Zoanids

Asher grinned, his powerful teeth on dispay as his ears flattened back over his mildly anthropomorphized skull. He'd been hunting the poachers for two days across the plateau, finding their ingress point and moving quickly to prevent them from achieving their goal. Terrestrial animals were rare on Tanit III, and a market had naturally sprung up for their rare meat. Slipping towards them in silence, his muscles rippled under his spotted fur, and he settled into a posiiton overlooking them. As much as his instincts screamed at him to pounce, break one's neck, and bound away with the body while the other two panicked, he knew that was the wrong call. Instead, he observed, waiting for them to take off their equipment and relax. Once a bottle was being passed around, he knew it was time. They were smart. They had sensors out that could pick up the signature of a powercell for an LED light. But Asher wasn't using any powered equipment. They were singing when his knife slipped into the first, severing the subclavian artery. They were shouting when his reinforced claws tore the eyes out of the second's face. The last one was screaming as his neck broke before he was dragged into the tall grass. Asher allowed his instincts that indulgence before calling for pick up with their comms gear. The smile had never left his face.
Zoanids have a long history as Terrans, but their start was less than ideal. Created in Martian genetics labs, they were created to be an expendable population to fill the roles that the lowest castes of Martian society carried out. They were developed around the same time that Synthroids were, and they were discovered by UN forces during the short conflict remembered as the Martian Intervention. There were thousands of them, in all states of development, and based on dozens of animals, living and extinct. Their clear intelligence and the capacity of the eldest ones to speak and reason caused immediate moral and ethical panic on Earth. Religious and philosophical debates ensued, and there was more than a bit of violence as humans came to blows on whether they were true sophonts and "deserving" of rights. In the end, both they and the now deeply advanced and self-developing Synthroids were granted full rights. The battle wasn't over though, and their full integration into the societies they joined took decades. It was mid way through the Independence Era that they'd be fully accepted and the term "Terran" be used to describe humans, zoanids, and synthroids as a collective.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Zoanids are anthropomorphized animals, generally falling within human norms for heights but often being lighter or heavier depending on thier animal origin. Reptile and Mammal zoanids were the only ones created, as avians, amphibians, and fish had proved past the limits of the science at the time and now. Zoanids are bipedal with bilateral symetry, and have been sufficiently modified to be able to use normal human type tools and equipment, speak, and so  on. They're clearly not "human" but are extremely human-like.
Mammalian zoanids have a light coat of fur, with markings and colouration similar to their animal ancestor. They also have claws and sharp teeth, and often tails. 
Repilian zoanids have scales instead of skin, and scutes (bumps) that appear to still fulfill their job of moving water across them efficiently. Thei have dull but strong claws, and extremely sharp teeth, and seldom have tails. Their hands are partially webbed, and their toes are fully webbed.
Cetacean zoanids are grey and white or black and white in colour, with a thick skin and light laye rof blubber underneath. They have larger hands and feet, with no claws, and conical sharp teeth. Their hands are partially webbed and their toes are fully webbed. They never have tails, and are notable for thier unique echolocation abilities.

Genetics and Reproduction

Zoanid genetics were a master class in effort and bleeding edge theoretical work, and took Venusian and Earth scientists decades to figure out. They essentially took a human genome, removed tonnes of junk DNA, activated other junk DNA, modified what they wanted to keep, then spliced in genes from a number of animals to acheive the desired effects. Then they used EH (ethics hampered) AI to run results so they could make modifications. The animals used included several types of crocodile, chameleons, almost all the great cats and wild cats, wolves and wild dogs/canines, several types of bear, foxes, german shepherds, and the dolphin family of cetaceans. Interestingly, no herbivores were used, primarily because it was easier for Martian food factories to produce protein based foods than vegetable ones. Primates were also not used, for "maintenance of the Human genome in future". 
The alarming discovery was that zoanids could cross-fertilize with each other outside their apparent species, producing offspring that favoured one parent or the other without blending features, and that they could also interbreed with humans. Forensic examination of the recovered data from Mars revealed that this was intentional, and that the highest casts intended to create a self-replicating population that they could mix their lower castes with. The plan was to run live tests to determine which zoanids would be most useful in the most ways, then to introduce them to the lower castes where they would presumably, intervbreed. The higher casts would then move diplomatically to make them "inhuman", and therefore extinguishing their human rights (which were weak on Mars anyways) and create a chattel slavery system over the course of two or three generations. This discovery both explained the reaon why primates were not used in the project, and led to riots on Mars that finally broke the last vestiges of the caste system.

Growth Rate & Stages

Zoanids, including the few reptilian types, have live births that undergo a mildly accelerated development from infant to child, being the equiuvalent of a 6 year old human by age 3. At that point they follow a more or less normal growth and development rate, haivng a slightly prolonged child phase before entering teen and adult phases like normal humans.

Ecology and Habitats

Your average zoanid is comfortable where humasn would be, with a few noteable differences. Repitilian zoanids prefer warm climates and locations, and are cold sensative. To them, the perfect place is warm and has lots of water access. Cetacean zoanids are never really happy when they're not in the water; warm, cold, it doesn't really matter. Mammalian zoanids may have individual preferences based on thier animal background.

Dietary Needs and Habits

All zoanids are omnivores with a preference for carnivorous life. They're able to live off nutrient pastes and textured grown proteins, but will seldom turn down "real meat". They can eat vegetables, fruit, and grains, but have to take supplements to stay healthy if there's no protein available.

Biological Cycle

Zoanids had many of their unique biological cycles removed to make them easier to integrate into the lower castes of Martian society. As a result, they all function much like humans now in terms of their biological cycles.

Behaviour

Psycologists and psychiatrists are endlessly fascinated with the zoanids, as their animal based expressions and body language make them fascinating subjects. By and large, they act like humans, but there's always something else, somehting lurking in the background, that's old, primal, and wanting to be free. Zoanids have different reputations and stereotypes based on their animal backgrounds that range from funny to offensive, and it's not recommended to test what they think of them.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Zoanids form family groups similar to humans, often with stronger ties, even the repitilian ones. Their families resemble the ones of the cultures that brought them in, making it a wide range of practices.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Broadly speaking, zoanids have better senses than humans, with sharper hearing and olfactory senses being the most notable. "Eyeshine" was determined ot be a net benefit for all zoanids, and was spliced into their DNA, allowing them to see better in the dark than an unaided human. All appear to have a "sixth sense" and a tendency to notice more about their envirnment than baseline humans.

Yes, I am well aware that cetaceans are mammals, but for the purposes of this, they're treated as a separate group.

Scientific Name

Homo zoanidus

Origin/Ancestry

Human/Animal Hybrid

Lifespan

60 to 100 years

Average Height

1.3 to 2.4m

Average Weight

55 to 240kg

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Markings and colouration on zoanids are based on the animal type that was spliced into their ancestors.

Related Ethnicities

• Terrans