They did, and their parents and grandparents did, too. This kind of art has been a thing forever. Aesop back in ancient fucking Greece (emphasis on the fucking) had anthropomorphic animals. We’ve always been fascinated with the idea of human-like animals or humans with some animal features. Pareidolia is a monster pattern-recognizer in our brain which I’d bet is a large part of it.

You just unlocked a memory that made me feel funny as a kid