The prefix “trans-” surrounds the “animal” with a pluralizing effect: tranimal. This portmanteau word describes those who traverse species, bodies and other taxonomic categories. Tranimal are difficult to capture--with their flesh in flux, their agency grows and diminishes as their roles shift between companion, model, and revolutionary. Although tranimal sneak between and across physical and intellectual categories, they are occasionally trapped within discursive and physical sites akin to menageries, written historically as “laboratories of life” and symbols of empire and conquest (Veltre 26). Tranimal work--they labour to donate cells, carry and express genetic modifications. As service animals and as routinely sacrificed laboratory animals, they develop visible and invisible physical and affective bonds with other animals, human and non-human. Kelley 98
