How did you "discover" your other/animal?

[LoporiConteh]

Was it instant? Gradual? Do you remember a moment where you discovered the creature in question, whether through meeting or some other thing?

For me, it was one particular video played in one particular psychology lesson at college. During my first year of A level psychology (aged 16) we were being taught about Kanzi, the bonobo that uses the lexigram board to speak. And on the first lesson on it we were showed this TED talks video:

Well that was that. Boom. Fireworks. Fanfare. Well, not quite a fanfare. But I was compelled to research like mental and watch endless youtube videos of bonobos in the computer room. For a few weeks I was hooked. Didn't think about it too hard for a few months, though they had already embedded themselves in my brain, in their little nests. So, I watched another few videos similar about other apes, and then I was thrust back into the world the pans and pongos and gorillas, this time stuck fast. They fitted there just as well as the mermaids had done so many years before. They had become a bit of me. Hobbies don't do that, obsessive hobbies don't do that, but they did.
I admit, from the start I envied bonobos and also orangutans, not just because they are "nice" or what-have-you (they aren't quite what the media makes them out to be), but just everything. Physically even. I do find it honestly frustrating that I can't bend my legs in weird directions, or walk on all fours and on two legs whenever I felt like it etc etc.

Then I joined the furry fandom too, after lurking for years. Made a bonobo sona, that felt like something a little more than just a plain old fursona. Got talking to therians, otherhearts, etc, found out how much I related to them. And then I found the words to fully explain my brand of weirdness.

[jabberwocky]

All of mine have been pretty gradual. Crow has been with me for years and has always kind of been tucked in as a complimentary identity to my wolf therian-ness. Cat-hearted came about after FINALLY ruling it out as a theriotype after like 7 years. XD I just cameo-shift to cat a lot and have this weird almost-a-theriotype-but-not-quite thing going with it. Billy Kaplan was more of a conscious choice to identify as Billy-hearted, because Ive always said that if I were able to choose a kintype, I would choose Billy. I see so much of myself in him and I look up to him as a witch.

[Calico]

It was pretty gradual for me. I love creatures of all kind, always have. However, there was just something different when I thought of dragons. I loved gryphons, and phoenixes, and all of those other incredible mythical beasts. With dragons, though, it wasn't just a love. It was a connection so strong that, at times, I could hardly bare the fact that they aren't real and I'd never meet the beast I identify with so strongly. I did think that it was a kintype for a while, but alas, it made much more sense for me to identify as dragon-hearted.

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