Skip to main content

pokemon - Are Pokémon animals?


Let's get technical here. Have you ever seen Pikachu excrete? What about Charizard? Or Greninja? No! Well, I don't think anyone has. Is that a sign of them not being actual animals? Let's recall the seven vital characteristics for life: Mrs. Gren.




  • Movement

  • Respiratory

  • Sensitivity

  • Growth

  • Reproduction

  • Excretion

  • Nutrition


We've seen Pikachu move (obviously), breathe, touch, and eat.



Does Pikachu grow? Does he excrete?


I am missing one thing out here: reproduction. But we all know Pokémon reproduce, if not by normal means.


Throughout the series, we haven't seen Pikachu grow at all, or other Pokémon. Does evolving count?


We've never seen a Pokémon excrete.


Therefore, can we say they are animals?


Let me make it clear that this is only out of interest, and I have not gone basukas!



Answer



This question has been the topic for great discussion; in providing research for my answer, I even found a fair few discussion posts on Reddit, though I can not seem to find them, now.; however there is evidence of regular animals existing in the Pokémon universe, where the lack there of appears to be the most popular argument for Pokémon being animals.


At the end of the day, Pokémon are monsters; after all, Pokémon is a portmanteau of "pocket" and "monster". Some of them are based off animals, and thus act like and can fill the roles of particular animals; others are based off plants, or even inanimate objects. Whether they are actually considered animals is an entirely different story, and there is not enough conclusive evidence.





This question appears to correlate the MRS GREN acronymn with being an animal. In actual fact, the MRS GREN acronymn does not specifically identify an animal; it identifies a living organism. We can say without doubt that they are living organisms. Let's take a closer look at the MRS GREN definition of a living organism.


Movement


Pokémon definitely move. They would not be the source of entertainment they are if they just sat there all day. Some move more than others, while some barely move at all, but there is always some degree of movement capabilities.


A group of Pokémon run towards the camera.


Respiratory


We do not really see much in the way of breathing, but every now and again, we see a Pokémon that is short of breath (often being out of breath after some overly physical action such as running or taking a severe beating). You do not get short of breath if you do not need to breathe in the first place.


A Bulbasur breathes.


Sensitivity


We often see examples of physical sensitivity in Pokémon, usually after taking a big hit or being defeated in battle. We also know that they have a physical endurance level (i.e. they "take damage"), because they can be defeated in battle, and often have to be healed.


A Pikachu lies defeated after battle. Note the clear expression of pain.



Growth


Pokémon grow in two ways. They grow in size, and when they reach certain conditions, they evolve and grow into new Pokémon. We often only clearly see the size difference when the Pokémon evolves; however, in some of the games (notably Pokémon Go), you can catch the same Pokémon in a variety of heights and weights.


Eevee and its evolution Jolteon in Pokémon Go. Note the height and weight; note that they are marked as


Reproduction


We know that Pokémon reproduce, because they lay and hatch from eggs. In fact, Pokémon breeding is a commonly employed mechanic used to catch Pokémon of particular rarities and strengths.


A Wynaut hatching from an egg.


Excrement


OK, so we do not see Pokémon poop. There is a good reason for that; it is a video game and TV series primarily targeted at children. It is one of those things that just go without saying. We do, however, see references to Pokémon excrementing waste, primarily through Pokédex readings:



Darumaka's droppings are hot, so people used to put them in their clothes to keep themselves warm.

- Daramuaka's Pokédex reading in Pokémon X and Pokémon OmegaRuby


A dangerous Ultra Beast, it appears to be eating constantly, but for some reason its droppings have never been found.
- Guzzlord's Pokédex reading in Pokémon Moon



The latter has been used to say that Guzzlord does not excrete; but on the contrary, this goes to show that Pokémon in general do. After all, if they did not, it would not be any mystery why one particular Pokémon's droppings have not been found.


Nutrition


We see Pokémon eat all the time. Ensuring your Pokémon has a nutritious diet is also often an employed mechanic in-game.


Pikachu and Togepi, eating.




In summary, in contrast with part of the question, Pokémon can be considered living organisms; however, there is only discussion and debate about whether or not they are actually considered animals.



After all, Pokémon are fictional organisms. The closest real organisms we have are predominantly animals. If they existed in the real world, they could quite possibly be classed as a completely seperate organism due to the clear distinction of both ability and comprehension. Since that is not the case, we can't really try to classify them with non-fictional constraints.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l

the lord of the rings - Why is Gimli allowed to travel to Valinor?

Gimli was allowed to go to Valinor despite not being a ring bearer. Is this explained in detail or just with the one line "for his love for Galadriel"? Answer There's not much detail about this aside from what's said in Appendix A to Return of the King: We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. And Appendix B: Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf . And when that sh

fan fiction - Does the Interdict of Merlin appear in original Harry Potter canon?

In Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky a concept called the ' Interdict of Merlin ' appears: (all emphasis added) Chapter 23: His hand on the doorknob, Harry Potter already inside and waiting, wearing his cowled cloak. "The ancient first-year spells," Harry Potter said. "What did you find?" "They're no more powerful than the spells we use now." Harry Potter's fist struck a desk, hard. "Damn it. All right. My own experiment was a failure, Draco. There's something called the Interdict of Merlin -" Draco hit himself on the forehead, realizing. "- which stops anyone from getting knowledge of powerful spells out of books, even if you find and read a powerful wizard's notes they won't make sense to you, it has to go from one living mind to another. I couldn't find any powerful spells that we had the instructions for but couldn't cast. But if you can't get them out of old books,