Furries? What’s that?

The furry community, or furries, is a group of people who like animal characters that have human traits (anthropomorphic animals), such as walking, talking and wearing clothes.

Born in the 1980s in the United States as an art movement, it has now spread all over the world.

What do furries mainly do?

Furries make and enjoy art, music and media featuring anthropomorphic animals, and often socialize with other furries online and offline.

They are known to do so in custom-made costumes (fursuits) of their self-made characters (fursonas).

Furries come from various walks of life, but they share an interest in anthropomorphic animals.

The community’s environment

The furry community is a welcoming and non-judgmental space for people of different backgrounds,

This attracts many young people who want a safe and supportive place to explore their personal identity and interests.

Wait, it’s not a kink?

The furry community’s niche interests and activities do draw curiosity as they sometimes do not align with prevailing social, cultural or religious norms. But above all, it is not mainly about sexual activity or kinks.

Just as in other fandoms and in society today, there are furries interested in adult content. Such is only one out of the furry community’s broad diversity of interests.

“Most furries aren’t straight.”

A 2020 study by furry research body FurScience — with participants mostly from North America and Europe — found that most furries identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender).

But further research is still needed. There is no large-scale global census that adequately represents furries or LGBT identities worldwide.

~40 countries have furry cons.

According to GFTV’s Furry Convention Status Tracker (FURST), there are furry conventions in nearly 40 countries as of 2023.

In 2024, China became the country with the most amount of furcons in the world, surpassing the United States. Only South Africa has a furcon in the African continent.

Fursonas are self-help tools.

Clinical research found that the original characters furries make for themselves, or fursonas (furry persona), benefit mental health.

Fursonas can carry superior or identical social or physical traits to its owner. Said owner may aspire to such traits by imitating it, for example. This improves one’s self-esteem.

Neurodiversity is very welcome.

The furry community attracts many people with mental health special needs – who strongly value social support, acceptance and integration of people like themselves.

Compared to the general population, neurodivergence is prevalent in the furry community by a large margin.