Animaniacs was a classic '90s cartoon birthed from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Wacky, zany and utterly irreverent, the seemingly new age cartoon was in many ways a throwback to animated classics of the past. That show and its recent reboot on Hulu star a trio of amusing creatures named Yakko, Wakko & Dot, who heavily resemble sort of generic versions of other animated mascots.
This dubious nature has plagued and confused viewers for years now and was even part of the show's own mythology. However, in actuality, the Animaniacs' species has been public knowledge since the show began. Here's the taxonomic designation for the Warner Siblings and how it ties into their cartoon's jokes.
The Animaniacs' Species
The trio's rather questionable genetic ancestry stems from their designs. They have tall, playful ears that stand up like a rabbit's, which is an image accentuated by their pointed buck teeth. They also have large feet like a rabbit's, which would seemingly close the book on what type of animals they are. This idea is muddled, however, with their tails. Instead of the cotton ball tails of bunnies, they have long, furry tails like a cat or a dog. Nothing else about their anatomy is particularly canine or feline, however. Ironically, they were originally going to be ducks, but it was decided by series creator Tom Ruegger that there were already too many cartoon ducks.
Ruegger eventually admitted that their colloquial species name was "toons," or cartoon characters. Their official species name, however, is "Cartoonus Characterus." This information had actually always been a part of the show's production bible, with the obviously fake Latin word essentially being a "non-answer" to the characters' origins.
The Warner Brothers... and Sister
Keep in mind that a recurring gag on The Animaniacs was to have people question what the title characters were. One common answer was that they were, in fact, the Warner Brothers, along with an apparently unknown sister. Another skit had a doctor attempting to find out what exactly they were, which resulted in the trio noting that what they were was, in fact, cute.
Whereas other characters have become synonymous with companies like Disney, the Animaniacs were literally intended as mascots. Their fourth-wall destroying origin story had them created as minor characters for 1920s/30s cartoons. When the time came to give them their own cartoons, though, said projects were seen as too crazy and inane for the general audience. For this reason, they were locked away into the iconic Warner Bros. water tower until they escaped in the '90s.
This ambiguous but inarguable "cartoon" aesthetic, as well as the question of their animal nature, is accentuated by them resembling sort of lawsuit-proof versions of Mickey Mouse, and to some extent, Oswald the Rabbit. This was lessened after, in anticipation of the show's release, an image of one of the Animaniacs was plastered over the WB water tower. The image was removed when it was believed to be a poorly drawn picture of Mickey Mouse, causing Ruegger to change the designs somewhat. In the end, the creatures' designs are both classic and unique, even if the result is that no one knows what they are.
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