What's a "Furry"?

If I told you that I was a furry, you'd probably have no idea what I was talking about.  Right?

A furry is what you'd call a member of the furry fandom.  In a nutshell, the furry fandom is a subculture of people who like cartoon-like animals.  By "cartoon-like animals", I mean animals that walk on two legs, like Bugs Bunny.  Furry is different from other fandoms such as those of Star Trek, Star Wars, and the like in that they do not "worship" someone else's creation (i.e. a movie or TV show).  Instead, furries create their own characters, which others in the community are fans of.  Are you confused?  If so, then it's ok!  It'll make sense in just a second.

Typically, when one joins the fandom, he or she will make up a character that represents them.  This is known as a "fursona"; the name is a combination of the words "furry" and "persona".

Here is a picture of my own fursona.  Her name is Zee, and she is a wolf.  She's the main character that represents me in the fandom.  It is commonplace for fursonas to have atypical colors and markings.  In fact, the majority do.

One is not limited to just creating a character that represents them self - they can make as many characters that are not necessarily fursonas as they want!  There are no restrictions.

About 20% of the fandom chooses to obtain something called a "fursuit".  This is a costume of their fursona/character that is similar to a mascot suit.  Here are a few pictures:

As you may have noticed, some fursuits are simply a head, paws, and a tail, while others are full body costumes.  The former is known as a "partial suit", and the latter as a "fullsuit".

Some furries make their costume, while others commission them from a maker.  Some popular makers are Made Fur You, Don't Hug Cacti, and Mixed Candy.  They can charge anywhere from $100 to $5,000+ depending on the character and the skill of the maker.

Furries tend to wear their fursuits at furry conventions.  The most popular of these is Anthrocon, which is held annually in the city of Pittsburgh.  It typically sees about 3,000 attendees.  A few other popular conventions are Midwest Furfest and Furry Weekend Atlanta.

Only about 20% of convention attendees own and wear their fursuit at the convention.  Those who don't go "fursuiting" may sell furry-related artwork or products of their own creation, or attend furry-related panel discussions.  It's really quite an interesting experiences to go to one of these cons.

I bet you're thinking that this is all so weird, and that these people are freaks.  I'll admit, it is a bit weird, but I think it's pretty neat.

Thanks for reading!