# What species are the most commonly used in the community? Least used?



## Liberonscien (Aug 13, 2019)

Which species are used most often? And which species are used least often?


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## Peach's (Aug 13, 2019)

Weird thought I just had, its all vaguely related to the Great Chain of Being from medieval philosophy which constantly come into play with how people think of the world. Basically it was a hierarchy with god up top, then angles, then humans, and then animals, which were also assorted into such a hierarchy with foxes and dogs on the top, and on the bottom stuff like clams and barnacles. This kind of relates to how people tend to choose animals.

This doesn't 100% correlate due to, A: medieval philosophy being mostly wrong about how animals worked, and B: there seems to be a very strong anti-ape bias in the community, very few Chimps, Gorillas, ect.

I have found that after I learned of this concept... you start to see it everywhere in society and philosophy, its kind of an in-built human bias.


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## MaetheDragon (Aug 13, 2019)

Well, I’m the only bearded dragon lizard I know. So it’s safe to say that bearded dragons are among the least used species in the fandom. Common ones I often see are wolves, foxes, and mythical dragons. Original species and animal hybrids are fairly common, too, fren.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 13, 2019)

Peebes said:


> Weird thought I just had, its all vaguely related to the Great Chain of Being from medieval philosophy which constantly come into play with how people think of the world. Basically it was a hierarchy with god up top, then angles, then humans, and then animals, which were also assorted into such a hierarchy with foxes and dogs on the top, and on the bottom stuff like clams and barnacles. This kind of relates to how people tend to choose animals.
> 
> This doesn't 100% correlate due to, A: medieval philosophy being mostly wrong about how animals worked, and B: there seems to be a very strong anti-ape bias in the community, very few Chimps, Gorillas, ect.
> 
> I have found that after I learned of this concept... you start to see it everywhere in society and philosophy, its kind of an in-built human bias.


I once considered for a month or so making my fursona be some kind of ape because I kept getting drawn back to the human archetype. I still do.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 13, 2019)

MCtheBeardie said:


> Well, I’m the only bearded dragon lizard I know. So it’s safe to say that bearded dragons are among the least used species in the fandom. Common ones I often see are wolves, foxes, and mythical dragons. Original species and animal hybrids are fairly common, too, fren.


Interesting. 

I am trying to, among other things, bring the less popular species to the surface in a thing I am working on.


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## MaetheDragon (Aug 13, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> Interesting.
> 
> I am trying to, among other things, bring the less popular species to the surface in a thing I am working on.



Awesome! That’s cool to hear, fren! I hope you have success with your little project, it sounds interesting.

The only other unusual species I’ve seen in the fandom so far is an Asian Tapir. Other than that, yeah, this fandom is mostly canines, felines and dragons. Avians and other scalies, as well as less popular mammals, tend to be in the minority. You won’t find many Saigas and Oryx out there, I’m afraid.


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## TR273 (Aug 13, 2019)

Off the top of my head I can think of three other mice I've encountered on the forum, so we're not really in a majority, the bulk of my encounters have been dragons, foxes, felines and canines.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 13, 2019)

MCtheBeardie said:


> Awesome! That’s cool to hear, fren! I hope you have success with your little project, it sounds interesting.
> 
> The only other unusual species I’ve seen in the fandom so far is an Asian Tapir. Other than that, yeah, this fandom is mostly canines, felines and dragons. Avians and other scalies, as well as less popular mammals, tend to be in the minority. You won’t find many Saigas and Oryx out there, I’m afraid.


Interesting.

I'm working on a world where all of the animals on earth acquire sapience over the course of many generations with the close relatives to humans acquiring sapience first, then the farther relatives later.


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## MosquitoBeest (Aug 13, 2019)

I am the only wildebeest here, so another rarity!


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## AcoriStormy (Aug 14, 2019)

I think one species that people forget is really popular is sharks. I can't go anywhere without tripping over two or three of them XD but they're not considered "generic furry" like foxes and wolves and cats.


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## Simo (Aug 14, 2019)

AcoriStormy said:


> I think one species that people forget is really popular is sharks. I can't go anywhere without tripping over two or three of them XD but they're not considered "generic furry" like foxes and wolves and cats.



Also, Sergals, though this has perhaps died down a bit? But for a while, they seemed to be breeding like rabbits! Still, I'd group them as 'common', and perhaps the most common invented/open species. 

~

Outside of certain invented species, though, it seems that species with which there are fewer connotations in the western mind are the most rare. There's many animals I think would make amazing fursonas from around the globe, but I think furs avoid them due to the risk of simply being overlooked.

I have an alternate Fossa fursona that I have used in RPs, and that's been a fun/successful thing here and again, though, it generally takes some time to explain Fossas, their folklore, and background, before going into the fursona itself. But having done a fair bit of research on Fossas and the native cultures of Madagascar, the endeavor has paid off, and been quite fun, as a fursona used every now and again, and one quite in contrast to my normal, sweet as pie, Skunk one : P


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## Render (Aug 14, 2019)

Most? Fox
Least? Octopus


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## Liberonscien (Aug 14, 2019)

AcoriStormy said:


> I think one species that people forget is really popular is sharks. I can't go anywhere without tripping over two or three of them XD but they're not considered "generic furry" like foxes and wolves and cats.


Sharks are one of the ones I like the most though they are not often rendered realistically.


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## ManicTherapsid (Aug 14, 2019)

Canids are definetely most common.

I think Cynodonts and other protomammals like my sona are pretty rare. The only thing close to mine Ive ever seen was a Gorgonopsid.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 14, 2019)

ManicTherapsid said:


> Canids are definetely most common.
> 
> I think Cynodonts and other protomammals like my sona are pretty rare. The only thing close to mine Ive ever seen was a Gorgonopsid.


What are those?


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## ManicTherapsid (Aug 14, 2019)

Cynodonts? They were the link between reptiles and mammals for the most part. They lived during the Permian and Triassic.


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## ManicTherapsid (Aug 14, 2019)

A gorgonopsid. Same time period. But imagine a sabre-toothed tiger and a komodo dragon having a baby.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 14, 2019)

ManicTherapsid said:


> Cynodonts? They were the link between reptiles and mammals for the most part. They lived during the Permian and Triassic.





ManicTherapsid said:


> A gorgonopsid. Same time period. But imagine a sabre-toothed tiger and a komodo dragon having a baby.


Fascinating. 

I'm trying to educate people on less popular but still interesting animal species in a thing I am writing.


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## Drawmander (Aug 14, 2019)

Unfortunately, I fear the opabinia may be the least used species.




It deserves better.


Spoiler



Axolotl are also pretty rare, but I saw a few when I googled it.


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## ManicTherapsid (Aug 14, 2019)

Don't think I've ever seen a Cambrian sona. There's got to be a few trilobites out there somewhere I imagine. @Fallowfox ever seen one? Lol


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## Liberonscien (Aug 14, 2019)

Drawmander said:


> Unfortunately, I fear the opabinia may be the least used species.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Have you ever seen it be used before?


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## Nyro46 (Aug 15, 2019)

Foxes seem to be the most common, or wolves. Basically a lot of canids and felids are used, but that doesn't really count ALL members of those classes. There are plenty of canids and felids too that are not as commonly used or even fairly rare - many wild cat species, some wild canids or uncommon dog breeds. My fursona is a caracal/osprey hybrid, caracals are not SUPER common in the community, and I have never seen an osprey so far.

Some mustelids are common but others are pretty rare. Otters are probably the most used, surprisingly I see quite a few martens occasionally, and then ferrets and sometimes weasels. But mink, fishers, wolverines and polecats, and probably some others I haven't listed, I don't really see that often if ever. (For mink I am not including Sonic characters or anything related to Minerva Mink).

Others I can think of are dragons, skunks, raccoons, kangaroos, bears, and maybe some other species I forgot, that are fairly popular or I at least see often enough. Pretty much anything else isn't as common or not seen at all. In general there don't seem to be as many scalies (I think the most common for those would be dragons as I've mentioned, second would be alligators/crocodiles) and definitely not a lot of bird fursonas around. Amphibians aren't very common, and many hoofed animals are not so common sometimes (the most for them I've seen are cows and sometimes horses). Also, you don't really see any bugs or sea animals either (besides sharks).

There are some "open species" within the community too, some being more common than others. Mostly Sergals and Dutch Angel Dragons I see. 



AcoriStormy said:


> I think one species that people forget is really popular is sharks. I can't go anywhere without tripping over two or three of them XD but they're not considered "generic furry" like foxes and wolves and cats.


The thing is though is that most sharks I see in the fandom are this weird sort of creature that doesn't really actually look like a shark. They have shark-like features, but also mammalian features and ears, they look more like they could be their own species. I am not much of a fan of these "sharks".
Though there are other shark "furries" that look a bit more shark-like.


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## Keefur (Aug 15, 2019)

TR273 said:


> Off the top of my head I can think of three other mice I've encountered on the forum, so we're not really in a majority, the bulk of my encounters have been dragons, foxes, felines and canines.


Are the three mice all blind?

When I got into the Fandom, there were only three other Sabertooths.  A few years ago at FWA in Georgia, there was a photoshoot for Sabertooth fursuiters (which I missed), and twenty fursuiters showed up.  

Most common?  Foxes.

Least common?  Anything from the ocean pretty much.  I know a walrus, a killer whale, and even a goldfish, but aquatic fursonas aren't that common.  I could pick a thousand obscure extinct species, for example a coelacanth or even a crinoid, which many confuse with a plant.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 15, 2019)

Interesting. I am trying to compile a list of fursona types commonly used for curiosity fulfillment purposes, among other things.


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## Peach's (Aug 15, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> Interesting. I am trying to compile a list of fursona types commonly used for curiosity fulfillment purposes, among other things.


Are you trying to find rare SPECIES or rare kinds or genera of animals? I've noticed in some of these that people will post some specific species like "Arctic Fox" which (lets just say) may be rare, but it very well fits into the fox archetype. 

There are also weird quirks with species vs conception, as Box Jellyfish and Portuguese Man of war are about as different genetically as a human and a frog, but we kind of lump them both into "Jellyfishes."


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## Liberonscien (Aug 15, 2019)

Peebes said:


> Are you trying to find rare SPECIES or rare kinds or genera of animals? I've noticed in some of these that people will post some specific species like "Arctic Fox" which (lets just say) may be rare, but it very well fits into the fox archetype.
> 
> There are also weird quirks with species vs conception, as Box Jellyfish and Portuguese Man of war are about as different genetically as a human and a frog, but we kind of lump them both into "Jellyfishes."


I'm looking for stuff more like "canines, felines, and sharks" and less like "golden retrievers, domestic shorthairs, and tiger sharks".


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## Peach's (Aug 15, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> I'm looking for stuff more like "canines, felines, and sharks" and less like "golden retrievers, domestic shorthairs, and tiger sharks".


I was going to say, I cannot imagine there would be serious uplifting differences between an Arctic Fox and a Red Fox. lol


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## Liberonscien (Aug 15, 2019)

Peebes said:


> I was going to say, I cannot imagine there would be serious uplifting differences between an Arctic Fox and a Red Fox. lol


I'm thinking they might have different diets and slightly different cultures but unless they had severe cultural dissonance then they would get along well enough.


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## Peach's (Aug 15, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> I'm thinking they might have different diets and slightly different cultures but unless they had severe cultural dissonance then they would get along well enough.



On that front then you gotta watch out for some Ant Species then, the Argentine Ant maintains three international super colonies all of which are in perpetual global warfare with each other, some 1984 stuff right there.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 15, 2019)

Peebes said:


> On that front then you gotta watch out for some Ant Species then, the Argentine Ant maintains three international super colonies all of which are in perpetual global warfare with each other, some 1984 stuff right there.


Good point. When they are uplifted it is going to escalate their war immensely.


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## Drawmander (Aug 16, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> Have you ever seen it be used before?


I couldn’t find any, so I made this:


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## Liberonscien (Aug 16, 2019)

Drawmander said:


> I couldn’t find any, so I made this:


Nice. 

Snab?


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## Drawmander (Aug 16, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> Nice.
> 
> Snab?


There’s a really niche meme in ecology about the opabinia making a ‘snab’ sound when it grabbed something


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## Liberonscien (Aug 16, 2019)

Drawmander said:


> There’s a really niche meme in ecology about the opabinia making a ‘snab’ sound when it grabbed something


Ah.

Cute, then.


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## Existenceinanutshell (Aug 16, 2019)

Cats, dogs/wolves, foxes, hybrids, ponies/horses, squirrels,


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## Cyroo (Aug 17, 2019)

There are a handful of Tauren enthusiasts- although not much, compared to say, Draenei, or Pandaren. The next closest thing I can think of would be simple bovine animals, bulls and cows, but I can only think of one other person who has a bovine identity, and they're mostly on Discord.

I think the most common are dogs, wolves, foxes, and cats.


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## Liberonscien (Aug 17, 2019)

Cyroo said:


> There are a handful of Tauren enthusiasts- although not much, compared to say, Draenei, or Pandaren. The next closest thing I can think of would be simple bovine animals, bulls and cows, but I can only think of one other person who has a bovine identity, and they're mostly on Discord.
> 
> I think the most common are dogs, wolves, foxes, and cats.


Tauren?


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## EapingEagle (Aug 17, 2019)

I've always wanted to see more Aquatic and avian fursona species being drawn.

Probably the most I've seen is Foxes and wolves.


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## CrookedCroc (Aug 17, 2019)

Most used? Probably foxes and wolves  
Least used? Something from the ocean, probably an stargazer, can't imagine why


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## Liberonscien (Aug 19, 2019)

CrookedCroc said:


> Most used? Probably foxes and wolves
> Least used? Something from the ocean, probably an stargazer, can't imagine why
> View attachment 68505


Those eyes are odd.


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## Deleted member 132067 (Aug 19, 2019)

EapingEagle said:


> I've always wanted to see more Aquatic and avian fursona species being drawn.


I feel like there's a lot of people drawing sharks lately. Although almost all of them are overly cutsie females. I don't know what's up with that.


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## cerulean_blues (Aug 19, 2019)

I have a sea-slug sona. I've yet to meet another, but I haven't been here for very long.


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## Cyroo (Aug 21, 2019)

Liberonscien said:


> Tauren?


wow.gamepedia.com: Tauren


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## Liberonscien (Aug 21, 2019)

Cyroo said:


> wow.gamepedia.com: Tauren


Ah.


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## oappo (Aug 30, 2019)

Elephants and rhinos are pretty rare. I've only seen a handful across the various art sites I visit.


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## Glossolalia (Aug 30, 2019)

oappo said:


> Elephants and rhinos are pretty rare. I've only seen a handful across the various art sites I visit.



I've always wondered why elephants are so uncommon as OCs/sonas. They're relatively popular, mainstream animals, they have interesting features that make for fun character designs, they can look cute or wise and dignified. You'd think they'd be prime sona material.


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## Massan Otter (Aug 30, 2019)

I'm amazed no-one has answered this facetiously yet, as in "Foxes are the most commonly used, but it's OK, they enjoy it!"


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## oappo (Aug 30, 2019)

Glossolalia said:


> I've always wondered why elephants are so uncommon as OCs/sonas. They're relatively popular, mainstream animals, they have interesting features that make for fun character designs, they can look cute or wise and dignified. You'd think they'd be prime sona material.


My theory is it's because they're so big/fat. I suppose the logical conclusion is that the default elephant character would at least be chubby.  Not to mention elephants don't really have the same type of charisma as say, tigers or lions or polar bears, despite their reputation. They lack the "cool" or "familiar"  factor that so many popular species have.


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## Larch (Aug 31, 2019)

Protogens weren't that common when I joined that I noticed. Shortly after, I saw two more, so it's hard to tell.


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## M town wolf (Aug 31, 2019)

Well  really wolves and tigers and foxes hehe


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