Therians

The Theta-Delta is used by many as the symbol for therianthropy.

Therians (also known as therianthropes or animal people) are individuals who identify as an animal that is known to exist (or to have existed) on Earth. Sometimes, more 'feral' creatures that are not known to exist are included as well, such as dragons, griffons, and sea serpents. The exact definition of therianthropy varies significantly, a condition increased by the fact that the explanation for therianthropy varies wildly depending on who is being talked to (common explanations include reincarnation, conditioning, atypical neurology, and atypical psychology).

Origins

The term, therians, is derived from therianthropy, which is the over all name for the therian experience. Therianthropy comes the Greek words therion, meaning "wild animal" or "beast", and anthropos, meaning "human being".The modern use for therianthropy first arose in 1994 on the alt.horror.werewolves Usenet discussion group as a label for general animal-people, since some felt that lycanthropy was too specific.

History

The history of therianthropy in its current form is a fairly short one, reaching back to around the Usenet era of the Internet. Nonetheless, tropes and ideas integral to therianthropy have been present since very early in human history, and animal-human hybrids can be found in many cultures, most notably the Ancient Egyptians.