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In Zootopia, we see a number of married species (Mr and Mrs. Otter and Hopps) and we even see a wedding. All of those are intraspecies relationships.

Do we see any interspecies relationships? It's hinted that Nick and Judy may be in a relationship, but is there anything explicit?

Valorum
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TheAsh
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    Bringing meaning to the phrase "The lion shall lie down with the lamb" since 2016.... – bob1 Aug 28 '23 at 04:16
  • [Confirmed] Fru-Fru is an arctic shrew, as is her husband. – Valorum Aug 28 '23 at 06:51
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    Officer Francine Pennington the elephant is seen with a hippo for her birthday meal in the short film Zootopia+ - Dinner Rush, but it's not clear what their relationship is; https://preview.redd.it/b8qx8phhcpz91.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=7c9cdfcb5b477ba9b07f48b97afb0e530e8a4379 – Valorum Aug 28 '23 at 10:39

2 Answers2

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Apparently so.

In the Disney fandom wiki for Zootopia, there are two characters called Bucky and Pronk Oryx-Antlerson who are Judy's neighbours in her apartment complex. Bucky is a Kudu and Oryx is an Gemsbok/Oryx.

They have been confirmed to be a married couple in a tweet in 2016 by Jared Bush, who was the voice actor for Pronk, as well as screenwriter and co-director for the movie, which would make it canonical.

bob1
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    Lol. Interspecies in a way that requires twitter confirmation or you wouldn't know. That's just Disney in a nutshell right there. – Valorum Aug 28 '23 at 06:15
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Byron Howard and Rich Moore confirmed in an interview that not only are interspecies relationships perfectly acceptable in the world of Zootopia, but that they could also (potentially) lead to offspring.

Q:... There's one facet that's kinda interesting is that all of the romantic relationships are all within the same species, otter and otter, bunny and bunny that we see. And there's a general sexual objectification of Shakira's character but because she's a celebrity. But is that okay? Like in a sequel could Nick [and Judy]?

Byron Howard: I think it's beautiful. Better than ok. Yeah. I think feels like it's like our own world, it's a very open-minded society. It feels like animals fall in love

Rich Moore: Yeah, I think so. Who are we to judge?

Q: So then, could Nick and Judy have a romance?

Rich Moore: I feel they could

Q: What would their kids be?

Byron Howard: Funnies or boxes?

Q: I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thinking about it.

In the licenced comic Quick as a Flash, Aa sloth, Priscilla Tripletoe, is asked out on a date by a handsome hyena. Based on his leer, I think we can assume that he's after more than just friendship and popcorn.

enter image description here

Valorum
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    Yes, but the important question is: would the offspring be fertile? – lfurini Aug 28 '23 at 08:03
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    @lfurini - That's the important question? Really? – Valorum Aug 28 '23 at 08:29
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    If the offspring is fertile then, by definition, foxes and bunnies (and probably all animals) are the same species in the world of Zootopia, so Nick and Judy are not an interspecies couple; on the other hand, the offspring being infertile would cast a dark shadow upon interspecies couples being a good thing ... (joking, of course) – lfurini Aug 28 '23 at 08:40
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    @lfurini Not quite, they'd only be the same species if any pair of foxes and bunnies could have fertile offspring, not if Nick and Judy specifically had fertile offspring. Horses and donkeys are different species and usually produce infertile offspring, but the fact that some mules are indeed fertile does not imply that horses and donkeys are the same species. – Nuclear Hoagie Aug 28 '23 at 13:29
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    @lfurini While it is generally a rule, the rule has exceptions. An interesting type of exception is that of "ring species", where species A and B can produce fertile offspring, species B and C can produce fertile offspring, but A and C cannot. In this case, you cannot say that A and B are the same species and B and C are the same species, because that would imply that A and C are the same species. The greenish warbler ring species, Ensatina salamanders ring species, and Larus gulls ring species are three examples of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_species – Ben Hocking Aug 28 '23 at 14:09
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    @lfurini To expand on what Ben was saying, that Wikipedia article you link starts out saying "often defined as", and includes a Definition section that has 11 different ways species are defined in biology, as well as an entire section following that describing the difficulties of defining "species", because it's such a complicated concept. – Idran Aug 28 '23 at 15:25
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    Weird. The answer should have been "well, it's a cartoon, so, sure, if you want, but that's also weird." But all things are OK, for an "open society", I guess. This is like when Ratatouille went weird part way though in the scene with rat traps "oh, but humans want to kill you, Remi". Yes, I guess, but that's a weird way to take the story in a kids cartoon. Too much realism and worldbuilding. –  Aug 28 '23 at 16:07