Question Animen

Got a few questions regarding the race(s) that is the Animen:

1: Is my memory correct that it was talked about on the old forum that they can't cross breed species, to get a kid you have to have Horse to Horse etc?

2: are they compatible on a mechanical level allowing for cross breed sex, or sex with humans?

Asking cause I'm trying to decide if there's an inter breed relationship happening in one of my fics or not.

My non-canon guesses would be:

1. No, they probably can't cross-breed. Which is going to be a problem regarding genetic diversity, going forward -- each "subspecies" of Animen will likely have too small a gene pool to be healthy. If they CAN, the second- or third-generation will have some very odd hybrids...

2. Some are, some aren't. Species which are roughly the same size (in the important areas, that is) should not have too many problems in recreational sex. But there might be other roadblocks -- different biochemical cues (scents), for instance.
Anyway some are probably impractical. I mean, even within the same species, too large a size difference is problematic. Consider a Great Dane and a chihuahua...

Enough for biodiversity is going to depend upon how many they started with, and how genetically diverse that population is. Given that it was one of the top geneticists at the time, I would hope he would have researched the minimum numbers and then started way above those.

Once again Sir Lee is on the ball. The Animan cannot successfully crossbreed with each other except in species to species pairing. (Horse/horse, bear /bear, etc.) Recreation wise? It's pretty much fair game as far as into species relationships with Animen and humans as we will see.

-cocks head- Why aren't there any primate based Animen? To similar to the human genome that Dr DNA didn't want to work with it, you/he's not a fan of Gorilla Grodd or Planet of the Apes?

And are there any blood lines that haven't appeared in a story yet?

While I have a felling I know the answer will be "Depends on the Nation" I want to ask; If an Animan was a member of some Native Nation, be it a North or South American nation, or where ever, would their nation still see them as a member after they shed their human form in favor of a hybrid form?

Uhhh... why restrict that to Natives? Any community that places a substantial value on genetic inheritance might say the same. Jews, Roma, white supermacists, Japanese just to mention a few that pop out of my mind...

Well, the only community of those mentioned that I have any familiarity with is Jewish tradition, so I'll add my two cents there.

I had a couple of paragraphs written about how Judaism considers inheritance, but then I realized that it's much simpler than that. A baby boy is brought into the faith with their bris when they are eight days old. Their circumcision represents the covenant between them and God. Since their new Animen body won't be circumcised, I would assume that they would be expected to renew that covenant. (Girls, of course, aren't circumcised, but I expect that the rabbis would decide that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and apply the same rules.) My guess is that they would use the standard conversion traditions, but maybe not. Although my guess would be that you would get thrown out of most Orthodox and Hassidic communities, and maybe even some Conservative communities, because Judaism has a tradition that your body was given to you by God, and therefore should be taken care of and treated as holy, which is why tattoos and piercings are forbidden. Discarding your body and replacing it with a human-made construction would be sacrilegious. I think that most Reform communities wouldn't care, though.



In general, for any given community, what is their stance on adoption? If a couple who is a member of the community adopts a child with an unrelated heritage, is that child considered to be a member of the same standing as their adopted parents? I think you could make a lot of good deductions by treating Animen as if they were adopted.

Sir Lee wrote: Uhhh... why restrict that to Natives? Any community that places a substantial value on genetic inheritance might say the same. Jews, Roma, white supermacists, Japanese just to mention a few that pop out of my mind...

I know, I really shouldn't have restricted it, but that was the group I had on my mind while writing.

... horse Animan bris ceremony...

So, the wiki calls the Animen a different race of humanity, but are they actually a set of different species? As they can't interbreed, then that's usually the line for calling them a different species...

Technically, the Animen are a small collection of new species. No Animen can breed with a human, nor can the sub species of Animen breed with each other. So, the bears can breed with other bears, wolves and dogs can interbreed, all of the hunting cats can interbreed and the horses can interbreed.

But a dog and the horse won't produce a child, and so on. Does that clarify things?

Malady wrote: So, the wiki calls the Animen a different race of humanity, but are they actually a set of different species? As they can't interbreed, then that's usually the line for calling them a different species...

Another thing to consider... as long as they're referred to as a different race of Humanity it's easier for them to retain legal rights... Technically it's all semantics if it gets as far as a legal court but it's easier for them if there's a degree of similarity in terminology than if there weren't.

Another thing to consider in the long term... whether the genetic pool of each animen-species is too small to be healthy.

Sir Lee wrote: Another thing to consider in the long term... whether the genetic pool of each animen-species is too small to be healthy.

Fortunately, these genetic pools are not static, but growing; as we read about in The Back Side of Paradise.

The Backside of Paradise wrote:
“But, what do you get out of it?” demanded a puzzled George.

Paramount's grin was wide and fierce. “Peter Drucker famously said, 'Business has only two functions, marketing and innovation.'” Nick snorted into his glass as he took a sip, drawing the attention of the other two Animen.

“We're both,” he informed them. “You haven't wondered why there aren't 'cute' animals?”

“Now that you mention it,” drawled Henry, “I would have thought there would have been rabbits at least, I mean, based on the...um...art I used to enjoy...” Dr. DNA cleared his throat causing Paramount to 'glare' at him but the look truly spoke of quite a bit of affability between them. The Prince took his wallet from a breast pocket of his blazer and an uncertain number of bills whose denomination or issuer was unclear changed hands.

“We're the next step to your Catamounts, aren't we?” Brennan demanded of the little scientist who made an expansive gesture as he pocketed the money. “Sure, you don't have to recruit from us, you own the joy juice. You can make your own. And with this whole god damned island wired for sound every trumped up thug and wannabe super punk will be beating down your door.”

“It does help having an attractive retirement incentive,” Paramount said simply. “So, the United States has broken faith with me; and you Colonel. As far as I'm concerned, you being the legitimate government of this island, feel free to throw them off. I, on the other hand, as a friendly power, wish to maintain relations, after all, I have kept my word.”

Homo Animalus Sapiens?

I imagine that Doctor DNA also worked in as much genetic diversity as he could, which would help against inbreeding.

Valentine wrote: Homo Animalus Sapiens?

No, 'homo' would imply that the base genome was human. I'd say that the Brennans and other horsemen would be 'Eqquis Facticius Sapiens'. 'Facticius' means 'artificial, man-made'. Or possibly 'Eqquis Anthropomorphis Sapiens'.