Hi there @Lycanthera ,

I meant to write out a response to this earlier but I've been bogged down with work lately. There's some incorrect and nuanced things you should be aware of about what these words mean and represent. Our forums have a vast amount of information and numerous individual's views on what these things mean, though much of it is scattered (though it's all searchable using our search tool: https://forums.therian-guide.com/search.php) throughout the Introduction to Therianthropy and other boards.

Anyway, here's my own thoughts/commentary on what you wrote, as one of the older folks:


Types of Therianthropy:
It's not an emotional connection, though emotions often play a part in how we experience being the species.
The two main divisions are spiritual and psychological as you mentioned, and yes they are involuntary. ^^

Rapidly-Cycling Theriotypes:
A theriotype changing "all the time" usually has to do with experiences that are vague and can apply to several species, leaving the individual uncertain as to what they are. Sometimes, I see critters looking into theriotypes or kintypes that shapeshift when the constant-changing is persistent when trying to find an explanation.

Gear and expression:
Quadrobics and gear are mainly a thing with younger therians looking to express themselves. It's less common with older adults, though some of us have masks or tails that hold some type of significance to us. For instance, mine is mainly a ritual mask.

Psychological Therians:
We don't know if most therians are psychological. Every therian space only represents a small section of the community as a whole. There are also offline-only communities which may not be represented in the demographics of online spaces. The community demographics of online spaces also seems to have changed drastically over time. For example: A large part of the experiences described on AHWw(the UseNET board where the Therian community originally came from) were viewed as spiritual. The majority of the current community was also introduced to therianthropy through social media and sibling/friend advertising, so this likely influences the demographics we're seeing at the moment.

Spiritual Therians:
In spiritual therianthropy, the therian isn't given a theriotype, they view themselves as objectively being their theriotype because their spirit/soul is that of an animal in a literal sense. Sometimes it's because they believe they were reincarnated yet somehow remained an animal in some way(when the past life carries into the current day), walk-ins or possibly replacement reincarnation, having a soul merged with that of a spirit animal to where there's one animalistic being inhabiting a human body...the list goes on. It's much more complicated and varied than what Tiktok portrays spiritual therianthropy as.

"Physical Therianthropy" and Holothere terms:
I'll refer you to my extensive post explaining these and the issues surrounding their use in the community: https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-Holothere?pid=289168#pid289168


The categories you mentioned:

Ambitherian - Another tumblr term written to describe a single critter's experiences; not commonly in use. It appears to be a subtype of cladotherian.

Cladotherian - Correct, though it's being and not just connecting to.

Polytherian - Correct, though it's being and not just connecting to.

Omnitherian - it describes being all animals at once, but is considered controversial. My thoughts on it are that it may be describing something akin to being an archetype spirit that's being misinterpreted, or it may describe someone who feels connection to nature/all animals. You wouldn't be able to know the specific experiences of all animals because it would be impossible to actually research every single animal in existence to know if you were this, which is why it's often not considered to be a real thing.

Paleotherian - Correct, though it's being and not just connecting to.

Theriomythic - Almost correct, it's being a mythical/mythological/magical animal or highly animal-like being, such as a kitsune or werewolf. Mythology is often confused with Fiction, but mythology is viewed by the people of the time as factual(A spiritual theriomythic would also likely view themselves as real). Sometimes mythology describes things that are thought to be real in this world, yet other mythologies may describe creatures that only exist within a spirit world or otherwise metaphysical realm. Fictional theriotypes would fall under Fictotherian(Sometimes written as Fictherian) or Fictionkin.

Categories of State:
Shifting Therian - This isn't really it's own term, therians just commonly have shifting as one of their experiences. Those who shift don't always have clear distinctions between human and animal, so you'd have to ask the individual to know if they do.

Contherian - We don't have mental shifts because we're always the animal. It's like being in a constant shifted state that never turns off. My personal experience with this has me in a steady-state of being an animal; I have moments where my instincts get "perked up" to deal with situations, but I don't perceive myself to be more or less animal. I also don't really view myself as human but others might, so it depends on the individual.

Suntherian - This was a term made to describe a single individual (See this post to see him describe it: https://forums.therian-guide.com/Thread-History-of-the-word-Suntherian?pid=136247#pid136247). It describes always feeling animal, but allows for natural variations in intensity. It's used similarly to Contherian by a lot of people..

LGBT+ Affiliation - Almost, a lot of us are LGBT+ and sometimes this is because our perceived species isn't the same sex as our human bodies or the species has specific views on sexuality or gender that would put us into these groups.

Furries - Largely correct

Physical - This is debatable and a subject of controversy within the Therian community (We actually have our own rule about this in the community rules). There is a section of the community who believe this but it is not considered acceptable or possible by most spaces, and it has led to harmful behavior and beliefs in the past, including the creation of cults, cash scams, and misinformation.

Those who have been active on the forums and discord server will likely be aware of this, but over the past few months, we staff have been working on a complete overhaul of the site rules. Last week, we made a feedback thread on the forums to get a final okay from the community. Now, we are proud to announce that this new ruleset is live!

Please view them here: https://forums.therian-guide.com/misc.php?page=rules#content

These rules are complete and official on the site and other TG spaces, so please familiarize yourself with them.

Thank you to everyone who gave feedback!

This thread will help newcomers understand the concept of Therianthropy clearly, remove misconceptions and also learn more about how this community works. If clarifications are required, please reply and I will add on to this post as soon as possible.

General Information About Therians:

So, first off, a Therian is a person who identifies as a nonhuman animal. Often, Therians have a strong connection with their Theriotype, the animal they identify as and see this animal side as a core part of their identity. Therians do not choose to be Therians, the experience is called Therianthropy and is completely involuntary. In one of these ways, psychologically, emotionally or spiritually, Therians connect to their Theriotypes in terms of behavior or thought.

A Therian can experience having multiple Theriotypes, whether mythical, earthen, alien, marine, aerial and much more. Although most Therians only have one Theriotype, some Therians may have many more. It is also common that Therians hesitate between Theriotypes, not because they are trying to choose one, but rather because they are trying to find out which one they are. Therianthropy is natural and is extremely hard to define. Sometimes, a Therian can find their Theriotype changing all the time.

Many Therians may choose to engage in an activity that makes them feel closer and more attached to their Theriotype. Quadrobics, the sport of walking and jumping like an animal, gear-making, creating objects that link to their Theriotypes and many other activities are often done to express identity.

Shifts are another part of Therianthropy. A shift is a time, usually temporary, when a Therian feels more connected with their Theriotype. During this process, Therians may change a way of thinking and start letting out their animal sides. Strength and frequency may vary for each Therian, and some don't shift at all.

Different Types of Therians

Category of Experience:
Psychological Therian - Experiences Therianthropy mentally, meaning that everything happens within the brain. Although reasons for this are unclear, there are many theories. Most Therians are Psychological (please take note that this is within my range of knowledge and does not entirely apply to every community!), and most in this category connect to their Theriotype in terms of personality, instincts and behavior.

Spiritual Therian - Spiritual Therians experience Therianthropy on a spiritual level, which commonly has to do with what they believe is their past life or maybe because there is a walk-in spirit. Their past lives are usually animals, which then managed to stay with them in this life. As for walk-in spirits, some believe that animals may choose to be part of another being before being reincarnated.

Physical Therian - Experiences Therianthropy in physical ways, believing that if they are an animal internally, they must be an animal physically. There are varying theories, but most Physical Therians feel like an animal on the physical level because they connect their internal identity so closely to who they actually are physically.

Category of Theriotype:
Ambitherian - Connects to multiple Theriotypes within a range of species, usually having a few connections stronger than the remainder.

Cladotherian - Connects to no specific animal but instead an entire family of animals, such as feline, or mammal. Ranges vary depending on the Therian.

Polytherian - Identifies as different types of animals or species at the same time.

Omnitherian - Identifies as all earthen animals simultaneously, experiencing being every single animal on earth.

Paleotherian - Identifies as an already extinct animals that existed a long time ago, or just went extinct.

Theriomythic - Identifies as mythical and fantasy animals instead of animals that exist in reality.

Category of State:
Shiftingtherian - The most common type of Therian which experiences involuntary shifts and sometimes voluntary shifts. They have a clear boundary between their animal side and human side, only becoming animal temporarily from time to time.

Nonshiftingtherian - These Therians don't shift at all.

Contherian - Experience a constant, continuous blend of animal and human identity, not experiencing shifts and simultaneously being the two.

Suntherian - Always shifted to a certain degree, whether more or less. Don't experience clear mental shifts and are generally more animal than human.

Holothere - Are completely non-human, and are always in their animal state. Don't experience shifts and remain animal permanently.

Common Misconceptions About Therians

1. Is being Therian is being part of a religion? No, Therianthropy is an identity and doesn't affect one's religion.

2. Are Therians part of The LGBT+ spectrum? No, being Therian itself has nothing to do with the LGBT+ community or spectrum but, many Therians are part of the LGBT+ spectrum and identify as LGBT+ because of a certain trait in their Therianthropy.

3. Are Therians and Furries the same thing? No, Furries experience happiness from imitating animals, Therians are animals as part of their identity.

4. Do Therians believe they physically are their Theriotype? No, Therians are mostly psychological and remain human most of the time. Please take note that this is a debatable topic and has lead to misinformation. To be taken with consideration and background research.

Note For Readers
Thank you for reading! I hope this post really helped you! If you have any questions, requirements for clarifications, corrections, suggestions and requests, please reply, I will try to add and edit as much as possible. If more than ten people reply to me, I will then make Threads for all other Alterhuman identities. Have a great day! Give thanks if you found this helpful!

This content is not completely right and verified, check Cygnus' post below for corrections and additional information.

Thank you a lot for putting so much effort into adding on to my theory! I love that you've corrected some of my misunderstandings. And yes, I was referring to DID instead of Schizophrenia, my apologies for the erroneous statement. I was a little rushed and poorly-informed when writing this paragraph. Of course, it is only rough framework and I will be adding research and details to it later on when I've found more information. Thank you for the feedback and I must say that I'm extremely impressed by your attention to details. Great thanks and have a wonderful day!

P.S. If I haven't confused you with somebody else, you have a YouTube channel right? Called Therian Territory. I love the content and I'm looking forward to learning more facts about Therianthropy!

Hi Lycanthera. What an interesting post you have here, makes me rub my paws together to dissect it a little!

First of all, I noticed your mention of schizophrenia and supposed separation of identity, and wanted to correct some information there. Schizophrenia is often mistaken for dissociative disorders, but in general they are not the same thing. I believe you are referring to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD, which is more of an umbrella for those who show symptoms but don't directly fit the diagnosis of the known dissociative disorders), which are disorders where one's identity (partially) scatters into several. For DID, symptoms like dissociation (episodes of disconnect from the self) and amnesiac barriers (when the different identities/headmates do not share the same memory) are a key factor of this. From what I have gathered over the years, this disorder is indeed a survival mechanism from early childhood. As a child, your sense of self is inherently more scattered over several types of emotions, which are supposed to merge into one sense of self as your brain develops. But ongoing trauma may make your brain prevent this merge from happening to preserve the ability to function, causing a more defined split in identity.

Knowing this, from your theory it sounds like that'd have to mean that from early childhood, all humans should already have some kind of animalistic side embedded in their brain. You mentioned this as a shared evolutionary animalsitic mindset that all animals share, but that the humans have come to suppress overtime. While it's true that many animalistic instincts of humans have toned down over the years, I think it's important to add nuance to this: evolutionary instincts do not appear out of nowhere, they are a result of longterm conditioning of a species to be able to survive. Therefore, all instincts can be traced back to a cause. The Uncanny Valley theory is not a random instinct, but instead can psychologically be traced back to a combination of the human's detailed perception of the human face (to be able to recognize emotions, and therefore to help with social survival), and the detection of danger when a person's face feels off (which also stems from xenophobia).

The fact that humans experience this only further proves that a set of instincts per species are more species-specific than you'd think, because no other animals have the ability to read and communicate with faces this well.
As per your theory, it'd leave me to question why some therians would experience prey-like instincts (flight and freeze responses to being attacked for example), while others experience predator instincts. Why some therians have the urge to swim, while others will want to fly. That's no one collective animal mindset, that is a whole respective framework for each individual.

I am a huge fan of dissecting natural human instincts from animalistic therian experiences. I solemnly believe there are overlaps and similarities, but also undeniable distinctions between the two. To pin therianthropic experiences purely on our shared human (or overall animal) instincts personally feels a bit like tarring it all with the same brush, as if all animal instincts come from the same source.

So please feel free to add your thoughts on this. Maybe you do have explanations to the nuance I've given, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Overall I think it's not an impossible theory, just one that deserves more attention in the detail

First of all, this is only a guess, not a definitive fact and is only supported by what I believe. It isn't meant to hurt anyone or insult anyone, only to share my thoughts and theories. All of these ideas are original and have not copied anyone else's ideas, if I have, by coincidence, please let me know.
My main point is that Therianthropy has to do with mental abnormality and/or the primordial animal instinct. I will split this into two different parts, the 'Evolution Theory' and the 'Trauma Theory' which I will bind together at the end to explain the 'Instinct Triggerer Theory'
So first off, I would like to define what the Evolution Theory is. Its explanation to Therianthropy that is that humans and animals originated from the same source and are closely connected on the DNA level, meaning that some of the human population, also known as Therians today can be mentally affected by this biological connection. So far I haven't found any definitive pieces of evidences that support this but it is something that we can connect to some level to the Uncanny Valley. The Uncanny Valley is an effect that causes humans to fear anything that resembles a human but is not fully human. Anything further from that point and anything closer to humans from that point doesn't cause fear. It is collective, meaning that a vast majority experiences this feeling without having had any connection between each other. It is simply something stored biologically in every single human being's consciousness. Although even the Uncanny Valley is only a hypothesized idea, the resemblance in the genetical or collective imprint can be related. It's interesting to think that deep inside the subconsciousness, humans correlate to animals. Due to the long-term evolution that humans undergo, gradually this instinct has been hidden and dissolved, but sometimes it may be triggered.
This connects to my second idea, the Trauma Theory. Most Therians I have met in reality and talked to online have some kind of suffering, whether they experience it now or have experienced it in the past. I think that this mental suffering and experience has lead to certain degrees of trauma which call for the primordial animal instinct to protect the consciousness. This is when the instinct emerges and separates from the subconsciousness, blending into the consciousness of individuals. So why does this trauma call upon this distant instinct? I believe it is because in the ancient times, the animal instinct was to fight, hunt and protect, making the impression that this instinct can provide power for the individual. Then, it is only natural that the animal side starts appearing. Shifts, then, following this idea, would be the process of the formerly subconscious identity trying to protect the human identity. It is relatable to the concept of Schizophrenia, the separation of identity due to excessive trauma. The separate identities created by Schizophrenia help the main identity carry mental burden and experience the pain for the main identity instead. I believe that this animal instinct does similar things, protecting the human identity by taking on the suffering. Both can be seen as a defensive mechanism of the human mind, triggered when harm is experienced. It can also be related to the generally well-accepted knowledge that first experiences of Therianthropy are during the times of puberty, and in most people's experiences, middle school and high school, times of puberty, are the most traumatic because of bullying and academic pressure etc. It is even statistically supported that puberty can be very upsetting and hurtful.
In conclusion, the Instinct Triggerer Theory is a combination, or rather umbrella for the two theories. It is the idea that a collective, biological and subconscious animal imprint within the human mind can be triggered when trauma is experienced in order to protect the individual's human identity. This awakened primordial instinct then connects with the human consciousness to form Therianthropy.
In all, this is the small article I have been able to sum up based on my thoughts. Feel free to comment, share and add to this if you think there are variations or extensions to this theory. Thank you very much and have a great day!

Staff Identification
Here on TG, we make it easy to identify staff. All staff members will have an underlined name. No other role uses this underline so it is very clear to see. On the Discord, we appear as Staff on the member side bar, but you can also check in the Meet the Staff channel under Introductions.

I had a feeling for a while that was non-human and was searching to work out what that was. I came across TG and the descriptions of therianthropy appeared to fit what I was experiencing very closely. I would say I *knew* I was a therian when I joined the site/discord and talked to other people here and related very closely with other people's experiences.

Might not work for everyone since there are many unique types out there but just existing in the group and seeing if you fit in is a reasonable indicator most of the time. As long as you stay critical and skeptical!

My story on why is somewhat complicated. I kind of have more of a set of nonhuman "parts" to my soul/spirit/whatever name you prefer to call it. Part being vampire, part lynx, and part fox. Those are the ones I know of currently. There may be more but it's been pretty stable since I found the vampire part recently. I think my soul partially originated in a separate/parallel plane of existence to this one, which is where the vampire part of my soul is from. It's relatively similar to this one, tbh. The vampire part of me knows I was once at least partly a human-shaped soul too (before being turned in said reality). The animal parts originated from here though, I believe. I also have psychological basis for identifying as nonhuman, being autistic and drawn more to animals or other beings than humanity. That and having trauma from my bipolar disorder.

i have an "all of the above" kind of ordeal XD

im autistic and always had a special interest on animals, and feeling more empathy torwards animals than humans is common for autistic people. i never liked talking and didnt understand social cues, and animals dont have any of that stuff so it was just easier. pair that with imprinting from being raised with dogs, then trauma from being bullied and treated as if i wasnt a person due to my disability added more to it animals felt more like family than family did, and the lifestyles of a wild animal just make more sense. i dont understand society

its also spiritual !! maybe those spiritual beliefs came from the psychological stuff but honestly i feel like i wouldve had the same beliefs either way ;p not sure what i think about past lives, but i used to really believe in them when i was younger. i just know i am anything but human in this one. its not much of a "i was meant to be born an animal" but more of "i am an animal and people cant know". i just dont seem like one physically. sometimes i like to think i am the way i am and not an animal physically so i can advocate for the animals that cant speak like i can. also to make art :3

this is a really interesting conversation 2 have !!