My Therian theory

[KubeSix]

Well actually, it is possible.

Did you know a gene can jump 8 generations? That means that the child would only need to have 1 therian in his 256 direct ancestors. And that therian would only need 1 out of his 256. The same way if there's someone with black hair 8 generations ago and every single one of a child's ancestors have brown hair, it can still be born with black. I've heard the same goes for skin color, although it would be affected by the color of the others, the different color could take an important part of the kid's DNA

[Ryobi]

Of course, but a person with black hair doesn't belong to a different species than a person with blond hair. However, recessive genes can definitely work in that way, for instance I am the only person in my family with grey eyes.

The thing with species, is that when they don't work the same way genes do. Over many years the traits can become 'bred' out, unless there are entire families that only breed with other verified 'purebreed therians'. If we're talking about a prehistoric race, the chances are, their ancestors will possess a few traits but are still dominantly 'human'.

If therianthropy is an inherited trait, the chances are it means you have a specific gene, compared to belonging to an entirely different species.

[KubeSix]

Well to talk about someone with the therian gene as another race altogether would maybe be an overstatement...

So therianthropy wouldn't be a species but more like a recessive gene. The species of Cynocephaly would've been intergrated into the Homo-Sapiens genus, so their hair and physically animal attributes would've been bred out, leaving the behavioral gene as a recessive part of our DNA. Also, there's hypertrichosis. It's that syndrome where the subject is born with lots of hair all over their bodies. It's a genetic disease, as there are sometimes entire families like that and it's come to be known as the werewolf syndrome. Things tend to point toward an extremely hairy ancestor with an animal mind...