Civilized Animals exhibit some form of civilized manner, but otherwise occupy their species's natural role in the ecosystem and (especially) the food chain. They generally display half the mannerisms of a civilized human character and half the mannerisms of an animal character. They may wear clothes (often being accessory wearing, half dressed or even barefoot, but otherwise fully-dressed), or may live in houses, and are frequently depicted as walking on two legs; but their anthropomorphism stops abruptly at this point, as their everyday concerns are for ordinary activities such as acquiring food and avoiding predation by larger animals.A Civilized Animal can be a pet — a child could just as well play with the pet throwing stick at them or pulling out a game console and playing together.
Civilized Animals are typical of children's stories, especially that of British literature.
Like Funny Animals, Civilized Animals usually have a body that is generally shaped like that of their respective species, even though they are typically bipedal and sometimes human-sized. Civilized Animals, like Funny Animals, tend to be bipedal even if their species is not naturally so, and most Civilized Animal birds have Feather Fingers, whether their wings look completely like wings or look like arms. Many Civilized Animals can shift between using two legs and four. Civilized Animals can be anywhere on the Sliding Scale of Animal Communication.
A related trope is Mouse World.
Civilized Animals differ from their neighbors on the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism as follows:
- A Funny Animal has most or even all the mannerisms of a human character, and generally if replaced by a human, the plot will be mostly or even nearly identical.
- Talking Animals and Speech Impaired Animals have all the body shape and mannerisms of the animal; their anthropomorphism is strictly limited to the fact that they talk and in some cases walk on two legs.
Nearly Normal Animals come in three types, largely normal, mostly normal, and almost normal.
Completely Civilized Animals (CCAs): These animals are a notch below the Funny Animal. Like the Funny Animal, they are bipedal even if their species is not naturally so, and birds of this type have Feather Fingers, whether their wings look completely like wings or look like arms, some are human-sized, their fur will be treated as clothing and they may wear an accessory. They can shift between walking on two legs and four legs, but will do so only to hide their anthropomorphism from humans or in order to run faster.
Mostly Civilized Animals (MCAs) This is an intermediary stage between civilized animals who walk on four legs and animals who walk on their hind legs but are still very much animals. They generally have half the mannerisms of a human and half the mannerisms of a real animal. Like the Completely Civilized Animal, they can shift between two legs and four. They spend a lot more time on all fours than the Completely Civilized Animal, however.
Partially Civilized Animals (PCAs): These animals are a notch higher than the Nearly Normal Animal, Speech-Impaired Animal, and Talking Animal, but not quite as anthropomorphic as the Mostly Civilized Animal. Like the Nearly Normal Animal, Speech-Impaired Animal, and Talking Animal, the Partially Civilized Animal is very much an animal when it comes to thought processes, personality, instincts, priorities, and motivations. Unlike Completely Civilized Animals and Mostly Civilized Animals, they are depicted as just walking on four legs rather than walking on two legs or walking both ways. Like Nearly Normal Animal, Speech-Impaired Animal, and Talking Animal birds, Partially Civilized Animal birds can have Feather Fingers, but their wings have to look completely like wings. Unlike the Nearly Normal Animal, Speech-Impaired Animal, and Talking Animal, Partially Civilized Animals exhibit some form of civilized manner, to a lesser degree than the completely civilized animal, and often have some form of Mouse World. They are never human-sized and the majority of their mannerisms are that of the animal.
This is not to be confused with Beast Man, which is for a species that for some reason bears a resemblance to an Earth animal, despite not being related.
Examples:
Completely Civilized Animal
- Puss in Boots from Shrek 2. He walks on his hind legs, wears a hat and boots, loves money, and is a skilled swordfighter, but he also hacks up hairballs, hates water, and hisses at people when he's angry.
- The animals from Madagascar except for Melman the Giraffe, who is a Nearly Normal Animal and Marty, who is a Mostly Civilized Animal. They use crude tools, wear simple clothes and only occasionally go quadrupedal. But there is no doubt that they are animals, and they can't talk to humans (the animals can understand human speech, but it doesn't work the other way around for most humans).
- Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb. He may act like a pet around Phineas and Ferb's family and not be able to talk, but he walks on two legs, wears a hat, and is even a secret agent who fights against Doofenshmirtz. Same with the other secret agents in the show.
Mostly Civilized Animal
- Marty the Zebra from Madagascar. See the ''Madagascar entry in Completely Civilized Animal. Marty only occasionally goes bipedal.
Partially Civilized Animal
- The eponymous equines of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. On the one hand, they live in houses and in a lot of ways their day-to-day lives paint them more as quadrupedal humans than mildly anthropomorphic horses. On the other, the creators researched a lot of horse behavior and incorporated it into the characters' body language, Rarity's song "Art Of The Dress" and the accompanying visuals account for equine physiology in a way that also betrays extensive research, and wherever possible they avoided having the ponies use their hooves for fine manipulation.
