✩ Badger ✩

✩ 21 ✩ he/him ✩ european badger ✩

[milesmeles]

Introduction 🦡🐾

Hi everybody!

I didn't have an "awakening" (which is normal and does not make me any less of a therian), but I realized I was a therian some time in elementary school. I suppressed it for a long time. I didn't know my theriotype until 2021.

This blog may post NSFW things at times. They will be tagged accordingly.

I am an adult, and I will not cater my raw feelings to children online.

About Me

I'm a boy from the Midwest America and I like to sing!

My pronouns are he/him.

I love stickers, pins, patches, and other tchotchkes like keychains!!

I love the colors purple, yellow, and orange!!!

Star motifs are my favorite 💫

My Theriotype

I'm a European badger, caribou, and a werewolf!

I plan on getting a tattoo of my badger one day. That's the way I feel I'll be most connected to it!

Other Stuff

I don't have a DNI, I just block.

I'm pretty busy most of the time.

IDGAF about syscourse or pro/antiship discourse or queer discourse or any of that shit. I got no time for that!!!!!!

Please don't ask me about my personal life.

Thanks for reading.

[thetadelta]

Teenage therianthropy in the 2000's

Just reminiscing a bit. TL;DR: I love you modern teenage therians & otherkin, and also if anyone was on Chicken Smoothie circa 2008-2012 please say hi!

When I first stumbled upon therianthropy back in 2006, I quickly realized that there wasn't a place for me in the communities whose essays and information I was excitedly reading. It had been so freeing and exhilarating to know that I wasn't alone in how I am, but all the therian forums were for adults, and I was a teenager. I probably could have joined the "adult" forums and talked to grown-up animals instead of just lurking, but I didn't feel comfortable talking to strange adults (this was back when we actually taught kids to not disclose personal info online!), and the people on therian forums didn't feel like my peers anyway. So many of their conversations just sounded like dry philosophy, or referenced "adult" things I didn't relate to. I resigned myself to just reading what people wrote, and being a lonely teenager with nobody to talk to.

My first time really talking to other nonhumans was on the forum for a digital pet website called Chicken Smoothie. It was barely even a browser game at the time, just a cozy little forum with a pet adoption feature, and the users were a few hundred teens and preteens chatting and making art. But, in probably late 2008 or early 2009, someone started an otherkin thread and I finally found my peers. We spent hours a day swapping information we'd read, figuring out what people were, and just having fun. There was no gatekeeping or unfriendly grilling or essay-writing, and no sanctimonious adults to tell us we weren't being "serious" enough about nonhumanity. We were serious, but in the way kids are serious, before society makes them afraid to be authentic and silly. Conversations about spirituality and phantom shifts were interspersed with people roleplaying and making animal sounds, and we enjoyed both just as much. It was a space for all of us to act openly nonhuman around other people for the first time, and we did it like teenagers. We chatted through text and made art for each other because that's all the internet really was at the time, but if it had been possible (and socially acceptable) to take and share photos and videos of us acting like ourselves we would absolutely have been doing that, too. I can't even begin to imagine how much fun we'd have had with access to modern social media, when just talking to each other about who we were was already so fulfilling.

I don't know how many of the people I was friends with still call themselves therians, otherkin, or vampires. It's likely some of them were just roleplaying and left those things in the past. But I'm still here over 15 years later, so I know I was far from the only one genuinely expressing who I was. It doesn't matter to me whether those people I was a nonhuman kid with "grew out of it" or not, because that sense of joy and community was real. There wasn't a space for nonhuman teens online, so we carved one out ourselves.

Modern teens don't have to search so hard to find their community. When I look at the therian and otherkin tags on tumblr today, and when I see videos of teens on tiktok wearing homemade masks and running in the grass, what I see is a bunch of young people doing the exact same things I was doing on a forum in 2009. The infrastructure of the internet has made it hard to find and share accurate information the way we used to so there's a lot more misinformation, but the joy of teenagers learning they're not alone is still the same. There are so many high schoolers out there talking about shifts and posting silly animal sounds the same way I did, and that makes me really happy.

Maybe some of them are roleplaying and will stop calling themselves therians or otherkin in a few years, but that doesn't actually matter. There are people out there exploring nonhumanity for the very first time, and the joy is real.

[milesmeles]

I've noticed a biiiiig influx in off-topic and straight up irrelevant posts under the therian and otherkin tags. You really do not have to post every little thought to those tags. You don't have to post your unrelated furry art there. You should not put tags on your post that aren't related to it. I don't care if YOU are a therian, if your post is not related to it then don't put the tag. That is the entire point of tagging on here. I've blocked people over this because they "tag for exposure" and it's just completely unrelated to the tag I'm following.

[ecotherian]

Self-Discovery isn’t going to be found scrolling online.

Put the phone down and listen to your mind and body.

Be with yourself for a little bit.

Go outside. Read a book. Let your eyes rest. Let your mind rest.

[milesmeles]

therian anguish is having two conflicting 'types and experiencing the way that they go about the world, like feeling torporous, yet thriving in the colder months. Help me

[anthrophilokyon]

Trying to find a way to illustrate bird movements in my body. One doesn’t really see much about movement in the therian community aside from quadrobics, and I really want to change that because while our bodies might not always be what we want, it’s filled with infinite possibilities, and I really love that.

Sketch of movements based on my bird that I recreate from time to time, from right to left it’s a sequence of opening your wings (1 to 2), hiding you head on your back wing to preen at yourself (from 3 to 4), and then the beginning of flapping the birds and shaking oneself (last one, 5).

[irreverententity]

as isolating as it is being an alterhuman in adulthood I like that I get to be one of those adults that is proof to people it’s not always a phase and it’s okay to be yourself

[mwatcha]

here is some actual advice to young therians, coming from an adult therian who is also a parent:

- you do not NEED to come out as therian. if it is not safe for you to do so, or you feel uncomfortable, it is by no means necessary. however, if it safe and would make you happier, then please do!

- with this being said, being semi-stealth, at least in public or with strangers, is probably your best option. when you enter adulthood you will need to hold a job, maintain schooling and friendships. there is a time and place for gear (if you use it). you can show your alterhumanity through pins, stickers, and jewelry!

- DO NOT EVER give out your personal information online to try and find other therians irl. the world can be a very scary and dangerous place, and not everyone you meet, ESPECIALLY in places like discord or roblox, is sincere and they may have bad, predatory intentions toward you. i know being alone can feel awful, but your safety is much more important.

- with that being said, there is a high chance you aren't actually alone. go to the closest comic-con near you (with an adult if you're a young minor) next time it's around. you will 100% run into furries and therians and like-minded people and can make friends in a safe environment.

- please do your research on how to properly practice quadrobics. incorrect positioning can lead to life-long injuries like arthritis, pulled muscles, or even broken bones. keep yourself safe!

you are not a freak, a weirdo, gross, unloveable, or broken. most people will not understand you and that is okay, because ultimately, no one knows you better than yourself. ask yourself who you need approval from? will you die without it? likely not. BE YOURSELF and don't ever let anyone shame you for it! i have known i am a therian since i was 8 years old. i was bullied relentlessly throughout school. i didn't fully accept myself until i was 19 and met friends who were like me. i haven't publicly come out because it just makes more sense for me to stay semi-stealth. occasionally someone will comment on my therian pin in public. i have a life partner who loves me for me and would never ask me to change. my toddler and i play "dress up" and we wear tails and ears together.

you are an animal and you deserve, and will achieve, a life full of love, support, and safety. love you. 🐾

[who-is-page]

Getting Older

There's been some here-and-there focus on younger folks in the community; the ever-present majority of teens that naturally dominate social media spaces, the rise of quadrobics and masks in the last couple years, various complaints on "puppyposting" or other short-form tag cram. But I don't think I see enough discussion on the act of getting older in the community, of changing in ways outside of your control and having to reinvent your relationship between your human and animal aspects.

I can't run--or even walk--the way I used to. The boundless energy that came so easy to me ten years ago is nowhere to be found. My phantoms are a grounding constant that balances out a human body ever in pain. It's hard to sit. It's hard to stand. It's hard to be. It's the blessing of a longer life and slower death than my animal existence would have ever afforded me, but the agony of recognizing the train coming your way regardless of how quickly it moves.

In some ways it was easier to handle being an animal trapped in a human body when I was younger. While before I developed strategies to handle the overwhelming instincts, now my thoughts are all left too loud in a body more unfit to contain them than ever before. The outlets I had weren't eternal and wouldn't last forever, even if it was something I'd never really thought about at the time. I feel like I clawed my way out of a deep hole and felt the sun on my fur, only to get pushed right back in. And now I'm stuck back at the bottom. Looking back at where I was.

It's not an impossible sisyphean task to adjust to, even if it feels like it right now. But I think it was an inevitability that I'd just never heard people discuss when I was a younger alterhuman, especially given the older community's focus on permanence of kintypes and experiences, and the greymuzzles who always packed up and left after so many years. Change is inescapable. Even in a wholly static identity, your relationship with it must be flexible. You need to be gentle, forgiving, and understanding with yourself. The things you build around your identity may not be permanent fixtures; the ways you survive in this human world may not always be accessible to you. The parks you run in may be paved over. The legs you bound with may give out. The stories and spaces you cling to may disappear. You won't die when it happens, but it will happen regardless.

The flow of time and the way it alters us and the world around us is just a fact of life. It gives us new challenges to overcome and problems to solve. There's beauty in growing older and getting to even have the experience of needing to re-write your basics from the ground-up, all over again: new things to explore and consider, new angles to circle, new pumpkins full of meat to chew on. There's always hope and joy on the horizon so long as we're not letting ourselves get locked into the past and we keep reaching out to others. Embrace the here and now, but don't expect it to last forever. The ephemerality is what makes it fun.

Be nice to yourselves and enjoy the ride, wherever it takes you.

[milesmeles]

Happy new year, everycritter :)

[milesmeles]

Be mindful!!

Labels don't mean everything

You don't have to prove your nonhumanity

Blocking/getting blocked is not the end of the world

You do not have to use special flags

Not everyone is a canine

Theriotypes can change or go away

Try not to let therianthropy impede on your health

Be understanding of new(ly awakened) therians

You do not need to "come out" to people irl unless you know that they are willing to understand

Unanswered DMs, asks, and comments (etc.) do not have a time limit

[milesmeles]

Freshman year, I wrote an essay about therianthropy for a class. I told a friend about it when the subject randomly came up, and she said, "Yeah I bet you're one of them, too." As kind of a jab at me.

Little does she know...

[milesmeles]

Feeling depressed so I drew myself again.

[milesmeles]

Just curious

Are you GENERALLY happy that you are non/alterhuman/a therian/otherkin/etc ?

Yes

No

Nuance button (comment/reblog w explanation)

Voting ended onDec 13, 2025

[milesmeles]

Xenofictional/animal POV Stageworks

Here's an incomplete list of some plays, musicals, and operas that focus on animals POVs!

Cats (1981)

A musical adapted from poems by T.S. Eliot. Music composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. There's not much to say about this one, it's pretty well known. It's about cats, but moreso about cats competing to be the "Jellicle choice," the cat who is worthy of going to the Heaviside Layer and being reborn. The cats have a unique culture but also posess human qualities. Some of them are feral, others are domestic, and some of them even have human-like jobs. Also one of them is Mick Jagger.

Revolt of the Beavers (1937)

A play written by Oscar Saul and Louis Lantz. Another quite human-like work, but still encompasses (albiet anthropomorphized) beavers. The main character named Oakleaf is tired of the way that dam builders are being treated, so he strikes and unionizes against the chief beaver. It's a simple play, as it was written for children to watch, but still explores topics such as workers rights, unions, and even marxism. The play is hard to find a script for reading, but it seems like it can be found in Federal Art Project anthologies.

The Cunning Little Vixen (1924)

An opera by Leoš Janáček, originally in Czech, but there are English (and German) translations. While this does have a human main character in it, hear me out! The story follows the other main character, the titular vixen named Sharp-Ears, and her entire life from kit to mother, and her impact on a human forester. She directly leads him to realize the interconnectedness of everything, how the cycles of life and nature never ceases, no matter what humans do. Not to headcanon, but I think the forester would be a therian. There are all sorts of other animal characters, a dachshund, chickens, a woodpecker, a badger (heehee), et cetera. Even some bug characters!

The Moon River Raft (2023)

A play by Tara Meddaugh. A wild rabbit gets wounded and knows she won't be able to live much longer, so seeking an easy way out, she persuades a friend to accompany her on the moon river raft, which is supposed to take them to a place where all "woundeds" are safe and everything is perfect. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I think it's quite interesting.

The Squirrels (2021)

A play by Robert Askins. Super short, very funny. As you can imagine, the characters are squirrels, gray and fox. The gray squirrels have more privilage than the fox squirrels, and it's sort of about systematic racism but mostly about squirrels. Pretty heartwarming at times, and no, it's not just humans dressed as squirrels for the sake of it... They have squirrel mannerisms live squirrel lives and such... Though some of it is kind of corny, but all around good fun.

[milesmeles]

I keep my claws long (because duh, I'm a badger), and every time a person sees them, they always point them out.

"They're so long!"

"They're so healthy!"

"Are you going to cut them?"

It makes me blush sometimes. Yes, they're my nature-given claws! When I have to cut one, it feels so wrong. When I'm without a nail, I can't do the things I can normally do with ease. It feels like walking with one shoe on.

I love my claws, and no, I won't cut them to conform. I already sacrifice enough.

[taxideermied]

This probably deserves a proper long form essay but I think everyone would have a much easier time of it if we all started seeing nonhumanity (and, I think alterhumanity broadly, though this is less my area) not as some sort of specifically defined hard-edged identity capable of categorization as a platonic ideal and more of just….a mode of meaning making for clusters of experiences and thought processes. Like we get close when we describe feelings of nonhumanity as byproducts of disability, neurodivergence and etc but we should commit. I’m not a therian because “therian” is a neat box that exists metaphysically I can be put into, but because it communicates the way I have made sense of my existence and the way I interact with the world.