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Exposed Animal Bellybutton - TV Tropes

️Fri Oct 21 2011

Patrick's bellybutton is located where real life starfish keep their mouths.

Sometimes when you draw animals on any level of anthropomorphism from Nearly Normal Animal to Beast Man, but especially Civilized Animals, Funny Animals, Beast Man, you just give them a humanlike bellybutton, whether "innie" or "outie," that can be seen through their fur, feathers, or scales.

While some cartoon animals have humanlike bellybuttons, Real Life animals don't have navels like this. Placental mammals beside humans are born with a navel that looks very much like a scar.

Other animals, like monotreme mammals, all birds, most reptiles, amphibians, and fish, most insects, some molluscs, and some arachnids don't have navels, as they are oviparous (were born from eggs). Some squamates (the reptile group that includes lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) like rattlesnakes, sea snakes, slowworms, and garter snakes, are either viviparous or ovoviviparous (give birth to live young), as are most sharks, live-bearing bony fishes, some species of scorpion, cockroaches, and velvet worms. Some do have navels, including some extinct dinosaurs, but are typically not easily spotted.

A Sub-Trope of Funny Animal Anatomy and Anatomy Anomaly. See also Nonhumans Lack Attributes.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

In Wowser, the titular character is white dog with a bellybutton. His feline rival Ratso Catso also has one.

Asian Animation

Tiki the monkey from Boonie Bears has a bellybutton.
In Happy Friends, one of the monsters who works for Big M., a penguin named Penguin Monster, has a bellybutton.
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf:
- Wolffy the wolf has a visible belly button.
- The bunny guards in Great War in the Bizarre World have bellybuttons.

Comic Books

The Marsupilamis have a bellybutton, despite being oviparous.
Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): When drawn by Steven Butler, Princess Sally, a Chipmunk/Squirrel tends to have one.

Comic Strips

Garfield:
- Subverted in one strip where the eponymous cat notices a black spot on his belly in the mirror and remarks "I didn't know I had a belly button". Said spot turns out to be a bug, which promptly flies away.
- Another strip has Garfield eat one of Jon's plants in a fit of jealousy. When Jon complains, Garfield says "If you have anything to say to your precious plant, say it into my bellybutton!"
- Though played straight with some animal characters who appeared in some strips of this comic, especially bigger ones.
Nearly all the characters in Krazy Kat.
Verne the turtle from Over the Hedge has one, though it's only visible when he removes his shell.
Pig from Pearls Before Swine.
The title character of Pogo.

Films — Animation

Az Erdő Kapitánya: Piroska wears an open vest with no shirt under, and even though his belly is covered with red fur, his bellybutton is still visible. Also, when Dorka does a handstand to talk to Dini, her dress rolls up, exposing her bellybutton despite her bear-fur.
In Cinderella (1950), in the scene when Gus, the mouse, is first introduced, Cinderella tries to put a shirt on Gus, but then the shirt rises and pops up. For a SPLIT second, you could spot a bellybutton on Gus while in the air. A little mistake saw Gus trapped in the teacup that Lady Tremaine was about to pour tea into. As Gus jabs in his belly to avoid the boiling tea drop coming down, it seems as though he grew a bellybuttton, while it was really just lines indicating his belly is being pulled in. As his belly rises in relief, it still seems to have the shape of a bellybutton until it fully rises, where the mark disappears.
Gloria the Hippo from the Madagascar films has a bellybutton.
Jiminy Cricket is shown to have a bellybutton in Pinocchio (1940).
Rango the chameleon has a bellybutton.
Stupid the weasel from Who Framed Roger Rabbit has a bellybutton.

Literature

Robin Jarvis illustrates the mice in Deptford Mice books with bellybuttons.
In Richard Scarry's Best Little Word Book Ever, the last page gives Huckle Cat this.

Live-Action TV

CBBC and Going Live mascot Gordon T. Gopher had one, a plastic button on the puppet's stomach that was visible when his T-shirt rode up. It was frequently shown as a "real" bellybutton in illustrations of the character.

New Media

Most anthropomorphic art tends to be drawn with this.

Toys

Flick-to-Stick Bungees: Furt/Firt (a mouse) from the European Series 1 has an X-shaped bellybutton, Clanfer/Clonf (a monkey-like creature) from the same series has a swirly-shaped bellybutton, and Unda/Kadun from Bionic Bungees and their American version, Sabot (a bear) have an X-shaped bellybutton.

Video Games

Chabwick the penguin from Animal Crossing has an x-shaped bellybutton, which is visible even when wearing a shirt (since shirts ride up on the very round penguin model).
Crash Bandicoot has a bellybutton in his early games, but it was gone starting with Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
This trope is mentioned and subverted in Chrono Trigger. You can try to run from the prison by faking sickness. If Frog is the one faking sickness, he says his bellybutton hurts. After beating guards, he calls them fools for not knowing that frogs don't have bellybuttons.
The Donkey Kong series seems inconsistent as to whether or not the simian Kongs have them. In some games they don't have bellybuttons, even when some reptilian characters, such as the crocodilian K. Rool, do.
Balthazar from Jitsu Squad, an overweight rhino-man with a bulging pot belly, have a visible bellybutton marked with an "X".
Yolk from Leap Day has a large outie belly button.
Little Flower Fairy: Bun Frog's belly has an X-shaped bellybutton on it.
Rouge the Bat from Sonic the Hedgehog has a bellybutton, although it is only visible when she's wearing alternate costumes since she normally wears a bodysuit.
Mz. Ruby from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus has a bellybutton despite being an alligator, also Carmelita Fox has a belly button since she has a bare midriff, and Murray also has a belly button as well.
Avians and Florans from Star Bound have bellybuttons, although the first ones are birds and second ones are plants.
Star Fox: Krystal, a fox, has one, visible in Star Fox Adventures.
Petey Piranha, a carnivorous plant, has one in Super Mario Sunshine and Super Princess Peach, that acts as his weak point.

Visual Novels

Keropoyo the Outie Frog is the mascot of the leading social network in Ciconia: When They Cry. The fact that he's a frog with a belly button and most people interact with him constantly has resulted in most kids wrongly believing that frogs actually do have navels.
Monokuma in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Monomi in the sequel, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair have prominent protruding bellybuttons.

Web Animation

In Happy Tree Friends, Splendid the squirrel is given a bellybutton in one shot of the episode "Wrath of Con". This shot also doubles with an Art Shift.
- By zooming in on a picture of the mentioned shot, you can see it appears to be an innie.
Homestar Runner:
- The Fat Bluebird somehow has one of these despite being a bird.
- The Cheat has a swirl-shaped navel just below his chin.
Strong Bad: ...and The Cheat's physiology just plain baffles me.
The anthropomorphic cats from Karameru's animations are drawn with X-shaped bellybuttons, including Karameru's Author Avatar cat. Curiously, this trope does not apply to the other mammalian characters in his animations.
MeatCanyon uses this trope to a grotesque effect, befitting his art style.
One Minute Fly: Despite being an insect, not a mammal, the main fly is depicted with a visible navel in "One Minute Fly", "Fly to the Moon", and "Happy Valentine's Day".

Webcomics

In Freefall, not only does Florence (an anthropomorphized red wolf) have a visible bellybutton, there's even an indentation showing where it's located even when she's dressed in her normal jumpsuit.
Largely averted in Nixvir, since it wouldn't make sense for non-human species to have fingernails or bellybuttons. However, Princess Aubrea is shown to have one, adding to the ambiguity of her species.
The Packrat.

Western Animation

Fitz from 12 oz. Mouse has a visible navel while his body is facing front.
All characters from Almost Naked Animals.
The title character of Bernard, a polar bear, has an outie.
Brandy the dog from Brandy & Mr. Whiskers has one of these, which is shown by her midriff-baring pink shirt. One-time characters Tiffany and Sandy share this trait.
Most of the animals in Eek! The Cat, including the title character.
Ratty from Mr. Bogus has one, as does Bogus himself.
Thunder in My Friend Rabbit, has a bellybutton on his tummy.
- On the main cast photo, Edweena has one as well.
Newton from Ned's Newt. He even lampshaded it once.
Newton: If newts are born from eggs, why do I have a belly-button?" [Beat] Is a poorly-drawn 'x' an inny or an outy?
Oggy from Oggy and the Cockroaches.
The Ren & Stimpy Show gives the title duo these in certain shots.
The title character of the Robbie the Reindeer specials.
Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons, a mouse and cat respectively, have bellybuttons.
Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants has a bellybutton, as shown with the above picture. When fighting SpongeBob in The Fry Cook Games, his belly button takes the form of a pink line.
Zee from the now-defunct block Noggin, despite being a bird.
Rodney J. Squirrel from Squirrel Boy has a bellybutton.
Pretty Boy from Teacher's Pet (2000), despite being a bird which don't have belly buttons (being hatched from eggs).
All the main characters of Yin Yang Yo! have bellybuttons. However, the bellybuttons of rabbit siblings Yin and Yang can only be seen in a few episodes whenever their shirts lift up. Master Yo (a panda) has an innie while Yin and Yang have outies.