As mentioned in the other parts of this series, this Paw Study is part of the Balaa’s “Artist Conspiracy” series, who’s whole purpose is to provide both good reference pictures for artists as well as inspiration to try them out in new artwork! There are nine pictures in this series, with the “number zero” having been posted a long, long time ago now: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/432365/

As this /is/ a Paw Study, I thought the very best candidate for modeling would best be a kitty with very large and imposing paws, who doesn’t mind showing them off. So, logically, that led me to The DrifterMan, who was more than happy to volunteer.

This picture is perhaps slightly less of a Paw Study than a somewhat generic display of paws. Obviously in this case, the paws on a considerably relaxed kitty. Even so, there are several noteworthy items of Feline Trivia that I wanted to point out.

While Drifter’s tail is in the way of his left hind paw, his right hind paw is quite visible. While the camera angle is not ideal, the left forepaw is not in the perfect position for view, but for the right to forepaw, there is once again a decent view of the underside, displaying the dark, dense fur, as well as the paw pads. The most noteworthy item to mention is the size difference between the forepaws in the rear paws. While again, the camera angle is not ideal, I think the size relation is still quite visible here. It can be seen that the paw pads are similar in size, and that in fact the rear paw, paw pads are in fact larger than on the forepaws. However, the overall size of the paw is notably different. I think this picture displays that clearly.

The paw size differential from front to rears is not unique to cougars. The vast majority of feline species display this same differential, although some species to a much lesser degree. Members of the lynx family, such as bobcats and lynxes, also have a very dramatic paw size differential. In contrast, many members of the Panthera genus are not so dramatically different in size from front to rears. Tigers and lions are obviously and clearly different in size, as are leopards and jaguars, but none are nearly so dramatic as is the case of many cougars.

So, all biology aside for the moment, I must point out the simple fact: Cougars Rock!

So this is the seventh image of the Drifter Paw Study. Enjoy!

This picture was taken 17-Apr-04. The image was taken with a Canon EOS 10D and the EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM lens. The original was taken at full frame of 3072x2048x24b, ISO eqv 400, 1/350 shutter, f/5.6. This image was shrunken down for space conservation.