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Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live as a pet or wild animal? Well, some people have taken the idea to extremes and done just that!
These critter-loving folk are sometimes called “therians” – people who identify as non-human animals – or “otherkins”, those who see themselves as mythical creatures.
Here, James Moore looks at some of the most unusual cases of people who have truly got in touch with their animal instincts…
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Wolf
Howl’s this for a change in lifestyle? A Japanese man recently spent more than £18,000 on a realistic wolf costume so he could live out his lupine fantasies.
The grey, furry outfit was produced by a specialist company called Zeppet and is incredibly life-like. The delighted owner, far right, was happy to be snapped in it – though not named.
Of his passion to live as a wolf, he says: “I dreamed of being one someday. At the final fitting, I was amazed at my transformed self in the mirror. It was a moment when my dream came true.”
He’s not the only one. Naia Okami, from Seattle in the US, believes she is “spiritually and psychologically” a British Columbia wolf.
The 28-year-old was inspired by a dream in which she was a wolf. She often howls, spends time dressed with a tail and ears, and also volunteers at a wolf reserve so she can study and bond with the animals.
She says: “When I’m in private or if I’m with friends, I will wolf out in the woods.”
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Dog
It really is a dog’s life for Toco, below, a Japanese man who spent £12,480 on a costume so he could transform into his favourite breed – a collie.
He always dreamed of “becoming an animal” and now spends much of his time living as a pooch even learning to eat, play and train as a mutt, showing off his skills on his own YouTube channel.
Toco enjoys belly rubs, walking on a lead and munching fake dog food.
But he sometimes conceals his canine identity, admitting: “I rarely tell my friends because I’m afraid they will think I am weird.”
Meanwhile, Tom Peters, an engineer from Hertfordshire, has a Dalmatian alter ego called Spot.
He wears a £5,000 latex outfit in his leisure time and likes chewing dog toys, playing fetch and even eating dog food.
Tom says his partner understands his desire to be a pooch and calls it an “escape from life”.
Cat
Kitten-loving Kat Lyons reckons dressing up as a moggy and drinking from a bowl leaves her feline fine. The model, far left, has been into cat role-play since she was a teen and says it allows her to be her “true self”.
Kat, from Colorado in the US, often wears cat ears, a tail and a collar.
She says: “I have always been different. I just always had a fascination with cats and I felt myself, I’m a cat. I go through life being a cat – it’s just who I am.”
Her partner Rob adds: “‘Everyone has something different that they do. I see it as another outlet for a person to enjoy, relax, be themselves and be creative.”
A Norwegian woman, Nano from Oslo, realised she was “really a cat” aged 16, and claims to have a superior sense of smell, an ability to see in the dark, and hisses at dogs. She even speaks to her boyfriend in a “cat language” of meows.
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Reptile
Former banker Tiamat Legion Medusa went to extreme lengths to look like a dragon – even getting their ears removed!
“Legion the Dragon” has spent thousands of pounds to get a forked tongue, forehead “horn” implants as well as scaly skin tattoos to fulfil an ambition to transform into a mythical reptilian beast.
Born as Richard Hernandez in Arizona, US, the now non-binary Legion’s journey was sparked by a dream about snakes and they say: “I believe that I am a real and true life reptoid, a half-human/half-reptilian creature.”
Daring Dennis Avner underwent a series of plastic surgery operations in his bid to transform into a big cat.
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Tiger
The ex-US Navy veteran and computer programmer was descended from Native Americans and apparently began his feline journey after a chief told him to “follow the ways of the tiger”.
Over the years he began to morph into the animal with the help of procedures which included the splitting of his upper lip, getting pointy ears, cheek and forehead implants, tooth sharpening and tiger-style tattoos.
Calling himself “Stalking Cat” he also got piercings to which he could attach whiskers and grew his fingernails to look like claws. Avner, from Nevada, US, enjoyed eating raw meat and climbing trees, saying: “Being a tiger is more important to me than humanity.”
He died, aged 54, in 2012.
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Goat
Brave Brit Thomas Thwaites decided to try living as an animal after becoming stressed with daily life, saying: “I wanted to take a holiday from being human.”
The 34-year-old even got arts funding to try it out and chose to be a goat as he and the creature share a love of climbing.
He designed prosthetic limbs that allowed him to walk on all fours and even grazed with goats on a farm in the Alps –sleeping in a shed with them at night.
Thomas, dubbed GoatMan, admits it was hard to keep going on a diet of grass and he had to top up with Mars bars.
He soon went back to human life but described his stint as a goat as being a “special kind of time”.
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