User blog comment:Neowitch/What ARE those guys?/@comment-3119203-20120114222511

Chopper: Hito Hito no Mi (as you stated)

Pappug: Grew up thinking he was a human. How the hell that happened, I have no idea.

Pekoms/Bepo: No idea.

They are not minkmen. They might be Awakened Zoans, or they are simply animals that learned to talk. I have heard stories about animals that act like humans because they were raised from childbirth believing it was normal. As for the "not unusual on FI" thing, consider this: the inhabitants of the island had undoubtedly seen this particular talking lion on numerous occasions (not they are the closest thing to talking fish there is), so this is hardly unusual. The Straw Hats have a dead guy, a cyborg, and a talking "animal" of their own, so they probably think it is normal. I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of talking animals later in the future.