Do you know how close you are to a furry right now?
The subculture, popularized by the spread of the internet and brought to the public eye by shows like "CSI," is comprised of legions of people who identify with animal personas (or fursonas), and often dress in full-body animal mascot costumes called "fursuits". They host local hangouts and national conferences, like AnthroCon, and count outsized personalities like musician and noted partier Andrew W.K. among their thousands of members.
There's no way to know exactly how large the community actually is, but the website Furrymap aims to let members share their locations and profiles to more easily connect with others of their kind. So far there are 7,476 profiles registered on the site.
Not surprisingly, the highest concentrations of furries are in large cities like New York and Seattle, but many can also be found scattered throughout the middle of the country in states like North Dakota and Idaho.
The furry community also exists overseas -- in fact, the earlier versions of the FurryMap website originated in Germany. The concentration of self-reported furries is much denser in Europe for that reason, and also because we can all agree that Europe is a little weird.
Though this lifestyle may seem a little strange to the majority of people, it has brought support and understanding to thousands of its members. This new map tool is just one more way for these fuzzy friends to find each other. Like Twitter user @KevinReuning says:
You are never alone when you have the internet. https://t.co/GQdvJf52Fr @johnb30— Kevin Reuning (@KevinReuning) March 1, 2015
Found one!
