History Main / NearlyNormalAnimal

* Philipe the horse, the wolves, and most of the other animals in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''. They're almost completely normal, but Philipe is able to go into IDontThinkThatsSuchAGoodIdea mode, and a pig nods when Le Fou calls Gaston touchy.

* The animals in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'', though Louie the orangutan and the monkeys are {{Partially Civilized Animal}}s. They're capable of thinking strategically and throwing parties, but predators still eat other animals, and Shere Kahn has an irrational fear of fire.

* Sebastian, Flounder, Flotsam, Jetsam, and many of the other marine animals from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''. They're sapient and can do things like shake their heads, dance, and play music.

* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': The animals mainly behave as their species, but they're capable of cracking jokes and understanding humans. Also, Charlotte the spider is fully literate and Templeton the rat can at least read.

*** BigBad Jörmungadr stands out among the dragons in this show. While appearing more like a vicious animal bound by its natural predatory instincts to hunt and kill any dragon it crosses paths with at first, it has been shown to be able to learn, recognize and avoid traps and even formulate strategies such as when it pulled a BatmanGambit on the riders [[spoiler:by attacking the Night Lights as a distraction for its real target, the God's Realm, the so-called "lungs" of the Hidden World were most of the Hidden World's oxygen is produced. Even the riders who already treat dragons as their equals are taken aback by Jörmungandr's cunning.]]

** The same goes, of course, for the dragons in the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/DragonsTheNineRealms''. In this show, this is explained by dragons being extremely empathetic creatures which have strong reactions to emotions. As such, unless they are territorial like the Glass Caster or naturally aggressive like the Skrill, they are usually friendly, harmless creatures towards humans and each other despite not having had contact with humans in over 1,300 years.
*** BigBad Jörmungadr stands out among the dragons in this show. While appearing more like a vicious animal bend on death and destruction at first, it has been shown to be able to learn, recognize and avoid traps and even formulate strategies such as when it pulled a BatmanGambit on the riders [[spoiler:by attacking the Night Lights as a distraction for its real target, the God's Realm, the so-called "lungs" of the Hidden World were most of the Hidden World's oxygen is produced. Even the riders who already treat dragons as their equals are taken aback by Jörmungandr's cunning.]]

* The dragons in ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'', they act mostly as normal animals and can't talk at all, but their body language and facial expressions clearly show their thoughts and emotions, and they also understand their human masters (actually you can argue that in the case of Barf and Belch they're smarter than their masters the twins, but that's not saying much).

This trope is often associated with animal characters that have AmplifiedAnimalAptitude; in fact, how “nearly normal” an animal is can be measured by how much “amplified aptitude” it has. [=LNAs=] are often but not always {{Intellectual Animal}}s.

Related to AmplifiedAnimalAptitude. [=LNAs=] are often but not always {{Intellectual Animal}}s.

* The dogs and other animals in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' are either this or {{Talking Animal}}s. They can communicate between species and are very strategic, and Sgt. Tibbs sometimes does human-like gestures but they're still very much their own species. However, it is not clear whether they can't talk to humans or just [[{Masquerade} choose not to]].

* The dogs and other animals in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' are either this or {{Talking Animal}}s. They can communicate between species and are very strategic, and Sgt. Tibbs sometimes does human-like gestures but they're still very much their own species. However, it is not clear whether they can't talk to humans or just [[{Masquerade choose not to}]].

* The dogs and other animals in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' can communicate between species and are very strategic, and Sgt. Tibbs sometimes does human-like gestures but they're still very much their own species.

%%* Many non-anthropomorphic animals in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Gary is revealed to be this in "Sleepy Time". After the episode [=SpongeBob=] always interprets Gary's noises as effeminate babbles.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'': During the Ultimocene, a number of creatures become smart enough to develop limited culture and innovative behaviors without becoming smart enough to form true civilization. Sapience, as the narration says, is a spectrum.

* In the book ''Indian Paint'', the horses were almost normal, and completely unable to talk. This is particularly interesting because part of the book was told from the point of view of one of them.

'''Largely Normal Animals ([=LNAs=])''' clearly have thought processes and often [[IntellectualAnimal human-level intelligence]] but don't talk freely with humans. These animal characters may [[AnimalTalk talk to each other]], either in their own language or in a human language, but either way, humans won't be able to hear them speak a human language. That is, unless they [[SpeaksFluentAnimal have the ability to hear what animals are saying]]. Their thought processes and personality is still very much like that of whatever animal they are. Many of them are able to make human-like arm and hand gestures and some can even grasp objects as if they have opposable thumbs. A few [=LNAs=] can sometimes act like the more anthropomorphic CivilizedAnimal or FunnyAnimal when required by a joke.

'''Mostly Normal Animals ([=MNAs=])''' have clear thought processes as well as a few human and/or some or several [[AllAnimalsAreDogs doglike]] characteristics (greater frequency of uttering sounds, human-like expressions) that still don't detract from their animality. Unlike [=LNAs=], they don't talk AnimalTalk between species, only within their species. Their thought processes and personality is still very much like that of whatever animal they are. These animals usually don't go beyond being able to make human-like hand or arm gestures sometimes. They stay on all four legs if they are four-legged animals.

* Biscuit the dog in ''ComicStrip/StoneSoup'' She's usually seen doing {{ThoughtBubbleSpeech}} with Max.

Massimo in Producing Parker when others besides Parker are around, when he's alone with her he becomes a {{{Civilized Animal)))

%%** Also, Newt as Schnappsi the dog in "Puttin on The Blitz".
%%** Sykes the crow, Scout the dog, and Squeakers the rat, Pharfignewton the horse, and Gobbles the turkey fall here too.
%%* The monkey in ''WesternAnimation/{{Chuggington}}''

%%* The animals in the ''Literature/CuriousGeorge'' movies and TV series are this, though Curious George is a non-talking CivilizedAnimal himself.