The showing of realistic animals in funny animal comic books is, of course, a rare occurrence - and a challenge - which Barks took up, too.

Many of Barks' background characters, as well as a few secondary characters, look and act just as plain animals.

Animals in a funny animal comic book are, by definition, more or less caricatures of the real ones.

Some animals are usually trained by man - and some are usually not...

Some of Barks' animals demonstrate abilities to test things.

In the stories some normal looking animals have extraordinary analytical powers.

Animals are supposed to act funny in a funny animal story. Barks sometimes took the concept a bit further.

Some animals such as parrots are known to make humanlike sounds - and then we have Barks' animals...