< Species-Coded for Your Convenience

Species-Coded for Your Convenience/Analysis

Species Gender Coding

There is a tendency, especially in animated works involving animal characters on the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism from Nearly-Normal Animal to Petting Zoo Person, to cast characters of some species as more commonly male and characters of some species as more commonly female.

Usualy the more "useless," ugly, masculine-looking, or androgynous-looking animals (like rhinos, pigs, gorillas, dogs, and walruses) are more commonly male, while the more beautiful, graceful, or feminine-looking ones (like cats, ladybugs, giraffes, gazelles, and ironically peacocks) are more commonly female. If butterflies are shown as adult butterflies they're all female, but when an "ugly" catepillar is shown it'll be male, and one of the few male butterflies.

Apex hunters such as wolves, bears, and lions tend to be portrayed as male (while unfortunately also being portrayed as "evil" in an anthropomorphic society). Generally, villains, especially in youth-oriented works, are more likely to be male, especially when non-human. However, more mature and realistic works know that in many cases, it is the female who tends to be more dangerous. As an exception to the "predator" category, big cats other than lions (tigers, pumas, etc) are equally likely to be female, reflecting their grace and agility.

In animals which engage in complex courtship rituals, such as most birds, the males tend to be larger and more vibrantly coloured. But because these are more "pretty", they tend to be portrayed as female.

The opposite is true with insects, where females tend to be bigger and stronger and more likely to have distinguishing marks while males are tiny and nondescript. Because of this insects like mosquitoes, mantises, ants and bees are usually portrayed as male. Spiders seem to come out all right, though. It's become common knowledge that the female attempts to eat the male during/after coitus, so spiders tend to be portrayed as vamps, especially the Black Widow, probably thanks to her very indicative name.

Anytime a large population of a given species is present, there will be a more realistic balance of males and females to accurately reflect the human population. Thus in films like A Bugs Life, Bee Movie, and Antz, males and females are seen together. It's still not realistically in the case with eusocial insects (like A Bugs Life, Bee Movie, and Antz), as the different genders tend to have widely different roles and appearances.

This trope can also be combined with Animal Motifs and Transformation Conventions. See also Animal Stereotypes, Female Feline, Male Mutt, and Gender Equals Breed.

Species Gender Bias

More Likely to be Male

  • Ants; despite being made up mostly of females in Real Life
  • Asian Elephants
  • Badgers
  • Bats
  • Bears
  • Beavers
  • Bees; despite the fact that eusocial ones are made up mostly of females in Real Life
  • Dogs; especially if around a cat; though poodles, Afghans, and Salukis are Almost Always Female.
  • Frogs
  • Humans (a few exceptions).
  • Lions
  • Mantises
  • Moles
  • Mongooses
  • Monkeys
  • Mosquitoes; despite the fact that in Real Life, only females suck blood
  • Otters
  • Pandas
  • Pigs
  • Raccoons
  • Rats
  • Rhinos
  • Tanuki (or Raccoon Dogs)
  • Tortoises
  • Turtles
  • Zebras


Usually Male

  • Boars
  • Chimps
  • Crabs
  • Crows
  • Donkeys
  • Gorillas
  • Lobsters
  • Mules
  • Ravens (even though "Raven" as a name is a female name)
  • Toads
  • Turkeys
  • Walruses
  • Wolverines


More Likely to be Female

  • Antelope
  • Butterflies; though caterpillars are more likely to be male
  • Cats (any cat save for lions, that is); especially if around a dog
  • Cattle
  • Gazelles
  • Geese
  • Giraffes
  • Hippos
  • Ladybugs (or ladybirds)
  • Ostriches (even with the male black and white plumage)
  • Peacocks (male peafowl; female peafowl are called peahens), ironically
  • Spiders
  • Swans


Either/Or (All Depends on the Writer)

  • African Elephants (slight male bias)
  • Cattle
  • Chickens
  • Foxes
  • Geese
  • Giraffes
  • Hippos
  • Humans
  • Kangaroos; though joeys are more likely to be male
  • Mice
  • Moths
  • Rabbits
  • Snakes
  • Squirrels
  • Tigers


Notable Examples, Subversions, Aversions, and Exceptions

Animated Film

  • Madagascar has Alex the male lion, Marty the male zebra, and Gloria the female hippo. However, Melman is a male giraffe.
  • Kung Fu Panda is a near-perfect example, with a male panda bear, a female tiger, female snake, male monkey, and male mantis.
  • A Bugs Life has ants of both genders (although, naturally, the protagonist is male), as well as a female spider, male caterpillar, male mantis, and female butterfly. However, it also has a subversion in the form of Francis the male ladybug, who is constantly being mistaken for a girl.
  • Tarzan subverts this trope with the two female gorillas Kala and Terk because gorillas are usually portrayed as male.


Western Animation

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