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If you squint really hard, then you can connect some dots. Connecting to the spirit of animals is common across oceans and time. Among all sorts of different traditions, shamanism, and animists. Many pantheons contain anthropomorphic gods. The Japanese have kitsune. Greco-Roman, Norse, and Indian cultures all contain some amount of shapeshifting either in myths or the gods themselves. If the Chinese don't have anything I'd be surprised.
Man has sought meaning through his connection with animals or, at least, used his understanding of his relation to animals to express feeling, tell stories, and develop culture. Plus a million other things unrelated to a universal experience of desire-- in this case a desire to embody the soul of a super sexy fox.
I am also partial to the idea that this is
autismfurry apologia. I love its flavor, though.The counterpoint is that humans have closely observed animals for millennia and therefore have created stories, myths and practices around their observations of animals in nature.
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There were selkies, too.
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Wikipedia says that the prototype of kitsune originated in China, in fact, and spread to Japan, Korea, Vietnam from there. It's funny how basically every culture decided: never trust a fox. But they're sexy as hell. (Your language literally defines "foxy" as a synonym!)
Also vixen is both a term for a female fox and a sexually attractive woman.
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