History Main / InformedSpecies

** Mughi did look like a cat in the original novels, but his design was a ShoutOut to the Coerl from ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle'', so it was changed to avoid copyright issues.

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts" (which would be the Downplayed section of the PlayingWith tab) '''[[note]]JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy[[/note]]''', this trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told'''[[note]]If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously[[/note]]'''. If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details that are mostly obvious and that the general audience would notice, not minor, nitpicky ones only zoologists would care about.'''

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts"'''[[note]]JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy[[/note]]''', this trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told'''[[note]]If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously[[/note]]'''. If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details that are mostly obvious and that the general audience would notice, not minor, nitpicky ones only zoologists would care about.'''

* In ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'''s 2007 line, the Barraki have launchers used to fire squids that look more like lampreys than actual squids and are also stated to be vampiric like the latter.
** Many of the early Rahi fell into this. The Muaka and Kane-Ra are a few parts away from being a PaletteSwap, and are referred to as a tiger and a bull, respectively but only vaguely resemble either (being a giant mechanical creature with tank treads instead of back legs and no tails). The Kuma-Nui, made of parts from both, looks mostly like a much burlier Muaka with two treads and a tail made of rubber hose, and is said to be a ''rat.'' And then there's the Tarakava, which are stated to be lizards, but look more like a mix between a praying mantis and a Rock-Em Sock-Em Robot.

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts".[[spoiler:JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy]]. This trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told.[[spoiler:If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously.]] If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details that are mostly obvious and that the general audience would notice, not minor, nitpicky
ones only zoologists would care about.'''

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts".[[spoiler:JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy]]. This trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told.[[spoiler:If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously.]]If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details that are mostly obvious and that the general audience would notice, not minor, nitpicky

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts"[[spoiler:JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy]], this trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told.[[spoiler:If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously.]]If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details the general audience would notice, not minor ones only zoologists would care about.'''

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts"[[note]]JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy[[/note]], this trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As a rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told.[[note]]If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously.[[/note]] If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details the general audience would notice, not minor ones only zoologists would care about.'''

* The Tottenham Hotspur logo doesn't look much like a cockerel (rooster), looking more like a pigeon.

* The titular mascot of the Filipino fast food restaurant chain, Jollibee, is stated to be a bee, but literally the only things that make him one are his antenna, wings and stripes on his abdomen. Overall, he has a very human-like appearance barely looking anything like the insect he is based on.

Many older examples of SeldomSeenSpecies look and act very little (or nothing) like their RealLife equivalents.

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts"[[note]]JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy[[/note]], this trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told.[[note]]If you're familiar with what the real animal looks like, obviously.[[/note]] If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details the general audience would notice, not minor ones only zoologists would care about.'''

Related to CartoonCreature (whose actual species is entirely ambiguous) and CallASmeerpARabbit (which is about the ''name'' of their species, and not the species itself).

This is related to the CartoonCreature (whose actual species is entirely ambiguous), and CallASmeerpARabbit (which is about the ''name'' of their species, and not the species itself).

Some examples are understandable and forgivable, especially if they are also an example of SeldomSeenSpecies, but for the most part Administrivia/TropesAreTools and so is making a character look less like their real world species counterpart due to TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, being able to tell a story easier (as MostWritersAreHuman) and sometimes simply because it looks [[RuleOfCool cool]] and/or [[RuleOfFun fun]]. See also ViewerSpeciesConfusion for a subtrope based on the audience reaction to a creature, and IAmNotWeasel for in-universe reactions.

* In ''ComicStrip/MotherGooseAndGrimm'', while Grimm is clearly a dog, he doesn't really share much of resemblance with Bull Terriers, which he's stated to be. Combined with ArtEvolution, in the earlier strips he actually did look a lot like the particular breed.

*** According to the script, the ceratopsian skull that the Indoraptor is impaled on is that of an ''Agujaceratops'', not a ''Triceratops'', as viewers commonly assume. The thing is, the skull's frill is clearly solid, a feature only ''Triceratops'' had. However, the producers have confirmed it's been decided that the skull was not any indentified ceratopsian. Interestingly, the junior novelization identifies it as a ''Triceratops horridus''.

** ''Film/JurassicParkIII'':
*** The ''Spinosaurus''. It's got a skull and teeth more similar to ''Suchomimus'' as well as two crests instead of one. And now discoveries in 2014 and 2020 have made the film's depiction look ''even more inaccurate'' than its real-life counterpart. Granted, this can be excusable since suplementary material for ''Jurassic World'' and ''Fallen Kingdom'' implies [[spoiler:the Spinosaurus was a prototype for the Indominus rex project.]]
*** The ''Pteranodon'' have hooked bills full of sharp teeth, in spite of the animal meaning "Wing ''Without Teeth''". And especially egregious in that the ''Pteranodon'' from the previous film had the proper toothless bill albeit also hooked, though ''Film/JurassicWorld'' would bring back the toothless bills which are this time correctly pointed. All versions possess grasping feet and leathery wings however. Both the ''JPIII'' and ''JW'' versions lack pycnofibres, while it's ambiguous whether the ''TLW'' version has them or not (the concept art and macquettes portrays it with such).

* In its initial incarnation, the owlbear of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', despite supposedly being a hybrid of bear and owl, was pretty hard to identify as such: it has bearlike arms and a thickset furry body, but the only owl-like trait it has is a beak, which certainly doesn't look like an owl beak (being almost as large as its head). Add in the armored head and the T-rex stance with a long thick tail dragging behind it, and one could be forgiven for thinking it's simply some kind of fantasy dinosaur rather than the MixAndMatchCritter it is. This owed to its original design being based less on owls or bears and more on a bootleg figure Gygax was using as a miniature. Later redesigns have tried to make it more like its inspirational critters, usually by shortening the tail considerably to give it a bearlike silhouette and giving it a rather obvious owl head.

* In its initial incarnation, the owlbear of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', despite supposedly being a hybrid of bear and owl, was pretty hard to identify as such: it has bearlike arms and a thickset furry body, but the only owl-like trait it has is a beak, which certainly doesn't look like an owl beak (being almost as large as its head). Add in the armored head, the thick lizard tail, and the T-rex stance, and one could be forgiven for thinking it's simply some kind of fantasy dinosaur rather than the MixAndMatchCritter it is. This owed to its original design being based less on owls or bears and more on a bootleg figure Gygax was using as a miniature. Later redesigns have tried to make it more like its inspirational critters.

* For a while, the owlbear of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', despite supposedly being a hybrid of bear and owl, had a lot of traits that looked like neither: a gigantic beak, a long thick tail, and an armored head. It looks much more like an old-school dinosaur covered in fur, or possibly a giant ground sloth. This owed to its original design being based less on owls or bears and more with a bootleg figure Gygax was using as a miniature. Later redesigns have tried to make it more like its inspirational critters.

** The G1 Decepticon Headmasters all have animals as their alternate modes. Weirdwolf, Skullcruncher, and Mindwipe all manage to look like the species their alt-modes are supposed to be (a wolf, a crocodile, and a bat, respectively). Others are not so lucky. Horri-Bull is, as his name suggests, supposed to be a bull. He has bull-like horns but his head has a broad snout full of sharp teeth, his feet have claws instead of hooves, and his tail is broad and forked (as it's his robot mode gun). Overall, he looks more like [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 Zuul]] than any sort of actual bull. His wavemates Squeezeplay and Fangry are so far beyond this that they're well into CallASmeerpARabbit territory: Squeezeplay's "crab" mode is more like an alien monster with crab claws, while Fangry's wolf mode has a wolf head on a bipedal body with bat wings.

'''NOTE: This trope is NOT "animal has qualities that differ from their real counterparts"[[note]]JustForFun/{{Egregious}} examples of this may go in ArtisticLicenseBiology or FunnyAnimalAnatomy[[/note]], this trope is "animal mainly does not look like their general species". As rule of thumb, ask yourself if you could recognize the animal's correct species without being told. If not, then this is the correct trope. Also, keep MST3KMantra in mind and only point out details the general audience would notice, not minor ones only zoologists would care about.'''

*** The ''Mamenchisaurus'' look more like ''Diplodocus'' or ''Barosaurus'' in that they don't have a hump or a tail club. Most glaringly, they don't have the extra-long neck this dinosaur is famous for, meaning that they mostly just look like generic sauropods.

*** According to the script, the ceratopsian skull that the Indoraptor is impaled on is that of an ''Agujaceratops'', not a ''Triceratops'', as viewers commonly assume. The thing is, the skull's frill is clearly solid, a feature only ''Triceratops'' had. Interestingly, the junior novelization identifies it as a ''Triceratops horridus''.

** Dinobot's toy has a lot to be excused about it, being a ''Velociraptor'' toy in the post-''Film/JurassicPark'' mid-90s ([[RaptorAttack featherless, hands are wrong, way too big]]). What can't be easily excused is that he's incredibly chunky, with tiny arms, legs barely long enough to lift his belly off the ground, and gigantic hips, when ''Velociraptors'' were even then depicted as slim and slight with lanky limbs. He was redesigned somewhat in the cartoon, but even then, he's still a lot thicker than a real ''Velociraptor.'' If not for the sickle claw (which is small enough to be mistaken for a big toe), you'd probably think ''T-rex'' or ''Allosaurus'' first. His ''Universe'' toy managed to fix this a fair bit by slimming out his proportions, though his design is still outdated.

** Dinobot's toy has a lot to be excused about it, being a ''Velociraptor'' toy in the post-''Film/JurassicPark'' mid-90s ([[RaptorAttack featherless, hands are wrong, way too big]]). What can't be easily excused is that he's incredibly chunky, with tiny arms, legs barely long enough to lift his belly off the ground, and gigantic hips, when ''Velociraptors'' were even then depicted as slim and slight with lanky limbs. He was redesigned somewhat in the cartoon, but even then, he's still a lot thicker than a real ''Velociraptor.'' If not for the sickle claw, you'd probably think ''T-rex'' or ''Allosaurus'' first. His ''Universe'' toy managed to fix this a fair bit by slimming out his proportions, though his design is still outdated.

** Bingo is supposed to be a gorilla, but he has a dog's nose, shorter arms, and orange fur. In ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'', he was redesigned as a TopHeavyGuy, making him resemble a gorilla more.

* Bingo of ''Series/TheBananaSplits'' is supposed to be a gorilla, but he has a dog's nose, shorter arms, and orange fur. In ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'', he was redesigned as a TopHeavyGuy, making him look more like a gorilla.