Therian subculture

Therians, also known as therianthropes, are individuals who identify as one or more nonhuman animals, partially or entirely, on a personal level, which they call their theriotypes. Therians are often considered a subset of otherkin, and the enduring experience of identifying as a nonhuman animal is commonly referred to as therianthropy.

The modern Western therian community started in 1993 on an internet forum for werewolf fiction. In academic writing, the topic has usually been split between two views: the one of psychiatry, which has linked such cross-species beliefs to mental illness or delusions, and the one of anthropology, which treats them as spiritual phenomena or shamanistic belief systems; more recently, it has also begun to be explored in terms of narrative identity and as a phenomenon to be understood holistically on its own terms rather than fitted neatly into existing categories.