Natural Instincts and Traits

Although most of the characters are anthropomorphic, they still have some natural instincts or traits of their real animal counterparts.
== Main Characters ==
===Cuddles===
*His ears flop down when he is sad.
*In his smoochie, Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow, and A Bit of a Pickle, he seems to like carrots. Carrots are the usual stereotypical food of rabbits in cartoons, even though rabbits do not naturally eat carrots or other root vegetables or fruits.
*Rabbits are known for their energetic personalities. Cuddles is bold and adventurous, just like his real-life counterparts. 
*Cuddles sometimes shakes his ears when he is happy or excited, such as in his Smoochie. Real-life rabbits often shake their ears when excited. 
Cuddles donor.png|Cuddles with his ears down.
Carrot.png|Cuddles about to eat a carrot.
=== Giggles ===
* In Doggone It, Giggles climbs a tree to escape Whistle. Chipmunks are well known for climbing trees to escape danger.
===Toothy===
*In Can't Stop Coffin, Toothy uses his tail like a baseball bat (even though real beavers actually use their tails for building dams and warning their colonies of predators, not playing).
*In An Inconvenient Tooth, Toothy's teeth grow curly after tasting fertilizer like what happens to most rodents if they stop gnawing to help their teeth to stay the same length.
S3E2 Swings his tail.png|Toothy using his tail.
===Lumpy===
*In Snow What? That's What!, Lumpy lays on a hammock shirtless in the winter. As he does not shiver while doing so, Lumpy may have a thick layer of fur, which real moose have for protection against the cold. This could actually be proof of Lumpy embracing his immunity to the cold or simply cooling off. However, in Snow Place to Go, he is briefly seen shivering along with everyone else (likely because the Arctic is too cold even for him).
*Lumpy is shown to be a great and fast swimmer in Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark and You're Kraken Me Up. In real life, moose are amazing swimmers and can swim in very deep waters at 6 miles per hour.
*Lumpy is shown to have a big appetite as seen in episodes like A Hole Lotta Love, Keepin' it Reel, or A Change of Heart. His ability to eat a lot of food without getting full makes sense since a real moose has four separate sections in the stomach and can eat 50-60 pounds of food a day.
*In Out on a Limb, Lumpy was shown screaming with the axe's handle in his mouth when he starts trying to free himself, which is what real moose sound like (debatable, since it could have just been a muffled scream from the log in his mouth).
Lumpy_mooing.jpg|Lumpy mooing.
Snow13.png|When you've got a built-in winter coat, you gotta cool off somehow.
2ndTrails15.png|Lumpy proves to be capable of out-swimming all of his friends. 
===Petunia===
*In the episode Blind Date, she sprays at Disco Bear when he gets too close, just like real skunks do for defensive purposes. (Debatable, as it could have been pepper spray due to Disco Bear's eyes getting red.)
*In Camp Pokeneyeout, Petunia is seen holding grapes, which is something skunks eat in real life when they foliage for food.
S2E25 Disco Bear's Injury.png|Disco Bear sprayed by Petunia.
===Handy===
*Beavers are known for being practical and hard-working. This is when they are building dams.
*In Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark, despite his nubs, he is able to swim back to the island when Flaky's quills accidentally pops the raft. In real life, beavers are good at swimming.
2ndTrails15.png|Handy is excellent at swimming, despite his nubs.
===Nutty===
*Several times, he can be heard making squeaky "chittery" sounds, which sound very similar to a real squirrel's chitters (though this is debatable, as he makes a lot of strange sounds when he is on a sugar high).
*Being a squirrel, he is able to easily to climb trees in Take a Hike, even after stuffing himself with honey.
TAH HDD (7).png|Nutty in a tree.
===Sniffles===
*Probably the most well-known animal instinct seen on the show is that Sniffles tries to eat ants. He even uses his incredibly long tongue in order to do so, which real anteaters do as well.
*Like real anteaters, Sniffles has poor eyesight, but wears glasses to correct this problem.
*In Happy Trails Pt. 2, he was shown swimming when the raft pops. In real life, anteaters are great swimmers and even use their snouts as snorkels, which Sniffles also does in Party Animal.
S1E4 Longtongue.png|Sniffles on his lunch break.
Breathforair.png|Sniffles in snorkel mode.
===Pop===
*Real male bears in real life are not known to be good fathers, in the sense that they are dangerous for their offspring to be around, as killing cubs, their own or otherwise, is a common practice among male bears. Pop has displayed this behavior toward his son numerous times, as he unintentionally kills Cub on multiple occasions, even negligently killing him intentionally in Read 'em and Weep.
S3E1 Pop kills Cub.png|Pop killing Cub
S3E1 Shovel beating.png
===Cub===
*He tried to catch a fish in Every Litter Bit Hurts. (Debatable, he might not have wanted to eat it.)
Cubtriestocatchfish.png|Cub trying to catch fish.
===Flaky===
*She has the ability to climb trees (which is a real ability porcupines have) in Take a Hike.
*Her quills can also detach very easily, similar to real porcupine quills.
TAH2.png|Flaky can climb trees.
===The Mole===
*Like most moles, he lives underground in one episode. He also has a molehill house in Out of Sight, Out of Mime and A Sight for Sore Eyes.
*He is blind, the same way that most real moles are either blind, have poor eyesight or are prone to brightness.
S3E2 The blood apple.png|The Mole lives underground.
===Disco Bear===
*In Stayin' Alive Disco Bear can be heard making growling sounds. (Debatable, he probably was just making flirting sounds.)
*In Ipso Fatso he eats both meat and fruits, as bears are omnivores.
StayingAliveZ (2).png|Disco Bear growls.
IF60.png|Disco Bear eats fruits...
IF124.png|...and meat.
===Russell===
*He eats and enjoys seafood, which in reality fish and shellfish make up a large part of sea otter’s prey. 
*He can swim and hold his breath for an extensive amount of time as hinted in Off the Hook, Sea of Love, and Something Fishy (he needs to be supplied with oxygen in Sea What I Found, but this may have been because he needed to remain underwater for a very long time).
*As is shown in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, he cracks shells open with his chest, much like actual sea otters.
RussellUnderTheSea.jpg|Russell about to eat seafood.
Jarr.png|Russell cracks a shell open against his chest.
===Lifty and Shifty===
*Like many raccoons do, they rummage through garbage in As You Wish.
*Raccoons are known for being amazing climbers. Lifty can be seen climbing a tree briefly in Junk in the Trunk in the fast-forwarded part of the episode. Similarly, Lifty is also shown swiftly climbing a stack of boxes to escape through a window in Easy For You to Sleigh.
*Raccoons are well-known for being sneaky and opportunistic.
*Raccoons are excellent swimmers in real life. In Sea What I Found, both of them are shown to swim fairly fast when they are stealing the treasure box from Russell. Lifty is also capable of swimming after the submarine explodes unlike most others that will simply panic to death, though he could've saved himself from drowning if he swam to the surface instead. But in Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark, it is unsure why they are the ones to not catch up with the other characters during the attempt to swim away from the shark, ended up getting eaten due to their "inability".
*They sounded like real raccoons during their deaths in Autopsy Turvy (Double Whammy Part II).
STV1E5.2 Found the magic lamp.png|Lifty and Shifty in the trash dumpster.
Swimaway.png|Lifty and Shifty swimming to the submarine at a fast pace.
Swimtothesurface.png|Lifty could have saved his life in time if it wasn't for his kleptomaniac personality.
===Mime===
*Mime's trademark food is peanuts. In real life, nuts, particularly peanuts are commonly consumed by deer. 
*In A Hole Lotta Love, he didn't move out of the way when a car was heading towards him, which is common for deer.
PA30.png|Mime really likes peanuts.
HTF Moments - Mime run for his live (TV S01 E07.2) 6.png|Mime freezing when Petunia's car is approaching him.
===Flippy===
*He is shown to follow an omnivorous/carnivorous diet like real bears. He is shown consuming the remains of Cuddles, Mime, Shifty, and Lumpy.
*In Operation: Tiger Bomb, he makes growling and roaring sounds when attacking the Tiger General.
*Most real-life bears are usually rather gentle creatures (except to their prey), but are known to become extremely violent when provoked, traits which Flippy is famous for.
*In Easy For You to Sleigh, he is sleeping during the winter. Bears hibernate during the winter. (Debatable, as he might just have been taking a short nap, not sleeping through the whole winter.)
*He's shown swimming in Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark and By The Seat Of Your Pants. Bears in real life are good swimmers.
Flippyfry.png|Flippy eats fries with Cuddles' blood.
Flippy_had_the_best_birthday_ever.PNG|Flippy likes Mime's remains.
===Splendid===
*In Helping Helps, he is seen harvesting acorns.
*Like real flying squirrels Splendid can glide around and has wing-like skin membranes which help him stay airborne longer while gliding.
*In Gems the Breaks, he puffs up his cheeks 3 times the size of his face, just like real squirrels.
S1E3_Splendidhearsgiggles.png|Splendid with an acorn.
File:See what develops 1.PNG|Him gliding
===Lammy===
*When she talks, screams, or laughs, she bleats like a real sheep.
== Other Characters ==
===The Ants===
More so than other characters, they seem to be anthropomorphic crossed with non-anthropomorphic animals (though Sniffles probably would not try to eat them otherwise). Some examples are as follows.
*They are seen collecting fruit, crumbs, etc.
*They live in an anthill.
*They only let family members or certain ants enter their home.
*When their home or family is under threat from a predator, they fight back.
*They are in seen milking an aphid in Tongue in Cheek. Real ants have been known to "farm" creatures such as aphids as a mutual relationship.
Antcrumbs.jpg|One of the ants collecting bread crumbs.
Anthill.png|The anthill they call home.
===Buddhist Monkey===
*Many times he makes monkey sounds, most notably right before he begins a fight.
*Like monkeys in real life, he is very strong, flexible, and athletic.
===Char Sui===
*Similar to real pigs, he makes snorting and squealing sounds.
===Sneaky===
*He can change color and camouflage his body (although this could be with the help of technology, as he becomes entirely invisible, or it may simply be a cartoonish effect). However, the camouflaging ability in real chameleons differs, as they normally change color due to their mood (among other things).
*He can climb on/stick to walls.
Sneakyonaceiling.png|Sneaky can stick to walls.
==Trivia==
*Cro-Marmot is the only main character so far not to act or have real-life animal traits like their species do.
Category:Happy Tree Friends Universe