>>52770266The guide explictly states that Pokemon *replace* real animals. Pokemon are what we would consider animals in the real world except they're called Pokemon in-universe.
>>52770226Shudo wrote that it was decided among the staff that they would think of the relationship between humans and Pokemon as that of animals and humans in the real world, it wasn't just him but a concious decision made by the anime staff which likely included Satoshi Tajiri and other key members of Pokemon.
See also:
>>52765346The series has never stopped conceptualizing Pokemon as animal characters. That's why the 2010 guide states that Pokemon *replace* real animals on top of Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori reinforcing this in Tajiri's 2018 biography. The plot for Scarlet and Violet ended up being about saving nature and the critters that inhabit towards the end.
>>52770291Yes, primates exist in the real world which at times have been confused for funny looking humans i.e. Hanno's account of his voyage of Africa, an English sailor describing Gorillas in very human terms.
>>52770254Which isn't unusual in a fictional context.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Bambi 