Avian
From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Bird)
An avian is a being with bird characteristics. This includes all real birds, anthropomorphic birds, fantasy birds, and bird variants such as gryphons or cockatrices. Avian is also an adjective referring to avians.
Anthropomorphic avians can be broadly classed as either bird- or gryphon-anthropomorph. The differences between mammal and bird anatomy can result in difficult questions when designing an anthropomorphic character:
- Arms: In real birds, the wings are modified forelimbs, meaning that a direct anthropomorphising would result in a being with wings instead of arms. There are three main ways around this:
- 'Toony' wings, in which the wing feathers double as fingers. This is frequently seen in cartoons, but is very unrealistic.
- 'Wing arms', which are wings modified into arms. Possibly this takes into account the wing's evolutionary history as a forelimb, which often shows claws on wings. This feature can be seen today in a vestigial form, in the hoatzin.
- Back-mounted wings, and arms; this is probably the most popular option, as it enables flight and dexterity.
- Breasts on females? These are often the only clear indication of gender, but real birds, not being mammals, lack them.
- Leg structure? Real avian legs are an extreme form of digitigrade; this is normally reflected in anthro avians, although the foot proportions are normally shortened.
- Sexual anatomy; most male avians lack a penis (ducks are a well known exception), but this avian accuracy, though not unheard of, is rare in anthros. Less ambiguity is a major advantage of gryphons, in which the rear half is not avian.
