As someone who isn't really into Kemono Friends, trying to figure out these names is just killing me. Also, this artist uses some sort of nonstandard font that makes looking up the kanji really, really annoying.

NWSiaCB said:

As someone who isn't really into Kemono Friends, trying to figure out these names is just killing me. Also, this artist uses some sort of nonstandard font that makes looking up the kanji really, really annoying.

You shouldn't feel bad. Even those of us who are wouldn't be of much help in all likelihood. The cast at this point includes game exclusives, and the game crashed and burned before the anime even launched.

NWSiaCB said:

As someone who isn't really into Kemono Friends, trying to figure out these names is just killing me. Also, this artist uses some sort of nonstandard font that makes looking up the kanji really, really annoying.

I was lucky to find the first one, but no luck on the other two. Is that third one サッツソ or サッツン? The angle of the inside stroke on the last kana makes me think it's ン, but I'm not sure.

@NWSiaCB @Moonspeaker

I figured I'd do some digging to try and help. So, Dog's name in Japanese is イエイヌ. Literally, she's a Shiba Inu. Southern Pudu's is プーズー. Red Junglefowl's is セキショクヤケイ.

Pudu here is built more like Aurochs and other large, Bovine Friends. Her horn style also hints at this, since her horns normally point backwards instead of to the sides. Her tail, which can be seen in later images, is most definitely not Pudu's tail and is bovine in nature. Her sheer size also indicates this, because pudu are tiny. Out of all the ungulate Friends, she appears to most resemble Banteng (バンテン) or Nilgai (ニルガイ).

Dog has a collar in place of a harness and I don't see the Shiba Inu spots on her forehead. None of the canid Friends have this, let alone the three domestic ones (Shiba, Ryukyuken, Siberian Husky).

Red Junglefowl seems to most closely resemble Goldcrest (キクイタダキ) and Lappet-faced Vulture (ミミヒダハゲワシ) than she does to "Red Jungle Fowl" in hair design, however her tail betrays the fact that she is almost certainly a fowl of some sort. However, literally none of the fowl have short hair. There are also elements of Greater Roadrunner's (オオミチバシリ) design.

I hope this is of some use in sussing out those nicknames. I went through literally every single avian, cervid, canid, and bovid Friend to try and see what I could scrounge up. That being said, trying to match this trio to their identities was not easy, and I am not certain we've got them tagged correctly. It doesn't help that from what I have seen, everyone else is using their original designs from the game and/or anime.

@Garrus
Your research is much appreciated. Unfortunately, what we need is some usage of the nicknames used on this page within official KF material (or cataloging thereof), or at least within more immediate conjunction to their associated proper names, whether in unofficial or official material. Guess the research will just have to continue...or I guess we could ask the author.

It fortunately doesn't matter all that much, since these specific nicknames don't appear anywhere else in the doujin that I've seen. From context, I assume she's talking to pudu and red junglefowl, and I'd guess that Kurowa refers to the pudu, since she's darker-furred.

Incidentally, the red junglefowl is the wild ancestor of the chicken, in the same way as wolves are to dogs.

@Talon_923 Is there a concrete reason that you tagged the post as original?

Is there a source that says they are original Friends of Kishida Shiki or another artist? If so, are their names available somewhere?

@poppoko
I searched through all the Friends in an effort to suss out their identities. I can tell you there are none that actually matched these three. Regarding their names, probably have to ask the artist directly.

Garrus said:

@poppoko
I searched through all the Friends in an effort to suss out their identities. I can tell you there are none that actually matched these three.

I, too, have looked through almost all the Friends (including the Concept Design Exhibitions (including the sketches), Chaos TCG, the guidebook and zoo collabs) and generally agree with you.
I was just not absolutely sure and was curious about whether Talon 923 knows something interesting.

Regarding their names, probably have to ask the artist directly.

Yeah, I think so, though, some people (maybe Danbooru users?) seem to have already asked that on the pixiv page, without success.