Humans

Humans, or less generally, hocanids, are a rare species found across multiple types of environments. They are most commonly found in colder and drier environments, such as around Presweavya and Olbania. Humans are similar to wolves in that they are highly social and intelligent (akin to chimpanzees and dolphins in our world), usually gathering in groups and territories.

Types and Characteristics

Humans can adapt easily to most environments as long as they aren't too extreme. They originated around Presweavya prehistorically, but eventually migrated to and are still all around the world, excluding the poles.  Humans can be both terrestrial and semiaquatic. Semiaquatic humans are often referred to as hopinds/hopindes and terrestrial as hocanids/hocanes.

Hopinds are often found around coasts and islands such as the Polana's and Galapajo Island. Hopinds usually prefer to live on land near bodies of water rather than in the water, however Hopinds can adapt to living in the water pretty easily. Hopinds are voluntary breathers as opposed to hocanids who breathe involuntarily, and typically sleep out of water/on land. Additionally, hopinds are naturally blind, and rely more on their senses of smell and touch than sight.

Hocanids are very similar to wolves behaviour-wise, and commonly gather in groups; a trait both hopinds and hocanids share. Hocanids have more fur than hopinds and their ears, heads, and tails have the most fur. The warmer and/or wetter the environment, the less fur a hocanid tends to have. Compared to hopinds, hocanids have extraordinary vision and rely most often on their sight and least often on their smells.

Humans are notable for their wide variety of social norms, values, languages, and traditions - in fact, much of the modern cultures and ethnic groups within Varahi were originally human cultures. Humans are also very homologous in nature, and interspecies relationships are uncommon and often frowned upon both by other animals and humans themselves.

History

Humans historically were much like what they are in our world, much more intelligent and much more common. It was the domestication of wolves around 50,000-20,000 years ago that changed this. As wolves began to be relied on more by humans for their hunting and gathering, wolves started unexpectedly getting much more intelligent. They found ways to outsmart humans and even start hunting them themselves. Once wolves started to mingle with other species and those species started to become smarter and more human-like as well, humans started to dwindle in numbers. Animals eventually started to develop ways to speak as humans did and take languages and traditions from the humans and even form their own. Now in the currentday, humans are near extinct and often keep to their own small groups as they have pretty much been ostracized out of civilization. This is also the source of much of the superiority complex a lot of wolves and dogs have and why they're so high up in social hierarchies.