History Main / InformedSpecies

* [[TimCurry Drake]], the villain of ''ThePebbleandthePenguin'', actually looks very un-penguinlike if you look very closely.

* Sherlock from [[HomestarRunner ''Sweet Cuppin' Cakes'']] is supposed to be a mix between a cow and a helicopter, but he looks like neither.

* Most reindeer appearing in many Christmas specials look absolutely nothing like their real-life counterparts, instead looking more like mule deer or white tailed deer.

** Rare human examples: Bosko and his girlfriend Honey are supposed to be {{blackface}}-looking African-American human characters, but they look more like ambiguous-looking chimpanzees.

* Frankie the flea from ''WesternAnimation/TomandJerryTheMovie'' for some reason actually looks more like a large green mosquito than an actual flea. Also, fleas aren't the same size as mice!

* Frankie the flea from ''TomandJerryTheMovie'' for some reason actually looks more like a large green mosquito than an actual flea. Also, fleas aren't the same size as mice!

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!!Examples:

[[folder:Film]]
* The Aracuan Bird from ''TheThreeCaballeros'' is pink, unlike its real world counterpart.
* A few of the reviews for ''AnAmericanTail'' when it first came out complained about how un-catlike Tiger looked.
* [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110408184553/kungfupanda/images/9/93/ShifuGreen.JPG Shifu]] the red panda from ''KungFuPanda'', with his huge round ears, more whitish orangey fur, and dark brown hands, is not that easy to identify as a [[http://www.pluspets.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Red-Panda4.jpg red]] [[http://www.pluspets.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Red-Panda2.jpg panda]], which has medium sized, rounded triangular ears and is more reddish with a black underside and legs.
* [[{{Godzilla}} Zilla]], a.k.a., the American {{Godzilla}}, is an interesting variation. He's supposed to be a mutated marine iguana, but his physical structure is more akin to that of a theropod dinosaur. Of course, since he is mutated, this might be justified.

** Poor Ducky. Sources can't decide if she's a Parasaurolophus, an Edmontoaurus, or a Saurolophus since she doesn't really look completely like one or the other.
** Likewise, Hyp and his father don't really look much like Hypsilophodons.
** The "Yellow Bellies" from ''The Wisdom Of Friends'' hardly look like the dinosaurs they're supposed to be either.

* Jiminy Cricket from ''{{Disney/Pinocchio}}'' is so heavily anthropomorphized that he looks more like a little green man with a rabbit nose and no ears. Animator Ward Kimball, who designed him, admitted that "he's a cricket because we ''say'' he's a cricket."

* [[SeaMonster Cretaceous and Maelstrom]], the main villains of [[IceAge ''Ice Age 2: The Meltdown'']] are supposed to be a Mosasaurus and an Icthyosaurus, respectively, but [[SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying they look more like mutated crocodiles instead.]]

* As noted by many youtube commentators of {{Felidae}}, Kong is decidedly dissimilar to the more anatomically correct cats that populate the movie, looking more like a bufallo/bull-dog hybrid than an actual cat.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* KrazyKat is not readily identifiable as a cat.
* Nor is Mooch from ''{{Mutts}}''.

* ''{{Peanuts}}'': More of an informed breed, but Snoopy and his brothers look nothing like real beagles.

[[folder:Other]]
* The University of Minnesota's mascot, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldy_Gopher Goldy Gopher]] doesn't look much like a gopher. [[http://www.mndaily.com/2003/07/21/goldie-really-gopher Upon consultation]] the conclusion was he looks more like a chipmunk.

[[folder:Puppets]]

[[folder:Video Games]]

** Knuckles is an echidna, but because his spikes look more like styled hair, he hardly has a snout, and has a jellybean like nose that's close to face, it wouldn't be too hard to mistake him for a "hedgehog".
* King Dedede from the ''{{Kirby}}'' game series is not readily identifiable as a penguin.

** Tiny the Tiger looks like ''some'' kind of big cat, but definitely not a tiger. He apparently was originally intended to be a Tasmanian tiger (an extinct Australian marsupial, not actually a cat) but in the game ''Crash of the Titans'' he was redesigned and looks more cat like now.

[[folder:Western Animation]]

** Yoyo Dodo looks nothing like a real dodo.
** Batty, the bat in the cartoon, "The Brave Little Bat," looks nothing like a bat, and looks like a mouse with wings instead.

** Rare human examples: Bosko and his girlfriend Honey are supposed to be {{blackface}}-looking African-American human characters, but they look more like ambiguous-looking chimpanzees.

** Shirley the Loon looks more like a white duck like those in CarlBarks' [[DisneyDucksComicUniverse duck comics]] save for a thicker bill, than like any loon.

* Slam Tasmanian and Rev Runner from ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed''

* Bungo from ''JungleJunction'' is said to be a "bunny", but, rabbits don't have long striped tails.
* Who Who the ring tailed lemur from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode, "Back In Style" hardly looks like a real ring tailed lemur and looks vaguely like a red panda instead.

** Howie Tern, a FunnyAnimal NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of HowardStern, looks more like a stork than anything like a tern.
* Evil the Cat from ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' hardly looks like a cat at all; he looks like a white rat with pointed ears.
* The protagonists of ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'' are not readily identifiable as a chihuahua dog and cat, respectively.

* {{Pete}} the cat from the ClassicDisneyShorts is so hard to identify as a cat that in ''GoofTroop'', ''AGoofyMovie'', and ''An Extremely Goofy Movie'', he was treated like a [[{{Dogfaces}} Dogface]] instead.
** In ''SteamboatWillie'', the first time {{Pete}} was portrayed as a cat, he looked somewhat reasonably like a cat and had a tail, but since the mid 1930s, he lost his tail and fell into this trope.

** [=PJ=], {{Pete}}'s son from ''GoofTroop'', ''AGoofyMovie'', and ''An Extremely Goofy Movie'', is supposed to be a cat, but in all his appearances, he was treated like a [[{{Dogfaces}} Dogface]] instead.

* AlvinAndTheChipmunks and The Chipettes in the animated TV shows and movies look nothing like chipmunks.
** Averted in the [[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks two live action movies]] though.
* Wendell T. Wolf from ''TazMania'' is supposed to be a Tasmanian Wolf, but he looks more like a miniture version of Wile E. Coyote.

* Dagget and Norbit from ''TheAngryBeavers'' don't look an awful lot like beavers. This is constantly pointed out in the show, as most people assume that they are [[IAmNotWeasel weasels]].
* TheTick owns a capybara named Speak (named because he once hallucinated it talking to him) who looks much more like some sort of mutant pug dog; in fact, the Tick was sure Speak was a dog until he took him to the vet.

** [[EverythingsBetterWithBob Bob]] is supposed to be a Tarmandua, a type of anteater, but looks more like a cross between Gonzo and a cat.

* Cyrill Sneer and his son Cedric on ''TheRaccoons'' are suposed to be aardvarks, but have pink fur and snouts that bend down. The show's creator did this on purpose so kids don't think that real aardvarks are greedy industrialists.

[[/folder]]

* ''{{Arthur}}'':

** Cradily is said to be a barnicle, but it looks nothing like one.

* Remember the fact that [[Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective Ratigan]] actually hates being called a rat? WordofGod actually confirms that he is actually indeed a mouse, but for some reason he looks like a rat.

* Chip and Skip from ''CampLazlo'' are supposed to be dung beetles, but look more like purple [[CartoonCreature things]].

[[caption-width-right:323:Below: Disney's version of a "mandrill."]]

** Rafiki is stated to be a mandrill, but he looks slimmer than a real mandrill and has the tail of a baboon.

** Pumbaa is supposed to be a warthog, but he looks more like a domesticated pig with a mane and tusks than an actual warthog.

** Rafiki is stated to be a baboon, but looks like the bastard child of that and a mandrill and has the tail of the former.

[[quoteright:319:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/olivebaboon2_8207.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:319:Above: An actual baboon.]]
[[quoteright:323:[[TheLionKing http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rafiki_5698.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:323:Below: Disney's version of a "baboon."]]

* The Wattersons from ''TheAmazingWorldofGumball'' are supposed to be either cats or rabbits, but for some reason look like neither and look more like gumballs instead.

** Rafiki is stated to be a baboon, but looks like the bastard child of a mandrill and a capuchin monkey.

* Chirin's adult form at the end of ''ChirinnoSuzu'' is supposed to be a ferocious ram, but he vaguely resembles more of a wildebeest instead and nothing like the other sheep in the film, not even himself as a lamb.

** The {{Roadrunner}} also looks nothing like its real-world counterpart. Roadrunners aren't bright purple/blue nor are they the same size as a coyote.