Human character is in the foreground of all fiction, however the humanity might be disguised. Attributing human characteristics to the natural world may be frowned on in science, but it is a literary necessity. Bugs Bunny isn't a rabbit; he's a plucky youth in ears. Peter Rabbit is a mischievous boy. Brer Rabbit is a sassy rebel. The romantic heroes of Watership Down are out of the Arthurian tradition, not out of the hutch.

Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edit…, loc. 158