Can they? The book never said they couldn't.

No they can't. They can take on characteristics, like give themselves animal style hair, ears or noses etc. But they can't transform their whole body to become an animal like an Animagi can, they still retain human bodies.

I'm confused about that though. Why can't they? You'd think it would be easier for them considering they can already portray the animal through looks. this is interesting...

It seems like even though Tonks could turn her nose into a pig snout, she couldn't change herself completely into an animal. That's what animagi do, while metamorphmagi always stay human.

so...does that mean that if they wanted to turn themselves into a canary...the result would be the same as eating a canary cream?

I'm not completely sure, they might be able to, ask J.K.Rowling
So, does tht mean they could give themselves a tail. I don't get it, if they could transform part of themselves, then why not the rest :L ?
I agree, it would, that's what I don't understand, like I said before, if they could change part of themselves, then why not the rest? :L
That makes a bit more sense than the other, J.K.Rowling would have wanted something to be different between them, other wise there would have been no point making a different creature.
No, I don't think so, nearly everyone saying that it's only animagi that can change completely.

Nat x

Yes they can. Because if you remember in the 5th book when tonks was making everybody laugh by turning her nose into a pig snout and a ducks beak. She would probably be able to change the rest of her features to that of an animals. It would be very pointless if she could only transform her nose.

I don't remember Tonks changing her nose into a buck beak? And anyway, they can't change their entire bodies.

They can change they're whole bodies. I remember in OOTP when tonks disguised herself as an old lady with grey hair and a purple hat for the transportation to kings cross. So I imagine she can change her whole appearance into an animal if she concentrated with all of her willpower.

I think no, then they'll be animagus.

It was never mentioned, so I'm confused. They can turn into someone else without polyjuice potion, but I don't think they can turn into animals.

It seems like they can changed their features drastically, but they can't turn into a different species like an animagus can, which requires a wand unlike true metamorphs.

I always wondered about animagi transforming back to humans. They need a wand for the transformation, but how does an animal hold a wand and do a spell to turn back? Sirius is the prime example of a wizard who seemed to do the transformations without a wand.

I don't think an animagus needs a wand to transform themself into an animal.

I suppose you're right, according to the Harry Potter Wiki. I was thinking of the moment in PoA when Wormtail had to dive for Lupin's dropped wand in order to transform back into a rat. I could also swear there was a line somewhere, possibly in OotP, where Tonks says that metamorpmagi are born with the ability, and other wizards need wands or potions to change their appearance. But reflecting on it, I guess that doesn't relate to animagi.

I don't think Wormtail dived for Lupin's wand to transform himself into a rat. He maybe just wanted a wand anyway, or wanted to make sure that Lupin couldn't use it to kill him? I don't remember...

I don't know if animagi are born with their ability either. But the Marauders somehow found a way to acchieve it.

"Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light - and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang - Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.
'Expelliarmus!' Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. 'Stay where you are!' Harry shouted, running forward.
Too late. Pettigrew had transformed."

So he did dive for the wand, but only to attack the others so he would be free to transform. It doesn't say anything about using the wand to transform himself, so I guess he didn't use it for that purpose. I believe in the movie he did, but that's the movie ;-)

So now what I take from it is this: Metamorphmagi are born with the ability to change their appearance at will, including adding features that are "animal-like." However, I don't think they can actually change into another species like animagi. They also don't have to work to learn this ability, since it's intrinsic since birth. No wands required to transform appearance.

Animagi are not born with the ability to transform. They must learn the magic through extremely hard work and lots of skill. They do turn into a new species, unlike metamorphmagi, but they can only turn into one kind (much like people have only 1 patronus). Also no wand required to transform, once the ability is learned. Maybe that's another reason why so few become one, because most wizards probably don't have the talent to channel that type of hard magic without a wand.

Which makes me wonder, how the heck did Pettigrew accomplish it? I know the book says he had help from James and Sirius, and being such a small animal made it easier, but I still don't see him accomplishing it as a teenager if he was the class dunce.

The answer must be that James, Sirius and Remus must have helped Peter. We don't know the details about how they manged to become animagi, but Peter most likely never could have done it by himself.