Talking animals in fiction

Talking animals are a common theme in mythology and folk tales, as well as children's literature. Fictional talking animals often are anthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities but appearing as a creature. The usage of talking animals enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the animal with human behavior, to apply metaphor, and to entertain children.

There are a number of alleged real-life talking creatures.

The storyteller may use talking creatures for various reasons. It could be intended for a younger audience (such as Richard Scarry's illustrated books), or as a metaphor to show the personality of certain men or groups (Art Spiegelman's Maus depicts Jews as mice, the Germans as cats and the Poles as pigs, among others). There may also be other reasons, such as for the sake of satire in Animal Farm, or artistic purposes. The usage of talking creatures enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the creature with human behavior: for example in the Three Little Pigs, the supposed creature rapacity of the wolf is shown through its repeated tricking of the three pigs. Other examples include Little Red Riding Hood and the Bremen Town Musicians. Fictional talking creatures may be roughly classified into the following categories, depending on the degree to which talk influences their behavior. Of course, many cases may be something in between; the classification below is only a frame of reference.

The creature retains its original form without much change, other than being able to speak. An example is the donkey of Balaam in the Bible's Book of Numbers. Sometimes it may only speak as a narration for the reader's convenience. The characters of the webcomic Faux Pas are another example of talking creatures. The rabbits in Watership Down who, except for the ability to discuss their actions, behave exactly as normal rabbits, also come under this category, as do the penguins from the animated film Happy Feet and the characters in the film The Lion King.

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