History Main / SmartAnimalInconvenientInstincts

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* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'': This seems to be a recurring problem for the hybrids on Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau: A tiger-man is seen getting on all fours to lap up some water, and is cuffed by his bear-man companion telling him not to drink like an animal.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', it is stated that dragons are more intelligent than most animals and are completely capable of co-habitation with humans, as shown when [[Characters/HowToTrainYourDragonFilmsHiccupHorrendousHaddockIII Hiccup]] was able to [[PredatorTurnedProtector single-handedly turn]] [[Characters/HowToTrainYourDragonFilmsHooliganTribe Berk]] from a village of dragon-killing vikings into an island where humans and dragons coexist. However, dragons are still animals and tend to behave in ways that they are not supposed to do because they are, well, animals. They tend to take food that does not belong to them, they can attack when they feel threatened and most dangerously of all, alpha dragons (the Red Death, Bewilderbeasts and eventually [[spoiler:Toothless]]) are capable of ''mind-controlling'' entire colonies worth of dragons through sheer will-power. These animalistic behaviors are proven to be especially hazardous to the dragons' safety when hunters like [[WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk Viggo Grimborn]], [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2 Drago Bludvist]] and [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld Grimmel the Grisly]] are able to exploit these inherent weaknesses.

* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'': This seems to be a recurring problem for the hybrids on Film/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau: A tiger-man is seen getting on all fours to lap up some water, and is cuffed by his bear-man companion telling him not to drink like an animal.

* This is a major and repeated plot element in the ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum''. Each sapient race has certain instinctual flaws that they can never be fully rid of: ponies must fight not to be subsumed by herd instinct, griffins must control their instinct to prey and dominate, zebras must learn to trust rather than fracturing in selfish paranoia, and so forth. Notably, the defining line between full sapients and the semi-sapient "tenant races" is not whether a race feels these instincts - all races do - but whether they can at least theoretically overcome them. Ponies and cattle both feel the herd trying to think for them when panicked, but ponies can muster the willpower to act as rational individuals rather than be part of the herd, while no effort of will is enough to let cattle be more than part of the herd when panicked.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'': This is one of the of the main aspects about the near-sapient animals that become more common during the Ultimocene era such as the orca-like seastrikers or the raven-like bluetails. They are highly intelligent for animals (comparable to young children) which makes them capable of more complex problem solving and can even possess their own forms of language and culture. However, they are still ruled by their basic instincts despite this and are generally incapable of thinking beyond immediate survival. This causes no small amount of angst for rare members of their species who are born with genetic mutations that make them fully sapient, as not only are they smarter and more capable of restraint than their peers but they can also think more about the future and other abstract concepts, [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation leaving them unable to relate to their own kind]].

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Powerful filolials are intelligent bird-like creatures that can transform into a human form, as well as talk and hold conversations. Despite this, they are still primarily driven by their immediate instincts, such as food, fight-or-flight response or choosing a mate. This applies even to the Filolial queen, who (after having been reared by a legendary hero ages ago) is still single-mindedly driven to carry out the orders he gave her, unable to even consider an alternative. When protagonist Naofumi meets said queen, he sums up his opinion of her with this trope.
--> '''Naofumi:''' She was very serious and powerful, but occasionally she displayed those very Filolial-like moments of animal stupidity.

* ''WebcomicPetFoolery'': Anubis comes to take a critically injured dog trainer to the next world, only for her to use her experience on him. She first guilts him into sitting, calling him a "bad god of death". When he does, she calls him "good boy" and throws a stick for him. The next panel shows Ra holding up a newspaper about her survival and Anubis shamefacedly saying she's very persuasive.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Krosp has this issue, more then once people bribe him or trick him using food or distract him using cat toys. The miniature military maven hates it.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': A recurring gag is that Brian (a talking dog) is the more intellectual and dignified member of the cast, but every once in a while, his instincts as a dog take over and he can't help himself, such as being tricked into playing fetch with a ball, chasing after a car, or bark at a stranger, or something a normal dog does. Often adding to the humor is how he'll then try and justify it with his human-esque intelligence ("I'm going to get that evil mailman THIS TIME!", etc).[[note]]He also once, ahem, "tended to himself" while looking at what appeared to be the dog equivalent of an adult magazine, though this was in the show's first episodes so it might fall under EarlyInstallmentWeirdness or pre-{{Flanderization}}[[/note]].

** The villain Melon's life is a living hell due to him having inherited a combination of instincts from being a hybrid. He has the same instinctual fear of predators, but also has urges to kill herbivores, though lacks the urge to eat them because he has no sense of taste (and since eating meat is often compared to sex, this treated similarly to lacking sexual desire, which is also a problem he has).

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* ''Fanfic/IntelligenceFactor'': Mienshao's predatory instincts are so overwhelming that the researchers didn't realise they were sapient until they found out that they can channel these urges into martial arts.
[[/folder]]

* In the {{xenofiction}} book ''Literature/TailchasersSong'', cats have a complex mythology and a system of government. Yet, they're still cats. Tailchaser thinks his own reflection is a water creature who copies a cat's appearance. It takes a few moments for him to notice that the messy-looking orange tom is the "creature" reflecting himself.[[note]]This is accurate to real life: Even the smartest animals below humans have trouble grasping the concept of a reflection, at least at first.[[/note]]

* The novel ''Literature/JurassicPark'', compared to the film, has a different, and arguably even bigger example of this trope. Said book-only scene has protagonist Alan Grant stalked by three raptors (whose intelligence in the narrative is again played up, in classic Crichton style) through one of the facility's nurseries. Grant ultimately kills all three raptors by hiding, sneaking around, and with a needle and some poison, injecting eggs with said poison and leaving the eggs out in the open; the raptors find the eggs while looking for Grant, eat the "free food" and die, one after the other[[note]]i.e., there's a time period between each death, they do not all eat the eggs at the same time[[/note]], not seemingly recognizing that their fellows ate eggs and promptly went into a foaming, seizing death.
* In ''Literature/{{Gone}}'', Lana is able to outwit the [[UpliftedAnimal talking coyotes]] by exploiting their instincts, since even when [[BigBad the Gaiaphage]] has given them intelligence and speech they are still animals.

But in the end, [[RealityEnsues animals still have their instincts]] -- frequently strong enough that they're tied to it, much to their detriment.

Subtrope of AchillesHeel. Compare BeatItByCompulsion, EmotionsVsStoicism, FurryReminder[[note]]when an "animal-resembling humanoid" (BeastMan, LittleBitBeastly, etc) shows some traits of the animal it's based on, whether done out of instinct or not[[/note]], MyInstinctsAreShowing[[note]]when "animals who act like humans" show animal instincts, but not necessarily to their detriment[[/note]].

* The ghatti of the ''Ghatti's Tale'' series may be sentient (and telepathic to boot), but in many ways still act like non-sentient felines. They lick themselves in public, can be distracted by someone thinking about fish, mate with domestic cats,[[note]]This is an actual conservation concern in regards to real wild cats. The tendency for small cats to hybridize may ultimately drive several wild species to extinction.[[/note]], will kill their deformed offspring and small livestock, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and of course, can't read.]]

* The ghatti of the ''Ghatti's Tale'' series may be sentient, but in many ways still act like non-sentient felines. They lick themselves in public, can be distracted by someone thinking about fish, mate with domestic cats,[[note]]This is an actual conservation concern in regards to real wild cats. The tendency for small cats to hybridize may ultimately drive several wild species to extinction.[[/note]], will kill their deformed offspring and small livestock, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and of course, can't read.]]

Subtrope of AchillesHeel. Compare BeatItByCompulsion, EmotionsVsStoicism, FurryReminder[[note]]when an "animal-like human" (PettingZooPeople, LittleBitBeastly, etc) shows some traits of the animal it's based on, whether done out of instinct or not[[/note]], MyInstinctsAreShowing[[note]]when "animal-like humans" show animal instincts, but not necessarily to their detriment[[/note]].