankyNeighbor grumpy next-door neighbor]], Bob, doesn't look much like a bulldog, especially due to the lack of jowls bulldogs always have.

* ''Charlie And Mimmo'': The main cast are indeed penguins, but one might be skeptical considering how round and cartoony [[https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/69/35/9029/format_page/charley-and-mimmo.jpg they look]]. To put it further, their "beaks" are too round and look more like noses, not to mention the fact that they have visible mouths beneath them.

* The characters in ''WesternAnimation/OutThere'' are human (by extension of background elements depicting humans and referring to humans as themselves) but they don't look too human at all, in fact most are fairly [[CartoonCreature ambiguous]] in terms of species and the lead character Chad and his family look nothing like the others, instead being less ambiguous and looking more like very hairy rodents but still of indeterminate species and considered as part of the same species as the rest: "human".

** Arthur Read and his relatives are aardvarks, but aren't readily identifiable as such. Real aardvarks have snouts that stick out and long pointed ears. Arthur, D.W., and other Reads have nostrils and rounded ears. Because of this, they have mostly been mistaken to be gerbils, hamsters, bears of some kind, among other species. In the first book, Arthur's nose was longer but he still looked more like a brown tapir (or a giant anteater, without the stripes or the plumes of hair on the tail) than an aardvark, which have medium-sized pig-like snouts.

* 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.

** Blitz is supposed to be a ''Velociraptor'', but besides lacking feathers other than on his head, he lacks the raised second toe with the killing claw and his head is much too short and rounded. These features make him look more like a generic theropod instead.

** Clover is supposed to be a ''Brontosaurus'', but his domed head, shorter tail, and more upright posture makes him look more like a ''Brachiosaurus''.

** Heffer Wolfe doesn’t look too much like a steer. Filbert barely looks like a turtle, resembling Gogo Dodo from ''Tiny Toons''.