Examples of Interspecies Adoption in fanworks.
Amphibia
- Medicated: Zig-Zagged. Anne, Sasha, and Marcy (all humans) were raised by frogs, toads, and newts respectively since they were babies, but their adoptive parents gave them potions to turn them into their respective species to make them easier to raise.
- All Assorted Animorphs AUs: In "What if they were in Tortall?", Tobias is a human who was raised by Hork-Bajir.
- Dæmorphing: Mr. Tidwell (a human) and Illim (a Yeerk) adopt Estrid (an Andalite) to show that there can be peace between their three species as part of the end-of-war negotiations.
- Believe in the Weird and Wild: Steven, a half-Gem Half-Human Hybrid, is adopted by the Mewman Butterfly family.
- BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant: Penny Polendina, a Murakumo Unit and Living Weapon, is the adoptive daughter of Pietro Polendina, an ordinary human.
- Boiling Gems: Eda comes from a Mage Species, and she adopts "Lucifer" (Steven), a half-human and half-crystalline alien child.
- The Bridge:
- The first was Azusa Aoki adopting and raising Junior.
- In the expanded "Amalgam-Verse", Tori Wylder, a Glaistig, winds up adopting a Puca named Haley Comet, a Jorogumo named Kumiko Murakumo, and her lone human son, Theodore Wylder.
- The albino hyper gyaos, later named Irys, adopts the "Dark Hunters" group she joins note as her new family after the loss of her flock and they don't object.
- Subverted as Starswirl the Bearded and the founders effectively adopted Celestia and Luna one thousand years ago, as while they are equines, they're alicorns and artificial creations of Harmony.
- Can I Keep Him?: Hiccup was raised (as a dragon) alongside Toothless by the Elder Stormcutter.
- The Equestrian Wind Mage: A key point of the story is Vaati (a Hylian/Minish/Demon thing) adopting Scootaloo (a pony). Both are incredibly happy with this setup.
- First Meetings Universe (Mass Effect/MLP:FiM): Mass Effect: Shepard and the Rainbows starts with a pegasus soldier saving a human girl from pirates and then adopting her. Thus Riley Shepard, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo end up being sisters.
- Harry Tano: Ahsoka (a Togruta) rescues a four-year-old Harry (a human) from the Dursley house. Shortly afterwords, she becomes his adoptive mother, and is recognized by a majority of characters as such.
- If Wishes Were Ponies:
- Ever since Harry (a human) stumbled onto Equestria 15 months before his first year at Hogwarts Twilight (a pony) has been taking care of him at the suggestion of Princess Celestia and once formal diplomatic relations between Equestria and Muggle Great Britain begin even asked to formally adopt the boy.
- Spike also sees Twilight as his mother and occasionally refers to her as such.
- It's Always Spooky Month: The monster... Monster takes care of Skid and Pump, who are human.
- Kir-Ben 10: Poyo Force: Ben and Julie (both Humans) take Kirby (Star Warrior) in as their son.
- The Last Daughter (Worm and Supergirl): Taylor is a Kryptonian baby who was adopted by two human parents.
- The Lion, the Cat and the Turtles
: Splinter and Aslan each acknowledge that Susan is Aslan's daughter just as the Turtles are Splinter's sons despite the species difference. - New Stars: The Orville in canon is no stranger to having strange, rare, and/or unique beings as crew members. So it doesn't truly surprise anyone when CT-5599 (Maxx), a cloned human from another universe, is offered a spot on the ship's crew.
- Spider-Ninja (Spider-Verse and TMNT): While Master Splinter (a mutant rat) adopted the Turtles like in canon, here he also found and adopted the orphaned four-year-old Petra Parker. The five teens all acknowledge Splinter as their father and each other as siblings, often going out of their way to protect one another.
- As Old As Time: Angie Yonaga is the head priestess of Atua and think of herself as his servant, but Atua sees their relationship this way and refers to her as his daughter.
- Imprint sees Claire Dearing present when the Indominus Rex hatches, resulting in the infant dinosaur imprinting on her as its parent.
- It's not the Raptor DNA: Rexy the Tyrannosaurus Rex has adopted Elise (an Indominus Rex) and Tim (a human, and the same one she terrorized during the events of the first film) as her children.
- Lost Boys Saga has human girl Kairi, who after the destruction of Radiant Garden, ended up in Disney Town and was adopted by Mickey Mouse and Minnie.
- When Did I Become a Parent?: Like in canon, Timon (a meerkat) and Pumbaa (a warthog) become the guardians of Simba (a lion cub). Later inverted, when King Simba adopts his foster parents into his pride (making them, aside from Zazu, the only non-lions to live at Pride Rock).
- Bite-Sized Minecraft 2: The short clip at 0:44 shows a flock of sheep grazing. Among them is a Creeper, which bleats.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): The baby Manda, who is the Last of His Kind, is parented by at least two Titans whom are both different species from him — Rodan (Titanus Rodan), and Monster X (a fusion of Titanus Ghidorah's left head and a now-transhuman Vivienne Graham).
- "Wild Child AU" starts in the aftermath of Godzilla's battle with the MUTOs, where he finds seven-year-old Maddie Russell underneath a crashed car when he wakes up two days after the battle. Assuming that her family are already dead and unwilling to cause more damage trying to find other humans to leave her with, Godzilla takes her with him to the island archipelago where he lives, and over time Maddie comes to see Godzilla as a father figure. While she never calls him 'Dad', she starts calling him 'G.' as a compromise when she realises that calling him 'Godzilla' would feel like calling her father by his first name, and comes to consider Mothra a mother figure in turn, with other Titans acknowledging her as Godzilla's "pup".
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The Ambassador's Son: After his parents die, Chiphoof the pony is taken in and adopted by Sharptooth the dragon. Notably, dragon magic works in such a way that this makes him a dragon on a spiritual level as well, and he starts to gradually develop draconic traits such as geophagy.
- Anthropology: It is revealed that Lyra was born as a human, but was adopted by a foal-less couple after they found her in the Royal gardens of Canterlot and transformed into a pony foal to let her fit more easily into Equestrian society.
- Diaries of a Madman: Navarone (a human) ends up adopting Taya (a unicorn) as his daughter.
- A Diplomatic Visit: Slice 'n Dice Apple, a pony, was adopted into one of the wolf packs after her birth family were given faulty information by biased ponies and disowned her.
- Echoing Silence: Diadem, a unicorn, is the adoptive daughter of Nereus, a Ki'rin.
- The Flash Sentry Chronicles: This is played with a bit between Flash Sentry, a pegasus, and Springer, a Jakhowl. Early on, Flash finds Springer in the Everfree Forest, saving him from some Timberwolves, and takes him in, with Springer quickly becoming his best friend and partner. At the end of The Forgotten Darkness though, as Springer's origins are finally revealed to everyone, it is discovered that when Flash first found Springer he was only a week or two old at the time, having hatched from his egg at the same time the Elements of Harmony were used to defeat Nightmare Moon. This essentially means that Flash has raised Springer nearly his whole life and taught him everything he knows. This is finally played straight at the end of Jakhowls Rising; when Springer, Ace, and Mira all choose to remain in Aurarora and everyone is saying their tearful goodbyes to them, Twilight Sparkle tells Springer that even though they didn't say it much, he was always a part of their family from the moment Flash found him, with Springer assuring Twilight he knows. The scene plays out similar to an adult moving out of their family home.
- Friendship Is Optimal: The Law Offices of Artemis, Stella & Beat: It's actively being sought by human couple Jeremy and Renee, who can't have biological kids of their own and want to adopt an Equestrian pony.
- The Great Alicorn Hunt: One of the Nobody's Fools is Bowser, an Earth pony colt who was raised by Diamond Dogs. They had adoption papers and everything.
- A Hollow in Equestria: Subverted. Princess Luna proposes invoking this trope for Ulquiorra Cifer's benefit. It's eventually revealed that he turns down the offer, explaining that it would create more problems than it would be worth.
- The Negotiationsverse: Fluttershy (a pony) married a human doctor after the war and together they adopted two human children and one pony foal.
- The Rise of Darth Vulcan: During the raid on Cirrus and Hilltop, one of Vulcan's Diamond Dog mooks decides to adopt an Earth pony foal as her own. Vulcan isn't happy about this, but caves when both dog and foal give him Puppy-Dog Eyes, caving to their combined cuteness.
- Seven Days in Sunny June: Discussed in 7SDJ: A Mother's Duty by Celestia and Twilight Velvet, and explicitly identified as being against the law in Equestria, barring "mitigating and emergent circumstances", which "shall only be considered on a need by need basis". Celestia herself admits that she didn't write the law and should have checked more closely before it was made official; the only reason she hasn't changed it since is because it would be seen as a "gross abuse of the law" and a conflict of interest, since it would have cleared the way for her to adopt Sunset Shimmer, or Twilight Velvet and Night Light (as the parents of her personal student) to adopt Spike.
- Triptych Continuum: It's noted that Griffon culture dictates that no child, regardless of race, will be left behind. In the wake of a war between the griffons and the ponies, the griffons ended up adopting many of the foals they orphaned and brought them back to their homeland. Generations later, the griffon country of Protocera now has a sizable population that are biologically ponies but whom identify as griffons due to having been born and raised in griffon culture.
- Chickenzilla: Naruto is adopted by a five-foot-tall, fire-breathing chicken (It Makes Sense in Context, sort of).
- Luz Clawthorne: Doubling as Happily Adopted, the basis of the series is that Eda, a witch, adopted Luz, a human, as a baby. Additionally, Vee, a basilisk, is adopted by human cops Blubs and Durland while the Calamity trio (Anne, Sasha, and Marcy) were each adopted by the amphibians who found them (a frog, a toad, and newts, respectively.)
- The Owl House: A Witch Among Us: Esper is a witch who had been raised by two humans named Douglas and Janet.
- "Meanwhile" affirms that most of Ash’s younger Pokemon have this attitude towards the others; Donphan and Pikachu consider themselves siblings, and Noivern regards Hawlucha as ‘Daddy’ and Ash as a sibling (it’s also suggested that Scraggy considers Ash his father as Bulbasaur initially assumes Noivern is looking for Ash when he asks for ‘Daddy’).
- ky-nim's Nuzlocke Runs: Myths of Unova has the Interspecies Romance couple of Zach (Oshawott) and Laila (Petilil). Since they aren't even in compatible breeding groups, they plan on adopting after they retire from the battle circuit.
- A Petty Nuzlocke Challenge: Because Barb (a Nidoqueen) is sterile, she and Spuds (Venusaur) adopt an egg from a breeder in the Sevii Islands. Spuds Jr. turns out to be a Togepi (who actually hatches directly into Togetic as proof that he's Happily Adopted).
- Pokémon: Roses of the Garden: The Legendary Pokémon adopted a human girl into their family.
- Pokemon: Shadow of Time:
- The Pokémon that Ash hatched from eggs — Phanphy/Donphan, Scraggy, and Noibat/Noivern — all think of Ash as ‘Dad’ rather than as a trainer (also applies to Togepi, but only in the sense that Togepi saw Ash as Misty’s partner rather than seeing him as "Daddy" on his own). Even aside from this, Ash's Pokémon are described as seeing each other as family, such as Noctowl and Pidgeotto briefly fighting because Noctowl sees Pidgeotto as having "betrayed the parliament" before it's explained exactly why Pidgeot never came back, Snivy referring to Ash as her "idiot brother", and Heracross thinking of Phanphy as a brother after retrieving his egg.
- Interestingly turns out to be defied by Rowlett; the Toucannon and Pikipek nest Rowlett lived with before Ash caught him actually was Rowlett's family, as his mother was a Dartrix who left his egg in the nest after spending time with a Trumbeak.
- Three Stars of Veldin: Ratchet is a Lombax, Vendra and Neftin are Nethers, and Wendell Lumos is a reptilian kind of alien, and yet the Nether siblings were quick to call Ratchet their brother upon his kind approach to them in their first meeting followed eventually by Wendell formally adopting the trio as his grandchildren to help settle legal issues.
- Single Parents Night is a Sonic the Hedgehog AU that contains a lot of this. Sonic (hedgehog) adopted Tails (fox), Blaze (cat) adopted Marine (raccoon), Amy (hedgehog) adopted Cream (rabbit), Knuckles (echidna) adopted Silver (hedgehog), and Rouge (bat) adopted Omega (robot). The exception is Shadow, whose daughter Maria is both a hedgehog like him and is biologically his.
Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
- Sonic Comics Rewrite: One Change can mean a new chance: In the backstory, Snively (or Colin, as he is called in the story) was abandoned by his family when he was two, then adopted and raised by Sir Charles Hedgehog.
- The Star Wars fic “Desert Species” opens with Obi-Wan Kenobi dying of injuries from the duel on Mustafar, with the result that Ahsoka Tano takes responsibility for raising Luke and Leia herself. While she defines herself as their aunt once they’re old enough to understand, the two clearly see Ahsoka as their mother, to the extent that Leia was disappointed that she wouldn’t have lekku like Ahsoka.
- Hellsister Trilogy: Supergirl is adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers, a human couple.
- Kara of Rokyn: The Danvers, a human couple, not only adopt an alien teen girl but also her clone.
- Mario & Luigi: The two human heroes were adopted by Toads.
- The Sea Shadow: Bobbery, a bob-omb, has adopted Vivian, who is a Living Shadow.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
- Shards of a Memory: Much like canon!Splinter, Master Shard (who is a cat-mutant) is the official mother to the Turtles.
- Turtle Kittens: Like the above example, Tang Shen (turned into the cat-mutant Master Aspen) adopted the four Turtles. After the Kraang invade New York, she also takes in August O'Neil, Casey Jones, and former Purple Dragon Lazuli.
- Gensokyo 20XX:
- This is recurrent, with Reimu, Renko, and Maribel (formerly human) being adopted by Yukari (a reality-warping yokai) and Chen (Nekomata) and Marisa (formerly human) being adopted by Ran and, later on, Ren (Kitsune). In that vein, we have Ran being adopted by Yukari.
- This is used to an advantage in Foundling. Chen, disgruntled by Reimu at the festival, is given something of a dressing down by Yukari, reminding her that she is adopted and that, no matter what species, someone loved her, regardless if anyone wanted her. Said dressing down made her shut up.
- Property Of: Invoked. The Decepticons have tricked the Autobots into thinking that humans aren't sentient. Thus, many humans have been taken from Earth and sold as pets on Cybertron, including Sam, Mikaela, and Annabelle Lennox. Annabelle is terrified of the situation until Sam explains it to her by saying that Ironhide (her "owner") has adopted her. Later, when the Autobots learn that humans are, in fact, sentient, Ironhide plays this trope straight and starts acting like a Parental Substitute to Annabelle.
- In the Transformers: Prime fanfic, Suddenly, Shattered Glass versions of Arachnid and Breakdown adopt a preschool June when she becomes the Sole Survivor of an Autobot attack in Jasper, Nevada.
- Toriel, a boss monster, adopting Frisk, a human, is a very common occurrence in Undertale fan works.
- Ebott's Wake: Frisk has been living with Toriel ever since they came to the Surface. Frisk finds it strange and even confidence-sapping that their human parents never showed up to reclaim them. Toriel finds it strange, too, but given that their parents seem to have been Abusive, she's of the opinion that it's for the best.
- Nobledark Imperium: Librarian Tigurius's backstory in this universe is that he was taken in as a baby by an Eldar who lost her family in an ork attack. As he grew up however he didn't fit in with his Eldar home, so he was sent off and he eventually joined the Ultramarines. Due to his background he was able to survive psychic contact with the Tyranid Hive Mind.
- Broken By Humanity, Healed By a Dragon: Zarc, a Spirit, is the adoptive father of Yuya, Yuri, Yugo, and Yuto (four human boys).
- Fantastic Foxes of Zootopia: Skye (swift fox) was adopted by a grey fox (Siwili Autumn) and a swift fox (her father). The two then adopted a red fox.
- Judy's New Life: Foxes and bunnies can't interbreed, so Nick and Judy adopt a pair of skunk kits.
- Never Say Goodbye: Judy and her wife Shay, who are a rabbit and vixen respectively, adopt a zebra boy named Rafiki and a red panda girl named Mulan.
