History Main / FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter

** Also, the evolutions of some Pokémon that are quadrupeds assume two-legged stances when they evolve (and vice versa). Some are justified, such as Slowbro (as the Shellder that clamp onto their tails provide leverage to weigh them back). Generally, Pokémon that can assume a bipedal stance have better movepools then their quadrupedal cousins.

* Meowth from the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime learned to walk on two legs so that he could be respected by humans. In an ironic twist, this made him a freak amongst other Meowth.

* Two-legged Charlie B. Barkin from ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', a German Shepherd/Collie mix, contrasts with Itchy Itchiford, who walks on all fours because of his Dachshund anatomy.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'': Alex the lion, Gloria the hippo, and Maurice, King Julien, and Mort the lemurs usually stand on two legs, but Marty the zebra and Melman the giraffe, both just as anthro as the others, would sometimes stand that way too. In Melman's case, the less-frequent bipedalism is likely because his long neck and tallness would cause him to be out of frame.

* In general, the characters in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' (those that fit this trope anyway) walk on two legs, but some switch to all fours when running, presumably just for the sake of speed.

** In fact, this is common enough in ''Pokemon'' that it's more notable to note the the evolution families that stay on all fours or even actually ''revert'' to quadripedalism like the Samurott line (which can stand on two legs for attacks, but moves on all fours). Even things like bugs aren't safe; though often depicted flying, many Bug-type Pokemon like Butterfree, Beedrill, Ledian, Vivillon and Golisopod clearly adopt an upright gait and gain hands. It's such a common occurence that a fandom joke is to look very sceptically upon any newly-announced starter Pokemon on four legs, fully expecting it to become bipedal by its final stage. Fire-type starters get this worst, with not one Fire starter in nine generations starting and ending its evolution on four legs, not helped by the [[NeverLiveItDown trend for several generations of the Fire starter always becoming Fighting-type]].

* Tom and Tab from ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'' are spotted hyenas that walk on two legs, which them unusual in that the rest of the animals in the series mainly walk as they do in real life.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Tiana and Naveen, [[BalefulPolymorph former humans,]] still walk on two legs as frogs. Louis the alligator, who dreams of playing the trumpet in a band, also usually stand on two legs. He apparently started doing it to play the trumpet properly.

** This is common enough in Pokemon, in fact, that it's more notable to note the the evolution families that stay on all fours or even actually ''revert'' to quadripedalism like the Samurott line (which can stand on two legs for attacks, but moves on all fours). Even things like bugs aren't safe; though often depicted flying, many Bug-type Pokemon like Butterfree, Beedrill, Ledian, Vivillon and Golisopod clearly adopt an upright gait and gain hands. It's such a common occurence that a fandom joke is to look very sceptically upon any newly-announced starter Pokemon on four legs, fully expecting it to become bipedal by its final stage. Fire-type starters get this worst, with not one Fire starter in nine generations starting and ending its evolution on four legs, not helped by the [[NeverLiveItDown trend for several generations of the Fire starter always becoming Fighting-type]].

[[folder:RealLife]]
* [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Dinosaurs.]] They're the first bipedal vertebrates known in history.
** It gets a bit complicated. Bipedalism first developed in some Archosaur groups in the Triassic. Among their descendants were the dinosaurs and the crocodilians. Many of these groups later reverted back to quadrupedal designs. Birds descended from a group that was exclusively bipedal.
* This is generally best done by plantigrade mammals, such as apes, baboons, capuchin monkeys, giant pangolins, bears, and the extinct ground sloths, while digitigrades like dogs, rabbits, and cats are generally a little less capable of this and unguligrade animals like horses and cows even less capable of this.
** Most mammals that are bipedal, like kangaroos, wallabies, jumping mice, kangaroo rats, jerboas, and springhares, hop bipedally rather than walk that way (although kangaroos and wallabies are usually pentapedal--walking on all four limbs with the tail acting as a fifth one), and sifakas and indris stand and leap sideways on two legs.
* Cockroaches [[http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/06/06/stealth-behavior-allows-cockroaches-to-seemingly-vanish/ run on their hind legs]].
* Some lizards rise up on their hind legs when running very fast.
** Such as the basilisk... when it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF-UMgdkph4/ runs on water]].
* Beavers walk on their hind legs to carry armloads of mud and vegetation for use in constructing dams and lodges.
* Young mice go through a "hopper" stage when they first develop the ability to move out of the nest, jumping on their hind feet as much as they walk on all fours. This is probably because early on, their hind legs have more strength and stamina than their forelegs.
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** This is common enough in Pokemon, in fact, that it's more notable to note the the evolution families that stay on all fours or even actually ''revert'' to quadripedalism like the Samurott line (which can stand on two legs for attacks, but moves on all fours). Even things like bugs aren't safe (though often depicted flying, many Bug-type Pokemon like Butterfree, Beedrill, Ledian, Vivillon and Golisopod clearly adopt an upright gait and gain hands). It's such a common occurence that a fandom joke is to look very skeptically upon any newly-announced starter Pokemon on four legs, fully expecting it to become bipedal by its final stage. Fire-type starters get this worst, with not one Fire starter in nine generations starting and ending its evolution on four legs, not helped by the [[NeverLiveItDown trend for several generation of the Fire starter always becoming Fighting-type]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'': Alex the lion, Gloria the hippo, and Maurice, King Julien, and Mort the lemurs usually stand on two legs, but Marty the zebra and Melman the giraffe would sometimes stand that way too.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues'', Plato walks on all fours, but Socrates and Aristotle usually stand on two legs.

* The mice in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' stand on two legs.
* The mice in ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' usually stand on two legs. As does Frank the Frilled Lizard in ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder''; while real-life frillies ''are'' known for standing up, inflating their frill, and running at larger animals in their famous threat gesture, they're not constantly bipedal.

* Most ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' animal characters (not counting the bird characters) stand on two legs at least part of the time.
* Most ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' animal characters (not counting the bird characters) stand on two legs at least part of the time. Exceptions to this are the dogs Buttons (Justified as his shorts spoof classic HeroicDogs like Franchise/{{Lassie}}, and he also lacks the ability to speak) and Runt (Justified as [[DogsAreDumb he is really, really dumb]], especially compared to Rita, and his walking on fours vs. her frequent bipedalism is good visual shorthand for it).

** Same with Tim and Arianna the bears from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.

* The computer animated movie ''WesternAnimation/{{Barnyard}}'' by Creator/SteveOedekerk has the cows standing with four legs, but only in front of humans. They prefer standing on their hindlegs like humans.

* Most ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' animal characters (not counting the bird characters) stand on two legs at least part of the time as well, including the cats Rita and Furrball.

** But Buttons and Runt pretty much stay on all fours.
*** When Rita and Runt make a {{Cameo}} in the Hip Hippos episode, "Moving Experience," Rita is shown running on two legs and Runt is running on all fours.
* Brian and Jasper from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' usually walk on two legs. There are a number of dogs in this same universe that do not, and also cannot speak.
* Same with Tim and Arianna the bears from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.

* The cats in ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' usually assume an upright stance. The dogs, who are usually depicted as [[DumbDog less intelligent]], don't for the most part.

* The cats in ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' usually assume an upright stance but the dogs usually don't.

** Don't forget the comparison in intelligence between the two-legged WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and the four-legged Pluto, down to the point that Pluto is Mickey's pet.
*** Pluto did very occasionally stand on two legs, but he usually walks on all fours.
** Let’s also not forget the other classic shorts characters: Goofy, for example, is a dog, but he walks on two legs.

* All of the animals in ''WesternAnimation/SlackerCats'' walk on their back legs but the wild tiger they find doesn't (he also doesn't talk) because he's more in tune with his wild side than they are.

* Timon is the only character in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' that walks on two legs (not counting Zazu, who, being a bird, is exempt from this trope).
** The other meerkats in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'' usually walk on two legs as well.
*** TruthInTelevision in that meerkats actually do stand like this in real life to scout their territory, but also Exaggerated because they never walk like that, only stand.

* WesternAnimation/RoverDangerfield often walks on two legs. Since he's based on a [[Creator/RodneyDangerfield real-life comedian]], sharing [[many of his mannerisms but with a cartoon dog's body]], it makes sense. It also serves to further contrast him from his love interest, a less anthropomorphic [[CountryMouse county-dwelling collie]].

** Snoopy usually stands on two legs, although he was fully quadrupedal from 1950 to 1957 and normally quadrupedal from 1957 to around 1965 (noticeably around the time he began his 'UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Flying Ace' fantasies).

** Oddly in a comic from 1959, he understands he loves Sally because she's the only human who knows how to walk on four legs.
** And in a strip from 1957 we actually see the first time he walks on two legs "on-camera" rather than this being a background thing, with Charlie Brown trying to teach him to stand on two legs and Snoopy immediately getting the hang of walking on them.

* Tiana and Naveen as frogs and Louis the alligator from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' usually stand on two legs. Louis apparently does it to play the trumpet properly.

* Timothy Q. Mouse from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' stands on two legs.

* WesternAnimation/RoverDangerfield often walks on two legs.

* Baloo the bear from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''.

* The AmbiguouslyHuman ''Indoraptor'' from ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' can alternate between walking on two or four legs (despite being made out of several types of theropod, all of which are bipedal). In the games, it walks on all fours, but stands up on two when running.

[[folder:Comics]]

* Snoopy from the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' comics, movies, and TV specials usually stands on two legs, although he was fully quadrupedal from 1950 to 1957 and normally quadrupedal from 1957 to around 1965 (noticeably around the time he began his 'UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Flying Ace' fantasies).

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' had quadrupeds walking upright as often as it had them on all fours.
** The ''WesternAnimation/{{Barnyard}}'' example may have been InspiredBy a ''Far Side'' comic where cows were standing up until a spotter shouted "CAR!" Then they went down to four legs when a car went by, after which they went back to standing.

* ''WesternAnimation/OpenSeason'' Boog the Bear from usually stands on two legs. Elliot the mule deer also stands occasionally, which causes the hunter Shaw (who's already not all there to begin with) to utter the page quote in horror.