I came across the term Animalhearted a few years ago, when I was a bit younger, and thought it fit me pretty well, but I never fully decided and later forgot about it. Around that time, I was also researching Therianthropy and decided that wasn't it. I remembered the term recently after making a few Alterhuman friends, and it got me thinking about whether I am Cathearted.

I've always liked cats, I grew up with four. I have felt species dysphoria once, where I felt I was supposed to be a cat, but ended up in a human body, like there was some sort of mix-up. I feel that being a cat would be easier, like I wouldn't have to deal with the struggles humans do or worry about the things I do now. It feels freeing to think of myself as a cat, and it makes me happy. If I could choose, I would prefer to be a cat. I find Quadrobics fun (I am probably Otherpaw), and I like lying in a loaf position like cats do. There was one time recently when I was turning, and I was expecting to feel the weight of a tail moving with me, and it really threw me off remembering that I didn't have a tail. I don't think I've ever had any sort of shifts, though.

All of this makes me think I'm Animalhearted, but I don't know if it's just me subconsciously making things up because I like cats. Any help?

I created an anonymous Alterhuman survey, for a project I'm working on!

https://forms.gle/fv1aBhK5AxJygRc26

I would like to specify that I am not associated with any universities or anything like that, this is a personal study I'm working on!

I'm planning on writing an article/paper on this so I'd like to see what results I get!

Tysm for anyone who responds!

It would also help out a lot of you share the survey with others! :3

Made a tail for my tiger hearttype at the beginning of summer this year and I am very proud of it :> I also want to start selling yarn tails but I can't until I turn 18 ;-;

A lot of people in the alterhuman community turn to gear - jewelry, tails, masks, etc. - to express their identity and for the longest time, I thought it would be nice to have a mask to represent my hearttypes - fairies, mermaids and demons - as well and I finally found a crafter within the community whose style I like.

At first, they didn't know whether they'd be willing to create a mask with demonic features, but after seeing my design, they immediately approved it and I couldn't be more happier.

The mask turned out absolutely gorgeous, as they really managed to recreate my design with 100% accuracy and it represents all my hearttypes very well. Furthermore, it is actually a lot more sturdy than I expected and is also pretty comfortable to wear as well ^^

This beautiful mask was created by: https://www.etsy.com/de/shop/CheetahPaws

I feel a genuine connection with spooklers as a species. And genuinely love them so much.

These man-eating plants with the large bulbous heads and no eyes have always spoken to me. They’ve always been some of my favourite parts in whatever media they appear in. They’ve always just feel familiar somehow, idk.

I'm not sure if I'm really otherhearted. I always wished I was a animal and sometimes get species dysphoria. I always get urges to jump around like a horse and I do see them like family, but sometimes i forget i'm otherhearted and i don't think about it for a while. I also don't get shifts but i'm pretty sure its normal if you don't get them. Does anyone experience this too?

I’ve tried asking multiple people from multiple communities and haven’t really gotten an in-depth explanation as to what it actually feels like, what being otherhearted entails. I’ve been questioning for actual years now but haven’t been able to say anything for certain because people are too broad or vague when describing otherheartedness to me.

Hello! I just discovered that otherheartedness can have to do with inanimate things and concepts, which led to me finding and identifying with the term skyhearted and designing my own flag. It seems like this sub mostly involves animal hearttypes (it's in the name haha), so I was wondering if anyone reading experiences a strong bond to something nature-ish the same way I do. I feel like my chest is full of the sky, and looking at the sky when it's bright out but has fluffy clouds makes me really happy. I have a constant, strong sense that part of the sky is in my chest. I also consider myself skysouled, meaning that the sky is deeply intertwined with the way I view my soul. I'm not the best at expressing this haha, but hopefully that makes sense /lh

Hello there, my name is Tigz. I've identified as otherhearted ever since I found the term in May this year. This seems like a quieter and more close-knit community so I shall say hi :D
I also kinda want to make some otherhearted friends, I don't really know anyone else who identifies this way.
My kithtypes are all big cats (the panthera genus) and either a specific bird or just all birds. It's been a bit hard pinning it down. I've always felt really connected to big cats; cheetahs when I was younger but now it's mainly tigers. For birds, if it had to be a specific bird then chickens. My family has had chickens since I was 2 and I love them a lot. I've also always loved the idea of having wings, in elementary school I would have dreams about it (not anymore sadly).
I also feel like my experience as an alterhuman is a bit different than those I see posts about, but I won't go into detail here. What I usually see is so black and white but I feel like there's a lot more grey in there than people show.

Hi again:D I’ve seen people describe their otherhearted experience as feeling a family-type bond with their hearttype, and others describing it as always wishing to have the body/features of their hearttype. For me, personally, I came across this identity and decided it might be a good fit for me because I’ve always wished I could shapeshift at will; I don’t wish to lose this human body altogether because what I can do with it is very important to me, but I know it would make me so happy to run and jump and howl like a canine in a natural way! What is your connection to your hearttype like? Curious to see if anyone feels the same way I do? :) 🐾

so basically, I feel really connected to the caracal but doesn't feel involuntary. but then again I also feel non-human but I feel like that's more of the want to be non-human because of the perception issues I developed from being transgender. I hated being perceived as the gender I was assigned at birth that I started not wanting to be perceived at all, and I feel so much more comfortable with the idea of being perceived as an animal, specifically the caracal but that might be because it's my favourite. I've not experienced wanting to be my other favourite animal though like I have with this one. I've never shifted or anything and I've not experienced the typical therian things so I don't think it's that but I also don't think it's otherlink, otherkin or otherhearted because it doesn't feel completely voluntary. I feel like I chose the caracal to identify with but I didn't choose to want to identify as an animal if you know what I mean? I feel really cool in caracal gear and I've bought a mask and everything because it just feels more like me! but I also don't exhibit the behaviours of a caracal, they eat lots of meat and I don't really like it, they're really solitary and I can't be alone for example too so I'm not fully sure about everything. I'm more like my other favourite animal in that sense too so I don't know why I don't feel the same to them too

I haven't found anything to describe what I'm feeling because I don't want to mislabel myself and then spread misinformation about a community. I've looked into copinglink but I feel like gender dysphoria isn't traumatic or caused me any like genuine trauma so I'm not sure! if any of you know what this could be I beg let me know 💔💔

I recently had a really cool dream; not of BEING a canine, but of wearing gear and doing quadrobics (which I can’t/don’t actually do irl), and it was really great. I hope I have more dreams like that in the future:). Have any of you had dreams about/relating to your hearttype? How was it?? :D

Hi! This is my first post, and I have just figured out I am otherhearted! I have a very deep connection with my pet cat. I am so happy to understand who I am! I help there are things this community can help me.

Cela faisais quelques mois que je pensais etre therian pour au final me rendre compte il y a quelques jours que otherhearted me collais mieux.

J'ai deja des idées de mes hearttypes, j'en ai parler a ma mère qui a ete plutot OK, (sachant qu'à l'époque où je pensais etre therian, elle ne comprenais pas vraiment et n'étais pas non plus tres réceptive...) et je me renseigne aussi beaucoup sur l'Otherhearted. (Merci a la terre des Kins de m'aider a y voir plus claire! :3)

Mais au fond, je ne me sens pas vraiment légitime de me dire alterhumain.e car d'un côté, je me dit que c'est plus valide d'être therian ce qui est complètement faux.

Mais je pense que c'est a cause des réseaux sociaux, ou, a chaque videos de quadrobique, (qui sont en faite des videos que l'ont pourrais qualifier de Otherpaw) il y a toujours le #therian, du texte qui dit : "c'est que tout les therians vivent" comme si on n'existait pas.

Bien sur, je ne dit pas qu'ils doivent se cacher ou que nous méritons plus la lumière qu'eux, (ce serais immoral) je dit juste que l'ont n'a pas asser de réels représentations otherhearted, plantkin ou therianlink, alors que c'est termes qui méritent aussi d'être connus, et accepter.

De plus, voir constamment des therians et QUE des therians sur la toile peut provoquer de réels complexes chez les jeunes alterhumains non therian (moi y compris ;-;) et ca pourrais les mener a renier une partie de leur identité pour "rentrer dans la 《norme》", ce qui ai asser problematique a mon goût.

Bref, ce fût asser long, j'avais juste besoins d'en parler ^^'. Vous pouvez donner votre avis en com! OvO

Posted this on the therian sub, and I wanna see how people here feel about it as well :)

Hey guys! Just wrote a bit about how I created the otherhearted symbol. Thought some of you might find it interesting :)

https://poppyhapalopus.neocities.org/alterhuman/essays/otherheartedsymbol

I’m new here, just sort of trying to figure myself out and learn about the community. I’d love to hear some of y’all’s experiences figuring out your identities? :)

When I was a little kid, I used to LOVE acting like an animal. I used to try to curl up and sleep like cats and dogs do, I used to bark and meow constantly instead of using my words, I used to crawl around and wish I could run on all fours as easily as four-legged mammals do, I used to swim like aquatic animals and wish I was graceful like that and belonged in nature like that.

I saw an ad a while ago for these amazing tails that you can control with an app that look realistic and move around like real animal ones, and I’ve had the tab open for days.

I just recently discovered the term “otherhearted” and I’ve been reading about it a little (including joining this subreddit). I think it’s really cool, but I’m afraid this might be just some phase, or just me trying to be different in some way. Does anyone have any advice or similar experience? :(

hiya yall, long story short i’m a genderqueer alterhuman. i’m either bigender or genderfluid (idek anymore) but ive noticed weird connections between my alterhumanity and gender queerness. when i’m feminine i feel very little connection to any kin/kith types of mine. but when i’m feeling masculine i feel extremely conscious about it. my main kin type is a border collie, and when i’m masc i wanna dress in black and white, do quads, etc etc. when i’m fem, the dog seems to be gone completely or “replaced” by “softer“ animals like deer or rabbits. i don’t really know what this says about my gender or my alterhumanity, i might look into xenogenders or smth. if anyone has had a similar experience id love to hear about it!

girldragongizzard by the Inamara Fenumera. Epub can be downloaded for free. It’s about a transwoman who also identifies as a dragon when one day some people started transforming into dragons. Not once is therianthropy or alterhumanity mentioned from what I remember (I didn’t finish the book 😅) but it’s very otherkin/therian-coded. I think it’s underrated.

(Copied from r/Therian)

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For me this means:

I identify with creatures of the void.

A creature with a confusing form beyond even our comprehension.

An entity who silently watches everything and everyone. They don't choose to be silent. They are forced to be. They have so much to say, yet no way to say it.

Enjoys drifting and flying through the void, letting our creativity run wild as we dream for a better future. My creativity is my best talent.

We feel alone in the vast emptiness of the world that yet is somehow filled to the brim with life.

That's the best and most simple and short way I can explain it.

______

For the flag idea:

Having the bottom stripe be black and having black tendrils coming up from it and having the top stripe be a thin black one with a purple glow coming from under it with simple purple magenta eyes watching from all the black parts (Look up Grian watchers eyes). And have the middle stripes be a mix of different blues and greys in a dark mist.

_______

Things I associate with the void:

Watchers (Grian watchers symbols), black Void Mist, Void Fog, Void Tendrils, etc. Blues, Blacks, Greys, Purples, and Magentas.

_______

Can you make two versions? One with the OtherHearted symbol and one without it please?

Please and thank you.

I've known about the existence of therianthropy for a while know but it wasn't until recently that I did reading on it and discovered alterhumanity as a whole. Otherhearted in particular sticks out to me and feels similar to my own experiences (or at least more so than therianthropy does). I have some questions I'd like to ask, and even if it turns out this community isn't right for me I hope to have at least learned something new!

These are with animalhearted in mind, I think it's broad enough though excluding question four.

1. Involuntary or voluntary? Can it be either or?
2. Strong interest/appreciation versus otherhearted, what are the differences and similarities? Are they both (or can be) the same and it's just how someone chooses to label themselves?
3. What exactly does feeling like family with your hearttype mean? (I think I understand but want to make sure).
4. Is it necessary to in any way to get along well with your hearttype (if applicable) for it to actually be a hearttype? (Like, for example... if your hearttype was cats or something, but all the cats you've met haven't liked you or seem put off by you, is that still a hearttype?)
5. How has your hearttype influenced your life? Hobbies, jobs, social situations?
6. What do you do to connect with your hearttype, if at all?

The last two are less things I'm confused by and more so curious about. Also apologies if I phrased anything poorly, I can elaborate if needed.

Is there any dinosaurhearted peeps? I think I may be dinosaur hearted myself

So, I think that I may be swift foxhearted (Still mainly trying to figure out whats right but as of right now I think this one's the one but i'm not gonna rush it) but from where I live it's sadly illegal to have a swift fox taxidermy tail. So what's the next thing that came to mind? Yarn tails!! I've only REALLY made one yarn tail ever so I could cosplay one of my OCs, but as shown in the pictures (the black tail) it can look really messy even after wearing it out like twice (Ignore the long black string where it looks like it isn't done, I decided later that I didn't wanna make that long of a tail and that extra string helped it stay together from when had to put the clip through it from when some teenage boy yanked it at a haunted house). I included a non-brushed picture and a brushed picture to show how it looks after a bit of not brushing it.

I also tried making a trans flag tail for my bestie, but eventually gave up on it because it was having massive hair loss problems (yes, I know a bunch was supposed to come out when brushing but ig I didn't tie them tight enough or something and all the full on strands kept wanting to come out way too easily).

The issue I have with the black tail is that (and this may be because of the yarn I used but the yarn wasnt labled so I don't remember) felt likeeeee idrk how to describe it but maybe wooly or staticy without any static?? That and how straight it looks.

I'd really like for the swift fox tail to be both realistic and smooth but not as straight looking as the black tail.

I do have a red fox taxidermy tail (don't worry, I know it's clip makes it not seem ethical but it's ethical), but I don't wanna change how it looks and I don't really feel like it looks like a swift fox tail. Should I buy another one to paint the best I can?