At first, the government wanted to keep this project a secret. But when the truck carrying the rejected virus to a disposal site somehow crashed on a bridge and tipped its cargo into the river, it had become a major cover-up project similar to the Roswell crash.
The reason that that batch of virus was rejected because the whole batch was not only working too well, it has also been accidentally combined with another project involving an experimental treatment of muscular dystrophy using gene therapy.
When a single lab rat was exposed to the virus, it created a well-muscled rat/human hybrid. Not long afterward, it had gone into a psychotic state and had to be euthanized. That was when the decision was made to purge the area where the barrels had fallen as well as any places within ten miles of the contaminated river.
Upon arrival at ground zero of the outbreak, it was revealed that only one barrel had actually been broken open. The rest were heavily dented, but unbroken. Then they began tracing the flow of the virus when they received new orders: Tranqilize and gather up any anthropomorphic animals they could find within 10 miles of the contaminated river and bring them to a certain facility. Though the agents didn't understand why, they soon learned why when they got there with the anthropomorphic animals.
It turned out that two wild transformed animals and a large group of farm animals at the Brown farm (as well as one transformed girl) had banded together and formed what was effectively a code of ethics and morals called the Ten Edicts of Animalia which dictated how these new creatures would behave in civilized life. There was also remarkably little cases of psychotic breakdowns for those who follow these edicts. So the decision was made to study both the virus and the culture that it had inadvertently created.
These were the basic results of the studying if the virus:
- The virus cannot change those who are already human.
- For the virus to change a human, it first has to latch onto animal DNA, then has to be passed on to another human via milk, sexual fluids, etc.
- The amount of muscular development created by the virus depends on the size and muscular development of the animal in question.
- Fat is reduced by a great deal in animals exposed to the animals exposed to the virus, though not enough to cause health problems, as is found in certain individuals with a certain defect in the myostatin gene.
- Initial exposure to the virus in juvenile animals and mature adult animals leaves them at the developmental equivalent of humans at the same age. However if said juvenile animals were to obtain the virus again from said mature adult, both animals will be age progressed and/or regressed, respectively, to young adult age.
- Finally, immediately after changing, subjects exposed to the virus will experience heightened levels of arousal, and will immediately seek out a sexual partner, most of the time with an individual of the same species as they are, or any available if no match can be detected by their heightened senses.
These facts were discovered when the virus was used on animals:
- The virus is completely useless on invertebrate organisms. Only mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds are capable of bonding with, and thus being changed by, the virus.
- The Skeletal systems of those animals exposed to the virus combine many features of human and animals. These include modifications to the skull, spine, hips, and lower limbs to enable walking upright; modifications to the front limbs so they become arms with fully functional, five-fingered hands; and modifications to the skull to contain a brain that has both animal instinct and human higher cognitive functions. However, changes to the structures of the feet remain minimal, while still allowing upright walking, whether plantigrade, digitigrade, or ungulate.
- Birds who do NOT use their wings for flight have their wings converted into arms, while birds who DO use their wings for flight will have their wings moved to their back while new, fully functional arms take their place. The virus then adapts the musculoskeletal system to enable true flight.
- The skulls of animals converted by the virus not only adapt to enable hybrids of human and animal brains to exist, but changes the mouths and jawbones to be fully capable of human speech and expression. In the case of birds, their beaks become more flexible than they were originally while still retaining their basic shape.
- the skin of amphibians changed by the virus become more like human skin, better capable of holding water, while still capable of absorbing water during immersion.
- the major systems of those animals remain relatively unchanged, the most changed system being the cardiovascular system, granting most of the traits of being warm-blooded to animals that are mainly cold-blooded, while cold temperatures will still make animals that were originally cold-blooded somewhat sluggish.
- social behavior among pack, herd, etc. animals is carried over to their new humanoid forms, but they then refer to themselves as clans, while animals that are mainly solitary exhibit pair bonding behavior, usually among members of the same species.
- All females exposed to the virus develop rather large mammary glands on their chests, similar to humans even among those who don't normally have them, such as reptiles or birds. All show capability of lactation, even if they haven't been impregnated.
- Finally, animals such as snakes develop the humanoid torso, but their necks are significantly longer (often a foot, but not more) but maintain the snake tail, which often becomes at least 12 feet long, and capable of supporting them in an upright position.
No one, not even Robby and Clara, could explain what "Animalia" was, only that it was the capability for changed animals to function in an acceptable way in human society. The only other reference to it was a children's book that taught letters and animals.