I agree with OP about the complexity of identity. For me there's a lot of complexity with this question, as I'm a firm believer that every facet of one's identity is influenced by multiple of both outer and inner factors, ranging from one's upbringing and their stage of life to mental illness and other identity features. My identity as a fox has equal chance of being independent of anything else and a certainty no matter what just as much as it has a chance of being caused by my childhood pets, the media I grew up with and their portrayals of the species, or even the fact that foxes were the first uncommon wild animal I saw in person. The general being a therian is the same way for me, where it's hard to pin down one specific thing that I could point to as a cause or influence.

One big factor I often think of, though, is my autism and anxiety combo. Foxes are small/medium predators that are extremely flighty and skittish, as I am. My behaviors, my mannerisms, they all would be completely normal were I in the body of a fox or some other similar species. Often times, people only need a reminder of a nudge to connect the dots and associate me with foxes. My own family and mate have made connections where I hadn't yet, such as my body language and vocalizations I make when I'm not masking around them. Things that are instinctual and normal to me give others a specific impression in such a way that they think of an animal like the kind I secretly identify as before they think of my known mental conditions.

Of course, I say this with the knowledge it looks like I'm just being an autistic wildlife lover, but I also don't see everyone else like this identifying differently. I've met a number of other wildlifers in college, in online spaces, and in person, and it's rare for them to identify or even see themselves as another species. In these groups, I've only met a handful of furries, which makes me think it's not even for a lack of the right words to describe it. I also have looked into autism and anxiety and the different ways it shows and affects those with it (to better learn about myself) and there's a number of things I do that don't fit. Whether that's therianthropy or more research needing to be done to better understand autistic individuals, I don't know, but I think all of this put together paints the picture of my autism and therianthropy overlapping, but being separate things.

All this to say that from a wholly practical standpoint, ignoring spiritual theories, I do think my therianthropy is in some way innate and a part of my core self and its own thing. If it isn't, then it's most likely an offshoot of my autism, even though a good chunk of it doesn't align with that theory.

Focusing on the spiritual side of things, I personally feel this innate therianthropy of mine is my soul being that of a fox's. How exactly a fox soul got into a human body, I doubt I'll ever know. I don't think it's anything to do with past lives, I personally don't have any memories and don't think I ever will, if I even have past lives at all. I also don't discern or feel any difference in the human and animal parts of my core self, if I even have both and am not simply a fox that knows how to be human, so I don't think it's me having both a human and animal soul either. My therianthropy is also just too long-term and innate to my core self to be a walk-in (and my earlier point about not feeling any kind of separation between them). I haven't really heard or thought of any possibilities to explain how I got this way spiritually other than my soul simply being an animal's.

Wow, this is HUGE news!

Congrats to @Bagera, I know you'll do great!

And I'm glad @DustWolf that you finally have a chance to retire; you've certainly earned it! Your tireless work has made TG an amazing haven for therians for years.

Thank you both.

I don't need a name, as a wild animal I see no reason for it. Wild animals know no bounds, they don't conform to humans' need to catergorise and identify things.

I suppose my name of 'Kitty' just so happens to work well enough... I am simply a kitty, untamed and undefined.

And anyway, your theriotype is you. Naming what is essentially just an extension of you really doesn't serve any function, unless it is perhaps just to stick out from the rest and / or make more sense of things for yourself. I guess some people need labels in order to understand things, we all work differently at the end of the day.

To name an animal or a thing, or hell, even a human being, is a means to distinguish one "unit" from another. Like religion, like it or not, or time for that matter, it began with the human need to put things into boxes, to make it easier to separate the one from the other and to facilitate access to the world around them. I'm a wolf, so according to your beliefs, I ought to have a name since all animals have them. Now tell me something, who gave me mine?

So no, I don't think I have a therian name. I have a username, but chose this one, not to represent who I am as a wolf, but to distinguish myself from another user so that there exists no confusion. These are human concepts, not animals'.

(2025-09-22 14:28)WereKitty Wrote:  Well, to put it simply, saying ’I am human’ just never felt 100% right. Like, ever.

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It's hard to say exactly what makes me feel this way, but I've always known I wasn't exactly like everyone else. I've always found greater comfort in animals or anything to do with animals. Everytime I played a game, I had to be something to do with animals. Toys? Always animals. Now I realize that maybe I was showing signs of being a therian before I even knew what it was. And as I got older, the traits never really faded. I mean, sure, they were a little more mature, but they were still there. And even now, they're still around, along with some of my traits that do connect to therianthropy. It may not make me 100% sure, but it makes me confident in my identity.

Well, to put it simply, saying ’I am human’ just never felt 100% right. Like, ever.

I’ve felt feline for as long as I can remember; as a child, I used to act out these feelings constantly, and although I’ve gotten better at controlling my instincts as I’ve gotten older, the feeling still hasn’t left.

I also felt a strong, strong sense of recognition when I’d first discovered therianthropy (although I was initially very skeptical of it). It was like something had finally clicked, I had an explanation for why I behaved in these ways. I can look at the leopard and serval and confidently say ’that is me’ and feel like I mean it. Other than our physical form, there is little to no difference most days between me and them. And whether I have a label or not, this is what I am and I can feel secure in that.

Glad he gets to step down, hope he gets some peace from all the work. But Im glad you got the position, im sire you'll do amazing, you should be proud. :]

As of currently, I am still unsure what makes me believe I am a therian. What I believe is that I was born as a coyote, died somehow, which I am unsure of at this time, and was reborn as a human. I also believe that the soul has both an animalistic part of it and a human part of it and that therians are just more in touch with their animalistic side of their soul, which I think is responsible for the shifting aspect of therianthropy. This is the most I can think of right now because I am still learning about things. I will try and update this later when I am more knowledgeable of the spiritual realm and just therianthropy in general.

Big Congrats to Bagi!!! I hope you have many wonderful years here! You deserve it!!!!