The social aspects and appeal of having a wolf theriotype

 

these are only my own thoughts and observations from a few years in the therian community, so don’t take my ramblings too seriously. I’m not accusing anyone of being fake, y’all are valid regardless of how common or uncommon your theriotype may be.

As the title states, one of my main thoughts is the social aspect of being a wolf therian. There are plenty of therian videos online, of pack members hanging out or individuals doing vocals and quads. It looks like fun, it makes you wish you had that sort of life and group. Being a wolf means you get to have a pack, you get to have a territory, you can do quadrobics and howl, though not everyone does these things. 

With wolf therians being so common, they are often the first thing you come across when learning about therianthropy. A new therian may see a wolf therian’s content and go “that feels familiar, it feels RIGHT, it feels like my experiences, it clicks. That must be what I am” and stop their questioning there without considering or questioning many other similar animals. After all, it’s easier to think about it briefly and confirm wolf than to spend months or even years documenting experiences and researching animals in an attempt to figure out your theriotype.

Being a wolf is so much easier than having a more obscure theriotype in a few ways, both because wolves are often seen as cool animals and because wolf therians are so common. It’s so much easier to find other wolf therians than trying to find another non mammal therian. Gear is incredibly easy to find. You can search “wolf tail/ears” and get dozens of results, multiple different online shops. Even things with wolf imagery on them are very easy to get due to the animal’s popularity. 

It is much more difficult to find good gear for obscure theriotypes without resorting to making it yourself. Bird gear is particularly tough to find because many people don’t seem to know or care what bird anatomy actually looks like. Where are you going to find things like a set of wings for a specific kind of bird, or something like a giraffe tail or wearable fish fins, as a random example.

It is easier to feel connected to your theriotype as a wolf. Meat is much easier to get than whatever obscure plants, bugs or various small creatures a different animal may eat. Wolves are more similar in body mass to humans than smaller animals, there is less of an issue with feeling like your body should be much smaller than it is. Aside from a snout and tail, body shape is much closer to a human’s than that of a bird or fish, you don’t feel as much like entire limbs are missing or like a part of your body is nowhere near what it should be like. I know bird posture can be uncomfortable to hold for more than a few minutes whereas being on all fours or sitting in a canine manner is much easier.

Vocals are less of a struggle to learn as well. Sounds like a bark, growl, realistic howl or simply going “awoo” are much more compatible with human vocal cords than the complex warbles, grunts and screeches that many other animals make.

TL;DR

People are quick to question wolves theoretically because they are common and often a person’s first experience with the therian community, “cool”, and a lot easier to find gear and others with the same theriotype. To many, being a wolf therian means you get to do all sorts of cool stuff like having packs and territories and howling. Having a common theriotype comes with benefits that aren’t as available to more obscure theriotypes.