Funny animal

Funny animal is a term in traditional or digital comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are animals who emulate/recreate almost all aspects of Human society: culture, work, consumerism, humanoid garments, and relationships, among others.

Appearance
A funny animal is typically an anthropomorphic bipedal being with such characteristics such as speaking in human languages or displaying facial expressions. Others may display a more feral look closer to their real life counterpart, but still displaying some humanoid mannerisms (human grasping via hands with thumbs or prehensility), or be completely animal looking, but with all possessing human sapience.

Use in mainstream media
While most funny animal stories are light-hearted and humorous, the genre is not exclusively comedic. Dark or serious stories featuring anthropomorphic animals are also sometimes grouped under the "funny animals" category (e.g. Blacksad). These stories may intersect with any other genre or group of genre, including historical stories, science fiction, Westerns, slapstick comedy, children's entertainment and satire.

Funny animal and furry
The use of the word furry as a description of an anthropomorphic animal character in the furry fandom in began in the 1980s, and was becoming common on the Internet by the 1990s, when the newsgroup alt.fan.furry was created for fans of funny animals.

Some cartoonists and other artists prefer the original term, either because they feel a strong connection to the earlier artists, but mostly because they disliked being associated with furry.