What Are Furries?

Are you interested in furries featured in stories, art, media, and games? You've come to the right place! We hope to provide a useful starting point for people interested in furries and furry fandom.

Frequently Asked Questions

We should probably get the most common questions out of the way first:

What does "anthropomorphic" mean?
Anthropomorphic means giving human qualities or characteristics to animals or objects. Anthropomorphic animal characters do things that humans usually do---walk on two legs, wear clothing, drive a car, and so on.

What is a "con"?
A con is short for "convention." There are many conventions throughout the year, where furry fans gather to do things buy and sell artwork, attend workshops, show off costumes, or just socialize.

What is a "furry"?
A furry is an anthropomorphic animal character. Some examples of anthropomorphic characters would be cartoon animals featured in animation, such as Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, or Donald Duck. Some may also appear as mascots or advertising characters, like McGruff the Crime Dog or the Exxon Tiger. On the other end of the spectrum, furries can be talking animals featured in fairy tales, such as Aesop's Fables or literature, such as Watership Down. Also, actual furry fans themselves are also sometimes referred to as furries.

What is "furry fandom"?
Furry fandom is defined as the appreciation, promotion, and production of stories and art about anthropomorphic animals, as well as the exploration, interpretation and examination of humanity and human values through anthropomorphic expression. This includes works such as animated cartoons, comic books and strips, text stories and articles, artwork, costumes, and stuffed animals.

What is a "fursuit"?
A fursuit is a full-body animal mascot costume worn by a furry fan. Some furry fans make their own fursuits, while others have them commissioned. Fursuits can be quite elaborate and are usually shown off at convention masquerades.

What is a "MUCK"?
MUCK stands for Multi User Character Kingdom. It's like an multiplayer online game, though the focus tends to be more toward roleplaying or socializing. MUCKs are popular online hangouts for furry fans.

Where can I find furry publications/comics?
Felyne32K's Incomplete Listing of Zoomorphic Publications is a huge listing of fan-produced publications. For comics, you can consult the Not Quite Complete, but None the Less, Very Thorough Furry Comic Book List, and its associated Publishers Address List. A listing of online comics is available at The Belfry Comics Index.

Art

Are you looking for furry artwork or want to learn how to draw your own? R'ykandar Korra'ti's Art Materials FAQ provides information on what you'll need to start, while Terry Whittier's Artwork Preservation FAQ has advice for ways to care for artwork once it's finished. Mel White and Glen Wooten, after doing many lectures at conventions about copyright law, have compiled their knowledge into a Copyright FAQ.

Some of the popular furry art archives include Yerf, YNA, The Orlando Furry Archives, The Velan Central Library, and FurNation. Side 7 provides both aspiring novice artists and experienced veteran artists a haven in which to learn and improve their skills.

Conventions

Furry conventions are a lot of fun. You can get an idea of what they're like by checking out KT's Cartoon Trip Diaries. To find a furry convention near you, check out our listing of furry conventions.

Fursuits

Nicodemus' Fursuit Pages provide a valuable web resource for creators of animal mascot costumes—from How To guides for fursuit construction, to materials needed for construction and pictures of various projects. fursuit.org has a mailing list for discussions on performing in costume, and an extensive FAQ on construction methods.

Media

Furries get attention from the mainstream press occasionally. Here are some recent articles which provide a good explanation of what furry fandom is like:

These are some older articles, but still worth a read:

Furry News and Mailing Lists

For news relating to furry fandom, unusually good information can be found at Flayrah. You can find a local regional furry mailing list in your area by browsing the USA Furry Mailing Lists. FurDir and the Internet Furry Proximity Locator can also be handy in locating other furry fans in your local area.

Roleplay

Interested in playing a furry character in an online roleplaying environment? How to Connect to FurryMUCK (and elsewhere) has technical info on getting started. While FurryMUCK is the largest of the MUCKs, there are many others to explore. See Descriptions of Various Furry MU*s for more information. You can also try Furcadia, a graphical online game.

Writing

Mia's Index of Anthro Stories lists stories about furries, searchable by title, author, and keyword (including species).

Favorite Links

Here are some of my favorite websites about furries and furry fandom:

* WikiFur - The furry dictionary, written by and for the furry community!
* claws-and-paws.com - Doug Muth's website, with information about Anthrocon, furry fandom, and much more.
* Marci McAdams' Furries - Need a conbadge? Talented artist Marci McAdam can draw one for you! * Furry Like Me - An article about furries on the popular online game Second Life.

Link to us!

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Thanks for visiting!