Furry History

[norsenerd]

I think different furs are furs in different senses and are who they are for different reasons. Clearly both genetics and exposure probably play a part in a lot of the mess and for most people it doesn't really matter getting the two separate. Everything you think you think in your brain. For any reason you may be thinking what you're thinking it's there and it's a part of you in your brain. Both your experiences effect what you think and feel as well as the structure of your brain that you were born with. Clearly our brains are structured in a way that can accept combinations of two or more animals as individual creatures. Fury has been around as long as humans have been around. There probably is both a genetic disposition as well as experience modifying what your perceive and think. When somebody thinks fury today they probably think something like Bugs Bunny whereas an Egyptian would think of fury they would think "god." That's more experience then genetics I think but it is genetics that allow this to happen.<br><br>The question then becomes: why are we genetically disposed to merge various creatures around us into one creature. I shall explore this from two different points of view evolution and creationism (Christian), because that's fun for me.<br><br>Evolution:<br><br>Memories develop through the processes that build instinct. Sure creatures' don't remember specific memories form their parents but there are still instinctual memories. Take for example a mouse that lived in the same ecosystem as predatory cats. There would be some mice that have a weird tendency to go on alert when they wear a cat meow. With no cats around this is likely to get passed on because this has no bearing on survival. Now the cats enter the picture. The mice who don't have this flaw would be more likely to be eaten then the mice that do have this flaw. Over time more and more mice get this flaw strong enough to influence behavior. Surely their "gut feeling" is reinforced by experience so a mature mouse would be more likely to be apt to this then a young mouse but I'm pretty sure that there have been experiments done to verify that this type of memory exists in at-least some animals.<br><br>So why would humans be genetically inclined to believe in combination creatures? Humans evolved over a period of time that surely other animals have been evolving. As a species we would see animals change in their appearance and behavior. Instinctual memories of a creature would thus be slightly different your observance of that creature. One conclusion would be that the creature is a hybrid. Over time this would bread an understanding that it is possible for a creature to exhibit trains from a species that it is not a part of. Human curiosity and speculation (which this is in its entirety) can take it from there. This would include hybrids of humans and other animals.<br><br>Creationism:<br><br>One possibility is as fallows. God created humans in His image. This would also mean that humans have a disposition to try and be God. Shouldn't something that looks Godly also be Godly? This means that humans have the urge to create. God created humans so surly humans should be able to create something new. Humans have to use the tools around them so they create mythical or literary combinations of creatures. In addition they would want to crate creatures in human image. After all that's what gods do. Thus they would create new creatures that were almost human but different. They would be different to vary degrees but using what the world around them offers. Thus you get animal like humans.<br><br>The other possibility is that God intended humans to be able to play with the idea of mixing different creatures together to make new creatures. Why would He want this? There most be some useful propose. Indeed there is and I will be getting to that. But God would then include this pre-disposition into our genetical structure to serve that purpose.<br><br>Usefulness:<br><br>Animal husbandry is one of the oldest sciences that there is. I would be surprised if a primitive form of this wasn't being done before people developed permanent communities. I in fact believe that it is the oldest science there is. Weather it was evolution that showed the possibility for manipulation of different species or God had created the knowledge and the will to do so humans got it in their mind that by selectively breading different creatures they can create hybrids that would serve human proposes better. This would require somebody to look at a population of a creature (say goats) and figure out which ones to mate together to get a population of goats that would say produce good cheese and not get ill all the time. After a few generations of goats there would be a population of goats that better serve humans then did previously. Once you get something that can do this abstract thinking about mixing two individual creatures together, it's not a big leap to thinking about what would happen if you mixed two different creatures together. The result would be hybrid creatures including hybrids of humans with other creatures.<br><br>So no matter how this genetic acceptance of fury came about it is related to the useful practice of animal husbandry. It may be a by product of that or merely an accident created at the same time. Given the tendency for genetic variation there would be some people more apt to becoming fury then other people. There may even be people that could never become fury and some people who couldn't help but become furry. What separates the rest of the people in the middle though? This would be individual experiences. What somebody experiences would influence what final shape their initial pre-dispositions would take. Thus it is both genetics and experience that determine how fury someone is. This would also mean that fury is ingrained in mythology, folklore, pop-culture, sub-culture and anywhere else where human activity makes a difference.<br><br><br><br>Now that I've rambled on and on about that I shall discuss my own personal furriness. People defiantly helped me along at every point in the process. I like(d) cartoons just like any kid(person) does(did). So I grey up around Bugs and Buster bunny as well as a whole host of different cartoon human/animals. Because of this I probably don't find it weird when say a friend of mine shows me a comic strip where the two main characters are human foxes. This would also mean I would be more likely to accept the concept of fury. At one point someone got me to look at myself and how my actions often resemble that more of an animal rather then a human. I thought that was weird and pondered it. After a while I was able to pin down a specific animal and accept it as my furry form. Often a take an action that is more behaviorally like a Raccoon then like a human. How I eat or drink most commonly but also how I look at things, how I sit/lay, how I observe and other aspects of behavior. I sometimes want to act like I am a Raccoon because sometimes it just feels right. I almost never do because it would freak most people out. :-(. But anyways. IT was a slow transition of figuring myself out from human to animalistic behavior's to raccoon like behaviors. Also one difference: I gather most furs picture their fury selves as human with animal attributes. With me when I picture my furry self it is a raccoon with the mind of a human and the ability to talk. Nothing much more. That's just me though.

[Sabre]

That was the most Intelligent response I have ever been honored with.<br><br>Points to you infinity.<br><br><br><br>I'm so blown away right now I'll have to properly respond after my brain un-melts.

[Holyman83]

norsenerd that is very impressive!!

[norsenerd]

It's not that unusual for me to grab a topic like this and anazlyze the hell out of it.

[Muninn]

I posted this before but it's worth linking to it here.<br><br><a href='http://furry.wikicities.com/wiki/WikiFur_Furry_Central' target='_blank'>http://furry.wikicities.com/wiki/WikiFu ... Central</a>

[Joe3210]

Kudos for posting that.

[Caoimhin]

Wow... Sabre and Norsenerd that was amazing <!--emo&:mellow:--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... mellow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mellow.gif' /><!--endemo-->. Speaking of Once Upon A Forest I found it at my grandparents house and I remember watching it as a little kid, also the disney Robin Hood which I liked alot. But I would never imagine a whole subculture based on animals with human-like characteristics. Maybe it was my exposure as a little kid to cartoons such as those, along with old Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig cartoons that attracted me to this subculture in the first place. I also got a stuffed blue sheep that I named Iggy when I was abotu one and I still have him on the highest shelf of my room <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> . My mom used to tell me stories about how Iggy would have adventures when I was asleep. So really I was exposed to furries without knowing it. I don't really have a fursona as of yet, as some of you may remember I masquaraded a bit as a dragon for maybe two or three posts, but then I also mentioned that I have drawn myself as a fox furry. I feel inclined to the furry subculture and I feel comfortable and natural within its "setting". I think it really has been a part of human life for ages, cat and human, dog and human, cat/jackal/cow god and human. I actually find my behavior to be a mixture between a fox and a wolf and I can't really choose one. At some point I may choose wolf but then again depending on how the rest of my life turns out maybe a fox. I'm only 15 afterall and I have alot ahead of me <!--emo&:P--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> . Maybe neither.

[Caoimhin]

And I just realized some people got cool new avatars <!--emo&B)--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... s/cool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cool.gif' /><!--endemo--> .

[Holyman83]

I wonder. would C.S Lewis be call a furry if he were alive? The reason I say this is not just because of Narnia and the talking animal but also the story he made as a child had talking animals and I believe in some of his latter book also had talking animals<br><br>Side note: I think the child has stories have anthro animas (not sure thou never read any of them just saw a cover to it)<br><br>Edit: opps typo

[Caoimhin]

<!--QuoteBegin--> <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'><b>Quote:</b> </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Side note: I think the child has stories have anthor animas (not sure thou never read any of them just saw a cover to it)<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table> <!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>huh <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> ?

[Muninn]

Roald Dahl wrote a short story about a boy who could talk to animals.

[Holyman83]

Yes but that is not the same. I'm going with the animals that can talk to anybody, Like in Narnia.

[The J.A.M.]

[singing] If I could talk to the animals...and they could...talk...........to me.... [/singing]

[Spray]

I can talk to animals, it's easy.<br><br>...<br><br>Of course, they never talk back. <!--emo&:wag:--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... ailwag.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tailwag.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Rooster]

I remember an episode of Eerie Indiana where a kid could hear dog's thoughts through his retainer.<br><br>I think the dogs eat him or something...that program was f*cked up.