Furry fandom is a fandom distinguished by its enjoyment of anthropomorphic animal characters. Examples of anthropomorphism in furry fandom include the attribution of human intelligence, facial expressions, anatomy, speech, bipedalism, and clothing to otherwise animal characters. Members of this subculture are sometimes known as furry fans, furries, or simply furs.
Art and entertainment celebrated by furry fandom include fictional work that employs the concept of animal characters with human characteristics, rather than any particular type of fiction. For this reason, any work, in any medium, may be considered part of the furry genre simply by inclusion of an anthropomorphized animal character, although such characters are most often seen in comics, cartoons, animated films, allegorical novels, and video games. The science fiction and fantasy genres make frequent use of anthropomorphism, and as a result, are especially popular in furry fandom.
Since the 1980s, the term furries has come to refer to anthropomorphic animal characters. Although mammals are the most common, anthropomorphized reptiles, birds or aquatic animals may also be known as furries (sometimes "scalies", "avians", or "aquatics", respectively).
