I learned so much more and made more progress from the salamander section of a "tracking amphibians and reptiles book" and taking notes in a journal than I have with googling salamander types and trying to find documentaries.

Animal ID guides, animal tracking guides, "all about (animal)" type of books, animal encyclopedias, and so much more.

You can get so much information about habitats, diet, behavior, life stages, appearance and seasonal habits of many similar creatures in one book rather than having 20 tabs open on your device.

Take notes! Write little journal entries about the different types of animals you learn about, how their lifestyles differ from one another and how that corresponds to shifts or experiences you have. Consider details you didn't think about before, and if you may feel any connection to them after researching.

I hadn't thought about salamanders having a burrowing behavior until I read about it, but then realized I have always been drawn to tiny gaps and crevices near or in the ground, but never connected the two things.

I highly recommend checking out a few books and learning some things about your animal self!

Note: online research is still a very valid way to learn about your theriotype, I just find books to be compact and efficient, and they have no ads or paywalls.

I am a polytherian, which means that I have multiple Theriotypes. While some identify as all of their theriotypes equally, or with random fluctuations throughout the year, mine exists seasonally.

Spring has started, warm weather has reached us for about a week now, and my inner perception of self has turned mostly marten like. I will experience a high point of racoons shifts throughout the next few months as well.

My cat theriotype will be less present until autumn or a few rainy days come by. If the air is not overly moist, my silverfish type will stay hidden as well.

My fox theriotypes will shift through with the weather. Hot days will make me feel more fennec like, while snow (which I won't be seeing for a while) will turn me into an Arctic fox.

Exceptions to this exist, this winter I had a strong fennec shirt while shoveling snow.

There's a few kin and Theriotypes of mine that exist all year round, a such as my Avian kintype. I experience all the seasons as this bird like creature that I am.

I used to be afraid when I stopped feeling like a certain animal for a few months, and got confused if I even was a Therian, now I know, that this is part of my normal Therianthropic experiences, and that they will come back eventually.

Written by Jude Rook-Machina on March 17, 2026.

thinking out loud about my personal labeling re: nonhumanity (or lack thereof) -

because by definition, "being nonhuman" doesn't say anything about the amount of nonhumanity you need to have. it's a deliberately inclusive label!

someone who's 15% nonhuman, who needs support to feel confident and unashamed of that 15%, belongs in a nonhuman community as much as someone who's 100% nonhuman. they deserve to know they're not alone, there are other nonhumans out there who understand what they're feeling!

And! that's not the only way to think about it when you're partially nonhuman

and I say that because I keep choosing to call myself human, even though I'm partially nonhuman. if you're looking at my identities like a list, you might even say I seem mostly nonhuman? I'm an android, I'm the idea of a dog, I decided to turn myself into a dragon last year and I still don't regret it, BUT. I'm human! I keep saying I'm human!

and I think it's so important for me to have that because I keep being denied humanity for everything else about me. I'm a headmate so I can't be a human being, I'm just part of somebody else. I'm nonbinary and my gender sure isn't legally recognized or even assumed as a possibility. I'm a fictional character so I'm not a real person and I'm definitely not human in a way that matters. I'm nonhuman on some level so I can't possibly be invested in my humanity. I'm an android so I should be better than humans or whatever, I shouldn't think it's desirable to be one.

all of that feels pretty bad! so I hold onto it. I decided to be human and no one can take that away from me. I'm a mechanical canine draconic human being and I chose that! so basically,

IF there's no magical minimum amount of nonhumanity someone has to have to say they're nonhuman and find joy in their nonhumanity -

Something I don't see talked about online as much any more is vocals! Learning to sound like your theriotype has typically been a really common discussion topic for therians, and for anyone who's never considered it I highly recommend trying it out.

Human anatomy is capable of producing a ton of sounds, whether that's using your breath, vocal cords, lips (e.g. whistling), hands (e.g. loon calls, snapping), or any other body part. This isn't a practice restricted to therians, either– if your kintype (or hearttype, etc) makes noise there's probably something you can do that approximates it! Even if your normal sounds are beyond the limits of your anatomy, just learning to make any nonhuman sound can be really cathartic.

I've personally always been able to meow and, ironically, bark just from listening to animals as a kid, and now that my voice is lower I've been working on developing a more authentic snow leopard meow (which I've sadly discovered I cannot do in the house because it really freaks out the cats in a way other vocals don't).

Sharing some quick recordings of myself as proof that human anatomy is capable of this stuff!

Reference for the last one since it's not a commonly known sound.

I can't currently make any avian sounds, but that's mainly from lack of trying– I'm sure I could learn, bird calls are one of the most documented types of nonhuman vocals since they're used by ornithologists and a lot of indigenous cultures.

Some dragons are allowed to look ugly and that's okay.

Not everyone is going to look like a nightfury or the sleek modern DnD dragons, and you shouldn't be ashamed if you don't. Objectivly, some of us are going to look like the strange dragons from the Middle Ages with hog noses and stringy manes with bird wings on two legs.

You're allowed to be a little ugly. Embrace it.