History Main / InterspeciesAdoption

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': four adorable baby turtles fall into a sewer and are adopted by an ordinary rat (other than the whole "[[TaughtByTelevision knows ninjutsu]]" thing). Only later do the five mutate and become intelligent.

** Later, in the [[Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse novel verse]] work "The Never Ending Sacrifice" Sisko's decision to return Rugal to his Cardassian family was overturned on the grounds that it was not in keeping with Bajoran law. As a result Rugal was once again considered the adopted son of the Bajorans who raised him, and by extension a Federation citizen. Rugal in turn adopted a human orphan named Hulya Kiliç.

* Different human species must have done this on occasion at least between tribes. The most popular is between ''Homo neanderthalensis'' (sometimes considered a subspecies however), and ''Homo sapiens''. We have DNA evidence as well to back up this claim, even though these ''are'' humans, so it's less dramatic than the other examples.

It may also overlap with MosesInTheBulrushes and (especially in comic settings) ObliviousAdoption. Contrast RandomSpeciesOffspring when the child isn't just adopted - it's ''biological''. In works where both the species are sapient, such adoptions are frequently [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything allegories]] for real life interracial adoption, as in both situations the adopted characters will have to deal with the physical and often cultural differences between them and the rest of their family. May result in SmallParentHugeChild.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' has "Cardassians," which is very similar to the above except that it's about a Cardassian child raised by Bajorans. In this case, however, his still-living Cardassian father got custody, since the boy had actually been illegally given up by an enemy with a grudge.

* In at least one Japanese version of ''Literature/TheSwanMaiden'', an elderly couple makes a celestial maiden (''tennyo'') their daughter by hiding her feather garment.

* As domesticated chicken retain their mother instinct much better than domesticated ducks, it was common (before artificial incubators became common) for farmers to place duck eggs under a brooding hen to be raised by her.

* Different human species must have done this on occasion at least between tribes. The most popular is between ''Homo neanderthalensis'' (sometimes considered a subspecies however), and ''Homo sapiens''. We have DNA evidence as well to back up this claim, even though these ''are'' humans, so it's less interesting than the other examples.

** A darker version of Stuart's situation. In the [[sequel Film/StuartLittle2]], Margalo the canary was orphaned at one time and Falcon took her in. He then used her as a servant.

** * A darker version of Stuart's situation. In the [[sequel Film/StuartLittle2]], Margalo the canary was orphaned at one time and Falcon took her in. He then used her as a servant.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': Sakaki informally adopts a baby Iriomote wildcat after he travels from Iriomote island to mainland Japan to reunite with her. She names him Mayaa. While this normally would just be PetBabyWildAnimal, this occurred after Mayaa's mother died in a car accident, and as a result, Sakaki believes that he now sees her as his mother.

It may also overlap with MosesInTheBulrushes and (especially in comic settings) ObliviousAdoption. Contrast RandomSpeciesOffspring when the child isn't just adopted - it's ''biological''. In works where both the species are sapient, such adoptions are frequently [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything allegories]] for real life interracial adoption, as in both situations the adopted characters will have to deal with the physical and often cultural differences between them and the rest of their family.

* RealLife examples involving animals like dogs, cats, and rabbits are a mainstay of websites like Cute Overload.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' has [[spoiler:[[BeastMan Ursula]]]], who was raised by a human General.
* ''VideoGame/BuckSaturdayMorningCartoonApocalypse'': [[PlayerCharacter Buck]] is an [[BeastMan anthropomorphic dog]] who had been raised by a vulture.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', Kris (human) was adopted when they were young by the Dreemurr family (goatlike monsters). Their mother mentions that at one point when they were small, they asked when their horns would grow in.
* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'', [[TheReveal a big deal is made out of]] [[spoiler:Lucia being [[ArtificialHuman a flawed demonic construct]] of [[BigBad Arius]] instead of Matier's biological daughter. After going through a HeroicBSOD and [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman struggling with the ramifications of her true nature for a bit]], Matier comforts Lucia and outright tells her, "You are my daughter." This gives Lucia the strength to carry on and break out of her CloningBlues complex.]]
* [[spoiler:Adell]] in ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'' is a demon adopted by humans as a result of his biological parents leaving to fight fake Zenon. They fail.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'':
** There are children up for adoption as of the Hearthfire DLC. The children are all human, while the PC that adopts them can be many other species.
** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer]] Brand-Shei was raised by an [[LizardFolk Argonian]] family. This is fairly interesting and even a bit heartwarming when you consider the historical relationship between Dunmer and [[SlaveRace Argonians.]]
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''
** Rydia, a human Summoner, is brought to the Feymarch early into the story of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' to be trained by the Eidolons, and comes to see the king and queen, Leviathan and Asura, [[HappilyAdopted as her new parents]]. At the end of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears the sequel]], [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsLife the last remaining Maenad]] is then adopted by Rydia and christened Cuore.]] This is a bit of an ambiguous example as [[spoiler:the Maenads are a race of {{Artificial Human}}s made in Rydia's image by [[TheManBehindTheMan The Creator]].]]
** After the TimeSkip in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', [[spoiler:the [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human, half-Esper]] Terra is shown [[PromotionToParent to have adopted some children from Mobliz]] whose parents were killed by [[BigBad Kefka's]] [[LightIsNotGood Light of Judgment]].]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': When the party arrives in Cosmo Canyon, Nanaki, a.k.a. Red XIII, gets to introduce them to his grandpa Bugenhagen. Red XIII is an intelligent wolf-like creature, while Bugenhagen is a human.
* ''VideoGame/FZero''[='s=] Leon, [[{{Retcon}} depending on the game]] (although both examples still fit). In ''X'', he's adopted by Mrs. Arrow and her husband Super Arrow, a [[TheyFightCrime crime-fighting]] {{superhero}} [[BattleCouple couple]]. According to ''GX'', however, he was instead adopted by Fable, a soldier belonging to the race that attacked Leon's homeworld twelve years ago (which led to the poor kid [[ParentalAbandonment losing his parents]] and [[EyeScream his left eye]], [[WarIsHell as well as Zou becoming an economical dump]]) who [[HeelFaceTurn rebelled]] [[DefectorFromDecadence when he became disgusted by their tactics]]. Leon's a bipedal cat-like alien, the Arrows are human, and Fable is another species of extraterrestrial being.
* In ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', Camieux is the adopted daughter of a gunsmith family. Her sisters are Silva and Cucouroux, whom are humans, while she is a draph, a human-like race with elf ears and sports a pair of horns.
* ''VideoGame/{{Illbleed}}'':
** In the "Revenge of Queen Worm" section of the game, it turns out that 'Rachel' is [[spoiler: a giant mutant worm that David (human) raised as his daughter. She even calls him "Papa" after you defeat her. It's all very strange.]]
** We're never told if [[spoiler:Eriko]] and [[spoiler:her dad]] are related by blood, but given that there's no indication of said character being anything other than human, and that their parent definitely ''isn't''...
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', a female Commander Shepard can discuss this idea with Garrus if his [[LoveInterests romance sidequest]] was completed.
** The Codex indicates that the asari once attempted to "civilize" the vorcha, a race known for their savagery and unpredictability, by adopting vorcha orphans and raising them in asari society. The adopted Vorcha [[HappilyAdopted lived peaceful and happy lives]], showing that their species' predisposition for violence was cultural rather than innate, but the fact that [[WeAreAsMayflies Vorcha only live for 20 years while Asari live for over 1000]] meant that few asari were willing to painstakingly raise many generations just to watch them die.
* After her parents were killed by SpacePirates, Samus Aran from the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series was adopted by the [[PerfectPacifistPeople Chozo]], an ancient race of bird-like creatures. The particular group that raised her would later go into hiding alongside the rest of their species, but before that happened, they managed to train her to be [[BountyHunter one of the galaxy's greatest warriors]]. And depending on how sapient you view Metroids to be, Samus then picks up the parental side of the trope with the infant Metroid from ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus,'' whose bond with Samus becomes a major plot point for the next few games.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''. The protagonist's race can change, but the foster father is always the same.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/{{Pinstripe}}'' begins when Mr. Pinstripe kidnaps your daughter Bo and says that he's going to adopt her and replace you as her father. Bo is a human girl, and Pinstripe is... well, we're not sure ''what'' Pinstripe is, but he's [[HumanoidAbomination definitely not human]].
* ''VideoGame/SongBirdSymphony'': While they are both birds, Birb is not from the same species as Uncle Pea. [[spoiler: Also, Egbert is not a chicken.]]
* Penn in ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' is adopted by the Nereids. This is part of a breeding plan when he turns 18.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** Mallow [[note]]essentially a cloud with pants[[/note]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', originally from Nimbus Land, was adopted by Frogfucius in Frog Pond, and grew up largely believing he was a frog "who can't jump."
** Introduced in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', [[TheHighQueen Rosalina]] is the adoptive mother of the Lumas, [[StarfishAliens the star babies]]. Despite the massive difference between them, [[HappilyAdopted they live very happily under the care of their "Mama."]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia:'' The main character Lloyd is a human who was adopted by a dwarf. [[spoiler:Lloyd turns out to be half angel.]]
* In ''{{VideoGame/Undertale}}'', the motherly goat-monster Toriel hopes to adopt you after you fall into the Underground. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that she and her then-husband Asgore adopted another human child who fell in a long time ago; the death of both the human child and their biological son Asriel was what kicked off the plot and led to their separation. If the player goes the route of the True Pacifist, in the ending you'll be able to tell Toriel that you want to stay with her, and she'll adopt you for real.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime,'' [[KidHero Finn]] is possibly the {{last|OfHisKind}} real [[TokenHuman human]] in Ooo. He was found in a forest by a pair of talking dogs, who raised him until their deaths (when Finn's adopted brother, [[NonHumanSidekick Jake]], apparently had a PromotionToParent).
* Darwin from ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' used to just be the Watterson family's pet fish, but he developed intelligence, grew legs, became Gumball's best friend, and the family adopted him as one of their own. The parallel to real life interracial adoption is made especially obvious by how [[TheOtherDarrin all four]] of Darwin's voice actors in English are black, but the ones for the rest of the family are white.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'', Anne Boonchuy is a 13 year old human who finds herself trapped in a world where [[FrogMen humanoid amphibians]] are the dominant lifeform... [[DeathWorld sort of]]. Although [[FantasticRacism initially mistaken for]] a [[TheBigGuy large,]] [[HumansAreUgly hideous,]] [[ItCanThink and terrifying]] [[SapientEatSapient monster]], she soon builds an [[TrueCompanions inseparable bond]] with the native Plantar family and becomes [[FamilyOfChoice fully regarded as one of them]]. In this case it is technically interspecies ''fostering'' since she still has a [[GoodParents human family]] she means to return to.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'':
** This is the premise of the ShowWithinAShow ''Horsin' Around'' (which [=BoJack=] starred in during TheNineties), which is about three human children being raised by a horse. Its rival show ''Mister Peanutbutter's House'' also involved this, with a dog raising three human children.
** Diane and her family are mostly human, except for Diane's adoptive brother Gary, who's a sheep.
** Hollyhock was adopted and raised by [[HasTwoDaddies eight gay men]] in a polyamorous marriage, and none of them are horses like her (specifically they're five humans, a bear, a lizard and a duck).
** In "The Stopped Show", [[spoiler: Princess Carolyn, after trying all season to adopt a kid so she could have the family she'd always wanted, finally succeeds in adopting an adorable porcupine baby girl she eventually names Ruthie.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' probably topped this concept beyond most other examples by having a human girl being adopted by two robots.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' showed that Samson (a guinea pig) has ''jellyfish'' for parents.
* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' continually brought up one particular issue over the course of the series: Where did [=CatDog=] actually come from? For as long as they can remember, they'd always lived on their own. The series ended with [=CatDog=] going on a long journey to find their parents. It was never revealed ''how'' [=CatDog=] came to be, but for a brief time after they were born, they had been raised by a frog for a father and a sasquatch for a mother. They were all separated in a storm.
* ''WesternAnimation/DinosaurTrain'': Buddy the T-Rex is adopted by a pteranodon family.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' has Lena following her adoption into the Sabrewing family. Even putting aside the whole [[spoiler:LivingShadow]] thing, she's a duck and they're all hummingbirds.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'', [[spoiler:Gary is forced to take on a ParentalSubstitute role to Little Cato after Avocato is killed. Though Little Cato starts off abrasive towards Gary due to mourning his dead dad, he quickly warms up to him, especially after learning that Gary lost his own dad too and they are "[[NotSoDifferentRemark members of the same club]]" as he puts it. After suffering a [[TraumaCongaLine long string of bad incidents]] in season two, including losing Avocato again shortly after getting him back via time travel, Gary offers to officially adopt Little Cato to help show him he isn't alone. Little Cato responds by [[HappilyAdopted happily hugging Gary]]. Little Cato still refers to Gary as his dad even after they save Avocato again, happy to have ''both'' his dads together]].
* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBeaks'': Technobear's parents are turtles. In fact, Technobear wasn't even aware that he was adopted and once asked if his shell would ever grow in.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheJackRabbitStoryEasterFever'', the titular Jack Rabbit was raised by chicken parents.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBunch'', Maurice is a penguin who was raised by a tiger [[ObliviousAdoption and now thinks he is one]]. Maurice himself has adopted a fish who now believes he also is a tiger.
* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': Wolf was adopted by a family of Newton Wolves [[spoiler: and the trope ends up being a horrific subversion as it turns out that they never intended her to be anything but training for their wolf children to hunt and kill. The wolf cloak she wears was made from the mother wolf. This brutal experience is why she's so cynical and doesn't believe that humans and mutes can live together peacefully.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/LambertTheSheepishLion'' is a short where the DeliveryStork accidentally gives a sheep a lion cub for a child. When the stork tries to take him back the sheep refuses and she ends up raising the lion as her own. They're a happy family but [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Lambert is bullied]] by the lambs for being seen as a weird looking sheep, until as an adult he saves his mother from a wolf and becomes seen as a hero.
* In Polish animated series ''Animation/MiedzyNamiBocianami'' (Between Us Storks) main characters are a family of storks that adopted a cuckoo. In a sense all cuckoos are adopted (although not by storks) so it's not ''so'' weird.
* This trope pops up from time to time in ''WesternAnimation/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriends'':
** We learn from a flashback that Miss. Spider was separated from her mother when she was just a child and she got adopted by Betty Beetle.
** In the pilot film, Miss. Spider adopted three children, each from a different bug species; Dragon (a dragonfly), Shimmer (a jewel beetle), and Bounce (a bedbug).
** The two episodes "Little Ladybug Lost" and "A Beetle-ful Family" center around a young Asian ladybug named Grace who was separated from her family due to her oversleeping during her winter nap, and she winds up being adopted by Stinky the stinkbug and his sister Whiffy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Twilight Sparkle (a unicorn) had to induce a dragon egg to hatch as part of her entrance exam in magic school. She ends up being a CoolBigSis[=/=]ParentalSubstitute to the dragon, who serves as her underling and assistant. While WordOfGod previously said that it was actually Princess Celestia who raised Spike after he hatched, the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E4SparklesSeven Sparkle's Seven]]" shows that Spike was raised by Twilight's family. Both fit the trope.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': The episode "Find Her, Keep Her" has Rabbit adopting a baby bird named Kessie after saving her during a storm. He grows attached to Kessie and has a hard time letting her go once it's time for her to fly south for the winter.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobinRobin'' is about a robin who was raised by mice.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Heffer (a steer) is part of the Wolfe family. They originally took him for food but grew to love him and raised him as their own. The "birthmark" on his rump is where the wolves were going to divide him up. Amusingly, he evidently had ''no idea'' he wasn't a biological Wolfe until Rocko off-handedly mentioned it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' Peabody (a dog) adopts Sherman (a human boy) from an OrphanageOfFear.
* ''WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'': One episode featured a dog adopted by a couple of cats.
* The Wildman from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' was adopted by Tribe, a tribe of apes with white fur. Originally he was part of a tribe of humans enslaved by Aku, but was accidently left behind as a young child when he got loose from the WheelOfPain machine the other humans were forced to operate and was taken in and raised by the apes. He doesnt remember his original family, but knows he's a human, and not an ape. Tribe has also trained him in the ability to "Jump Good" as they do, giving him the superhuman ability to jump miles in one stretch.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick adopted a baby scallop in one episode. It left other citizens quite confused when they thought about the biology involved.
* ''WesternAnimation/ToddWorld'':
** In "Platyroo", Todd and his friends try to help a lost platypus named Pedro find his mother. They all think that Pedro's mother is a platypus like him, but at the end, they find out that she's actually a kangaroo. We also learn that Pedro has a pig for a little brother. In the same episode, Todd sees a frog in a family of ducks.
** There's also a cat named Mitzi that adopts a group of puppies.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'':
** At the start of the series, we see how Yugo, an Eliatrope, was adopted as a baby by Alibert, an Enutrof. In later seasons, we see that he has also adopted Yugo's Dragon brother Adamai, as well as another couple of Eliatrope-Dragon siblings: [[spoiler: Grugal and Chibi.]]
** The cheapest ship Ruel could find in the second season is crewed by Black Ink and Elaine, a [[TalkingAnimal talking squid]] and his adopted human daughter.
* Neither of [[spoiler:Elyon's]] parents in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' are human, however they pass themselves as human. She didn't [[ObliviousAdoption know that she was adopted]] until the BigBad revealed her parents' true forms.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has [[SuperPowerLottery M'gann]], a Martian, become [[BloodBrothers Blood Sister]] to [[{{Animorphism}} Garfield]], only to get a PromotionToParent when his mother is [[PsychicAssistedSuicide killed by]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bee]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{Bravelands}}'': After his father is killed by a rogue lion, Fearless the lion cub ends up being adopted by a troop of baboons. He bonds with several baboons like Mud and fellow protagonist Thorn, but he also faces prejudice from other baboons for being a larger predator. [[spoiler:He ends up kicked out of the troop at one year old because the new leader doesn't like him]].
* In ''Literature/BrimstoneAngels'', heroine Farideh and her twin sister Havilar are tieflings[[note]]humanoids with distant fiendish ancestry, notable by their horns, tails, and MonochromaticEyes[[/note]] who were adopted and raised by a [[LizardFolk dragonborn]] named Mehen.
* ''Literature/{{Bunnicula}}'' has a rare example of the child "adopting" the parent: Howie, a wire-haired dachshund puppy, inexplicably latches onto Chester, a cat, as his "Pop" when he is adopted by the Monroe family following the second book (as opposed to Harold, the actual older dog among the Monroe pets, who Howie calls "Uncle Harold"). Chester, who doesn't exactly hold dogs in high esteem, has no idea why the kid formed this attachment, but eventually just resigns himself to it.
* ''The Call of the Swamp'' by Davide Cali and Marco Soma tells the story of an anthropomorphic axolotl found on the shore of a swamp and taken in by a human husband and wife who are infertile. He has a fairly normal humanlike childhood, with some accommodations for his amphibian biology like [[BathtubMermaid sleeping in a bathtub]] rather than on a bed. But one day he catches a faint scent of his old swamp home and decides to go back there to figure out more about his heritage. He gets along with the other swamp inhabitants and is happy to be able to explore an environment where his axolotl biology thrives, but he ultimately decides that he'll be happier with his human parents.
* The picture book ''A Child Is a Child'' by Brigitte Weninger is about two orphaned frogs. They are discovered by a mole, a blackbird and a hedgehog who all agree that they don't have what it takes to take care of them. Then Mama Mouse comes along with her children and decides to adopt the frogs. Mr. Hedgehog tells her that it's not that easy, but she replies "That's ridiculous! It's simple. A child is a child. All children need a place to live and play, good food to eat and someone who loves them!" She then enlists of all their help in raising the frogs.
* ''Literature/ChildOfTheWolves'' is about a husky puppy named Granite who is adopted by wolves after he escapes his new owner.
* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Lindon briefly meets a black dragon who [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch is outspoken against]] [[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies the way dragons treat humans]], and has even adopted a number of humans himself. Of course, Lindon only finds this out after he's nearly killed the poor bastard and used his CannibalismSuperpower to drain most of his power (and some of his memories, which is how he found out). Lindon quickly assures himself that he'll recover.
* This comes up in ''The Demon's Lexicon'' when [[spoiler:Nick is revealed to be a demon, raised mostly by his brother Alan.]]
* ''Literature/{{DFZ}}'': Legally, Opal is the adopted human daughter of Yong, Great Dragon of Korea. This is complicated a bit because she is actually the daughter of Yong's human consort, genetically engineered under Yong's orders and always intended to be his daughter. While they are not actually biologically related (since {{Half Human Hybrid}}s aren't a thing), magically is another story. Between the dragon ability to take unrelated dragons into their clan, and the human ability to subconsciously shove magic at anything they consider important, they are father and daughter in every way that matters. Much of the plot of the third book revolves around them taking advantage of this connection to combine human and dragon magic in ways that would normally be impossible.
* Dinosaur from ''Literature/DinosaurVs'' is a young dinosaur adopted by a human couple.
* ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}''
** In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', Carrot is a human adopted by dwarves. He is completely oblivious to this, even when his adoptive father tries to explain that there's a reason he was always too tall to fit in dwarf passages correctly. Notable in that even after it's been explained to him and he's accepted that he is biologically a human, Carrot still considers himself a dwarf, albeit a very tall one. Though, in Discworld being 'a dwarf' is as much a matter of cultural identity than it is a fact of one's species.
** In ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'', Miss Felicity Beadle's mother was raised by goblins. Since the humans in the Shires had a severe case of FantasticRacism, they interpreted this as a child being ''kidnapped'' by goblins, and "rescued" her.
** It's mentioned in ''Literature/RaisingSteam'' that it's very hard for a dwarf/human couple to have children, but they frequently adopt. Presumably, the child would be this to at least one parent.
* One ''Series/DoctorWho'' short story said that the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan, and her husband, David, adopted three orphaned human children, whom they named [[MeaningfulName Ian, Barbara]] and David Junior. (David Senior may be human, but he sure as hell didn't marry one.)
* ''Literature/ADogsWayHome'':
** Bella's mother and siblings were taken by humans when she was a month or two old. Bella was raised by a feral, nursing cat she calls "Mother Cat". When Bella refers to her mother, she's always talking about her adopted mother. Even after Bella leaves Mother Cat and grows into an adult, Mother Cat still recognizes her.
** While Bella is trying to get back to her owner, she sees poachers kill a cougar mother. The cub starts following Bella around. Bella dubs her "Big Kitten". Big Kitten ends up vital to Bella's survival as she has better hunting instincts than Bella. The two end up separated when Bella gets taken in by humans but reunite again months later. [[spoiler:Bella comes to the realization that Big Kitten can't live with her and her owner, but Bella wants too badly to be with her human that she can't stay with Big Kitten in the wilderness either. The two have to part ways in the end]].
* ''Literature/HortonHatchesTheEgg'' twists this trope due to the story's {{Anvilicious}} theme of nurture overcoming nature. Since Horton took responsibility for the egg that Mayzie abandoned, [[MixAndMatchCritters the chick finally hatches as an elephant-bird hybrid]], and identifies Horton as its parent, rejecting Mayzie.
* ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'': Less so in the original novel, but in the movie and the musical adaptations, we have the human child James, an orphan, who is adopted by his humanized insect companions. They turn out to be very loving, adoring parent-figures to James, unlike his abusive guardian aunts who he was living with after his mother and father died.
* The Japanese children's book ''[[Anime/TheKindlyLion "The Kindly Lion"/"The Gentle Lion"]]'' (''Yasashii Lion'') by Creator/TakashiYanase. Stars a [[https://fullofbooks.com.au/images/products/yasashiilion_ehon.png lion cub named Buru-Buru, that gets adopted and raised by a female dog named Muku-Muku]]. Due to [[MissingMom Buru-Buru's actual mother passing away]] [[DeathByChildBirth after giving birth to him early in the story]] and Muku-Muku losing her own child moments after birth. While not mentioned, [[http://cdn-ak.f.st-hatena.com/images/fotolife/r/rumir/20160104/20160104111520.jpg Buru-Buru's father]] also [[DisappearedDad passed away at an unknown period in the story.]] The story would get adapted into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UfpDaqTb7A an animated short in 1970]] by Creator/MushiProductions with Creator/OsamuTezuka as the executive producer.
* In ''The Kitten Who Thought He Was a Mouse'', the titular kitten is abandoned by his family before he even opens his eyes, and is taken in by a family of mice, growing up to believe that he is a mouse himself. Eventually, he discovers his true species, but remains in contact with his mouse family.
* ''Literature/TheLastHuman'': The titular last human is known as Sarya the Daughter, adopted by Shenya the Widow. It should be noted that Widows are a ProudWarriorRace who practice TheSpartanWay on their own hatchlings, much less adopted children. "The Daughter" is not a description or an honorific, it is a title that Sarya earned through an eight-day trial that, statistically, would most likely have resulted in her death.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape: Betrayal at Falador'', Kara was adopted and raised by dwarfs.
* Creator/DickKingSmith has a few of these;
** ''The Sheep-Pig'', in which a piglet is raised by a sheep-dog.
** ''The Cuckoo Child'', in which an ostrich is raised by a pair of geese (although for some time the ostrich was assumed by his parents to just be a strange goose, even if the farm that owned them knew what had happened).
** ''Dragon Boy'', in which an orphaned boy is taken in by a pair of dragons, uses the trope in a more fantastic way.
** ''Magnus Powermouse'' has a lesser version of this; Magnus is permitted to consider Roland the rabbit his uncle, although his parents are both alive, as Roland expresses a fondness for children and imagines himself to have nieces and nephews from his long-absent siblings.
** Felicity the duck is either this or IntergenerationalFriendship with Daggie Dogfoot the pig in ''Pigs Might Fly'' as Daggie's mother is still around but Felicity is the one who teaches Daggie how to swim.
* In ''Literature/{{Spectrum}}'' by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko the human hero[[note]]a private investigator searching for a runaway girl, who ended up on the path to discover secrets of long-lost alien civilizations[[/note]] ends up adopting a teenage alien bird-girl as a "reward" for saving her life. His LoveInterest cracks jokes about an "interplanetary paedophile", but demonstrates that she can be a capable mother, despite being in her late teens herself. [[spoiler:The adopted girl turns out to be the ChosenOne prophecised to wake her planet from its millennia-long DieselPunk stasis where [[ObstructiveBureaucrat rigid laws]] allow the population [[PlanetOfHats not to think]]. She ends up becoming the queen equivalent and legally adult and staying home.]]
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends''
** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' has Hoole, a Shi'ido ShapeShifter, adopt the human kids Tash and Zak. He's actually their uncle, since his brother married one of their aunts, and Shi'ido culture encourages him to take them in despite barely knowing them.
** The ''X-wing'' series gives us Viull "Skut" Gorsat, a Yuuzhan Vong abandoned by his biological parents and adopted by a human family. His human dad is the reason he joins Wraith Squadron, because as a child he was told stories of how they rescued his father.
** There is also Tahiri Veila, who was adopted by the Sand People.
** Han Solo himself also falls into this category. He had been orphaned at a very young age, and while working for a rather nasty thief, he gets taken in and cared for by a kindly, elderly female Wookie. Han even comments in a later novel that due to the love she gave him, and the fact that Chewie and other Wookies have saved his skin on ''countless'' occasions, he feels he owes the Wookie's a life debt, not the other way around.
* The eponymous fruit bat of ''Literature/{{Stellaluna}}'' gets separated from her mother by an owl. She gets taken in by a family of birds, where the mother makes her eat and sleep like them instead of like a fruit bat. Stellaluna eventually reunites with her birth mother and learns proper fruit bat habits but still considers the bird siblings to be her family.
* In ''Literature/TeamHuman'', Kit is a teenager raised by a family of vampires; he's spent very little time around non-vampire humans.
* The children's book ''Tyranosaurus Drip'' by Julia Donaldson is about a duckbill dinosaur "adopted" by tyrannosaurs. (Mother Tyranosaur can't count, and doesn't realise there's one more egg than there should be.)
* "Literature/TheUglyDuckling" is a classic example of this trope. A swan raised by a duck.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' novella ''Hollyleaf's Story'', Hollyleaf attempts this for a day or so with a fox cub lost in the tunnel, finding it and caring for it before later bringing it back outside. She encounters it a year later and happily greets it, only to find that it does not remember her and it attacks her.
* In the 1920s ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' books, Tigger (a Tiger [[LivingToys toy]]) lives with Kanga and Roo (Kangaroo toys) and is considered part of the family.
* The children's picture book ''Wolfie the Bunny'' is about a baby wolf left as a DoorstopBaby for a rabbit family. The older rabbit sister is insistent that Wolfie is going to eat them all someday, especially when Wolfie [[BigLittleBrother grows to be much bigger than her]], but an incident with a [[BearsAreBadNews hungry bear]] manages to awaken her BigSisterInstinct.
* In ''Literature/TheWonderfulAdventuresOfNils'', Gorgo, an eagle was raised by Akka, a goose.
* The picture book ''[[https://www.amazon.com/Zacharys-New-Home-Adopted-Children/dp/0945354274 Zachary's New Home: A Story for Foster and Adopted Children]]'' is about a kitten named Zachary who is adopted by the geese Marie and Tom.
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* ''Literature/{{Bunnicula}}'' has a rare example of the child "adopting" the parent: Howie, a wire-haired dachshund puppy, inexplicably latches onto Chester, a cat, as his "Pop" when he is adopted by the Monroe family following the second book (as opposed to Harold, the actual older dog among the Monroe pets, who Howie calls "Uncle Harold"). Chester, who doesn't exactly hold dogs in high esteem, has no idea why, but eventually just resigns himself to it.

** Erio (Unnamed homeworld) and Caro (Alzus) were both adopted by Fate (though Lindy's name is on the paperwork due to [[AdoptivePeerParent Fate's age]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has [[SuperPowerLottery M'gann]], a Martian, become [[BloodBrothers Blood Sister]] to [[{{Animorphism}} Garfield]], only to get PromotedToParent when his mother is [[PsychicAssistedSuicide killed by]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bee]].

* Ellie from ''WesternAnimation/IceAge2TheMeltdown'' is a mammoth who was adopted by a possum. She even [[ObliviousAdoption thinks that she's a possum]] until Manny can convince her that she's a mammoth.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', Carrot is a human adopted by dwarves. He is completely oblivious to this, even when his adoptive father tries to explain that there's a reason he was always too tall to fit in dwarf passages correctly. Notable in that even after it's been explained to him and he's accepted that he is biologically a human, Carrot still considers himself a dwarf, albeit a very tall one. Though, in Discworld being 'a dwarf' is as much a matter of cultural identity than it is a fact of one's species.

* After her parents were killed by SpacePirates, Samus Aran from the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series was adopted by the [[PerfectPacifistPeople Chozo]], an ancient race of bird-like creatures. The particular group that raised her would later go into hiding alongside the rest of their species, but before that happened, they managed to trained her to be [[BountyHunter one of the galaxy's greatest warriors]]. And depending on how sapient you view Metroids to be, Samus then picks up the parental side of the trope with the infant metroid from ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus,'' whose bond with Samus becomes a major plot point for the next few games.