The tuft of fur or feathers can take the form of a cowlick, a feather crest, a stylish curl, messy fuzz or set of tufts, a few or a set of spiky tufts, or a shock that sticks out as well as a simple tuft. The tuft can either be small, medium, or large. The tuft is most frequently placed on the top of the head, but it can also be placed on the back of the head. A majority of head tufts on fictional animals point toward the forehead and face, but some can point away from the face and grow more with the general fur or feather growth.
Some fur and feather tufts are reminiscent of Idiot Hair, Messy Hair, or Wild Hair and some fur and feather tufts can behave like Stubborn Hair.
When it comes to Funny Animal and Beast Man characters this is much more common in males to the point of being a Tertiary Sexual Characteristic. Female characters will usually have a Furry Female Mane while males only have a small amount of fluff. With Nearly Normal Animal and Partially Civilized Animal characters the opposite is usually true. Female characters are more likely to have tufts of fur to establish them as females while males are normal and "bald". However, in the case of a Messy Male, Fancy Female pairing, the male animal might have a tuft while the female has smooth fur.
There is a trend in the Furry Fandom to draw long, exaggerated hair tufts that look a bit like scene hair. You'll see this often in fan-art for series like Warrior Cats or Pokémon. Even if they're not exaggerated, tufts of head fur are extremely common on feral fursonas and OCs.
Compare to Non-Mammalian Hair and contrast with Furry Female Mane.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Tommy McAnairey: Tommy's daughter Drimnagh has a green-dyed combover fringe of feathers.
Anime & Manga
- The Pokémon: The Series anime has used this trope to distinguish between two Pokemon of the same species:
- Ritchie had a Pikachu named "Sparky" who had a tuft of fur to distinguish him from Ash's Pikachu.
- In "Battling At Full Volume" a guitarist trainer with a mohawk exclusively battled powerful Pikachu. His Pikachu named "Spiky" had his fur styled like a fauxhawk.
- The Pikachu and Pichu short has two Pichu brothers, with one of them having a tuft of head fur to distinguish him from the other.
- While Warrior Cats fanart commonly depicts cats with this, it's used rarely and very subtly in the Warrior Cats (manga) themselves.
- Tufts of fur are used to distinguish characters in the Shogakukan Sonic the Hedgehog manga. For example, Nikki's parents have tufts of fur on their head, his little sister doesn't, and Nikki himself has blue hair.
Asian Animation
- Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf has a variant, as Paddi the goat has wool, not fur; nevertheless, he has a swirly tuft of wool on his head when none of the other goats have tufts on their heads.
Comic Books
- Bunnie from Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) started out with fur on her head but eventually she was redesigned to have a full head of hair.
- The Lion King:
- Canon Foreigner cubs from the comics usually have tufts of fur to spice up their designs. Tojo and Tama have tufts of fur, while Malka has a small black mane.
- Zazu's unnamed girlfriend in the comic Zazu the Heartbreaker has a huge head of feathers.
Fan Works
- Warriors fan-artist Draikinator has a few MAPs that are themed around giving the normally realistic cat characters "out there" designs (based on how many 2000s-era artists drew the characters), including inaccurate colors and long tufts of head fur. This Jayfeather MAP
set to Evanescence's "Everybody's Fool" has Jayfeather with a "emo" bangs.
- The Lion King: Kiara's Reign:
- Leah has a tuft both to show that she's female and to distinguish her from Simba as a cub.
- Koda has a tuft to give him a boyish look.
- FAITH (Miyatoriaka): As a Pikachu, Misty has a huge tuft on her head that resembles hair.
- Adult Arthur: Both Arthur and Buster have each grown a tuft of fur in order to emulate short hair.
Films — Animation
- In Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1998) bucks like Rudolph and Arrow have fur on their heads while does like Zoey don't.
- Most of the mice in The Secret of NIMH have tufts of fur on their head, which they don't have in the original book.
- Minnie Mouse in Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers has a tuft of fur on her head. Mickey Mouse does not. Minnie averts this in almost every other appearance though.
- The male ducks in Leafie, a Hen into the Wild have fluffy head feathers that look like hair. Wanderer is particularly memetic to the point where the movie is called "that movie with the Bishōnen ducks".
- In Rio both macaws and toucans are designed with a crest of feathers on their head that varies in size and shape, to give the individual characters more distinct appearances. Taken to the extreme with Roberto in the sequel, whose crest makes him look like a Long-Haired Pretty Boy with Non-Mammalian Hair.
- Oliver and Rita from Oliver & Company have tufts of fur on their head, with the latter looking very much like she has '80s Hair. Subverted with Tito, who inexplicably has a full head of red hair despite being a normal looking Chihuahua.
- Stitch of Lilo & Stitch has a small tuft of fur on his head.
- Figaro the kitten in Pinocchio has a tuft of fur on the back of his head. Gideon the adult cat in the same movie has a thin, messy tuft of fur that sticks forward on his head.
- Both feline main characters from Cats Don't Dance have a significant amount of fur atop their heads. Orange tabby tom Danny has the standard tuft that even his straw hat can't contain, while pretty angora kitty Sawyer likes to curl hers into a stylish swirl. Being the main characters, theirs are the most prominent of all the anthropomorphic characters in-universe.
- The Bambi series uses the Messy Male, Fancy Female trope. Bucks like Ronno and Bambi are fluffy and have fur tufts while females like Faline have neat fur.
- The Fox and the Hound features Messy Male, Fancy Female. Despite Todd being a former pet and Vixey being wild, Todd is drawn as having unruly fur (including a tuft of head fur) while Vixey is well-groomed.
- Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure:
- Angel has a tuft of fur on her head to help distinguish her as female.
- Scamp's tuft of fur emphasises his youth and distinguish him more from his father.
- The Lion King extended media uses this often to distinguish lions from each other. There's only so much you can do to make them look different from one another. Oddly, the heavy amount of lion cubs with manes makes Simba look like a late bloomer:
- Simba himself has a bit of messy fur on his head. It's not as pronounced as with other cubs, however it is noticeable when compared to Nala's smooth head.
- Vitani from The Lion King II: Simba's Pride has a tuft of fur on her head. In her case it makes her look scruffy, befitting for an Outsider and a Dark Action Girl.
- Timon's mother in The Lion King 1 ½ has a red tuft of fur on her head, like her son. She's also the only meerkat with an eye color (instead of black pupils), making her a Significant Green-Eyed Redhead.
- The Aristocats:
- Toulouse and Berlioz have a messy tuft of fur on their heads.
- Marie has a tuft of fur held up by a pink bow on her head.
- Thomas O’Malley the alley cat has a thin tuft of fur on his head. Duchess, the high society rich female cat, averts this to keep with her well-groomed look.
- The Great Mouse Detective:
- Olivia Flaversham has a tuft of fur on her head.
- Basil has a messy tuft of fur on his head that can be seen when he is not wearing his deerstalker cap.
- Miss Kitty (who is a mouse) has a styled tuft of fur on her head.
- Felicia the cat has a tuft of fur held up by a bow on her head.
- Toby the dog has two short hairs sticking out on his head.
- Turning Red:
- Ming's panda form has a styled tuft of fur on her head.
- Grandma Wu's panda form has a tuft of fur on her head.
- Ping's panda form has a parted tuft of fur on her head.
- Chen's panda form has a messy tuft of fur on her head.
Films — Live-Action
- In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger Rabbit has a large tuft of red hair on his head that is different from the white fur over the rest of his body.
- The male Velociraptor leader in Jurassic Park 3 has a crest of quills on his head to distinguish him from the other raptors. Notably, this is the only time in the whole Jurassic Park franchise that the raptors have been portrayed with any sort of feathers.
- The page image is Stripe from Gremlins, whose tuft of white fur marked him as the ringleader of the evil Gremlins and as Gizmo's arch-rival.
Literature
- Among the rabbits of Watership Down, Bigwig is distinguished by being The Big Guy and by a pronounced tuft of fur atop his head, hence his name: Thlayli ("furhead") in lapine.
- Simba's son Kopa in The Lion King: Six New Adventures books has a small brown mane growing in order to lessen the Strong Family Resemblance between him and Simba as a cub.
- In The Legend of All Wolves, apparently if Lorcan forgets to take out his ponytail before the change (to wolf form), it remains as "an undignified sprout of tawny fur at the top of his head."
Other
- The golden eagle on the Mexican flag has three spiky tufts of feathers on the back of its head.
- Chuck E. Cheese: Helen Henny has a full head of feathers; her feathers are often seen tied into pigtails or a ponytail. In some artwork from the late 1990s/2000s, she can be seen wearing her feathered hair down.
Video Games
- In Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], a young Minnie has a tuft of fur when shown as the princess to the Country of the Musketeers. This is a direct reference to her design in the above-mentioned film, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers. Present-time Minnie in other Kingdom Hearts games doesn't have a tuft of fur.
- Some Animal Crossing villagers, such as Molly the duck, have tufts of fur or feathers instead of hair.
- Sonic The Hedgehog:
- Tails has an Anime Hair-esque tuft on his head.
- Cream's mother Vanilla has a tuft of red fur on her head, where Cream's mark is. Cream herself has no tuft.
- As part of Character Customization, players can choose to have tufts of fur on their lion's heads in as opposed to full manes or maneless heads in Impressive Title.
- In FeralHeart, the tufts extend to canine or at least non-feline characters to make them stand out more.
Web Animation
- Happy Tree Friends: Both Lammy and Cuddles have a tuft of fur (Wool in Lammy's case) on their head.
Webcomics
- This is pretty much the standard hairstyle for all the males in Lackadaisy, though they do have some varying degrees of how messy they are (e.g. Wick and Mordecai are well combed, whereas Rocky and Freckle have the standard unkept tufts). In contrast, all females have heads full of hair. This is justified, though, as the comic takes place in the Roaring Twenties, when men kept their hair short.
- Stand Still, Stay Silent: One of the characters cut her previously-long hair to be very short, but left the bangs longer than the rest and let them go a little wild, resulting in them standing out. Later in the story, she acquires a bird-like form that has a tuft of feathers extremely remniscent of her bangs.
Western Animation
- The titular chipmunks in Alvin and the Chipmunks traditionally have fur on their head that looks a bit like hair, though ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks gives them hair. In contrast, their Distaff Counterparts The Chipettes have Furry Female Manes.
- Harvey from Harvey Beaks has a fluff of feathers on his head that makes it clear that he is feathered instead of blue skinned. His mother has a full head of hair.
- Animaniacs:
- Rita has a tuft of grey fur. In comparison, the male Runt is the one with a full head of hair, in a different color from the rest of him.
- Slappy and Skippy Squirrel each have a tuft of fur on their head. The former wears a hat, so her head tuft is not usually seen.
- Pinky the mouse has a tuft of fur on their head whereas The Brain doesn't. In Pinky's case, the tuft makes him look funnier, while Brain's lack of tuft makes him look bald, and thus both more serious and more villainous. Billie the mouse has a large shock of fur on the top of her head.
- Wakko is shown to have a tuft of fur on his head when his hat is off. His older brother, Yakko, averts this. The 2020 revival, however, plays it straight with both brothers having visible tufts — even when Wakko has his hat on.
- Tiny Toon Adventures:
- Fifi La Fume has a large light purple tuft of fur that is styled into a curl.
- Babs and Buster have small ones, a matched pair.
- Furrball has a tuft of fur on his forehead, along with an Ear Notch and a bandage on his tail to reflect that he is a stray cat.
- Plucky Duck has a tuft of feathers on his head.
- Baby Plucky similarly has a tuft of feathers on his head.
- Hanna-Barbera:
- Boo Boo from Yogi Bear has this.
- Looney Tunes:
- Lola Bunny has something between this and a Furry Female Mane. She has blonde fur on her head that is a different shade from the rest of fur but it isn't a full head of hair—because her ears are her ponytail.
- Bugs Bunny plays this straighter by having a simple tuft of fur on his head.
- Daffy Duck has a tuft of feathers on his head.
- Sylvester has a long thin tuft of fur on his head.
- Tweety has three long hairlike feathers on his head.
- Wile E. Coyote has a tuft of fur on his head and the Roadrunner has a very large tuft of feathers on his head.
- Speedy Gonzales is a light brown mouse with a black hair-like tuft of fur on his head.
- Taz has rather thick head fluff.
- The Loud House: In the Dream Sequence from "White Hare", Warren, a rabbit, has a tuft on his head, whereas most other animal characters lack any sort of hair presentation.
- The Simpsons: Itchy the mouse has a simple tuft of hair on his head, and Scratchy the cat has three spiky tufts.
- Tom and Jerry:
- The titular cat and mouse both have a thin tuft of hair on their head.
- Shaun the Sheep: While the rest of the sheep on the show have completely black heads, the titular Shaun has a tuft of white wool on his.
- Sassy Cat from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy is a mix of Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse. She has fluff on her head.
- Classic Disney Shorts:
- Goofy has a long, very thin tuft of hair on his head. His son, Max has a large hair-like tuft of fur on his head.
- Pete has a tuft of hair on his head.
- Donald has a few tufts of feathers on his head, a main on on top of his head and one on the back of his head.
- Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Scrooge have feather tufts on their heads.
- Dale has a tuft of fur on his head, whereas Chip doesn't.
- The animated adaptation of Ratha's Creature gives the protagonist, Ratha, a tuft of fur on her head. Most of the others don't have the extra head fluff.
- Teenage Po is depicted with a tuft of fur on his head in Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll. His adult form lacks it.
- Care Bears usually averts this trope however the redesigns for Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot uses this. Male characters have tufts of fur on their head while female ones have their tufts supported by ribbons. The Tertiary Sexual Characteristics at least meant there was no chance of Viewer Gender Confusion and Ambiguous Gender like in previous series'. The tufts of fur were abandoned in the next retool, and the characters went back to their traditional styles.
- The Lion Guard:
- Simba's son Kion has a small reddish mane growing in order to lessen the Strong Family Resemblance between him and his father as a cub.
- In order to make them look feminine, Tiifu and Zuri have a cowlick and a fluff of fur on their head respectively.
- The Lion Guard has a few non-lion examples. The gorilla princes have fur on their head styled like hair and Besthe the hippo has a small spike of black fur on his head.
- Elinor Wonders Why: Ari, a bat, has a spiky tuft as hair.
