Nor are they bears, for that matter. Yes, 'wolverine' shares an etymology with 'wolf' but they're not related biologically at all. Wolverines are fuck-off big martens, like giant stocky ferrets. They're mustelids, and as a mustelid lover there's no good fucking wolverine porn out there because folks keep drawing them like dogs. (This is actually a problem with every mustelid species, wolverines have just dominated my mind lately).

What does this mean?

-Wolverines have much broader heads than dogs. The wolverine skull is flattened and elongated. A dog's face is portrait or square; a wolverine's is landscape. Mustelids are widescreen animals.

-The wolverine muzzle is somewhat short, broad, and slopes gently from the forehead. The point where the nasal bone meets the the frontal bone of the skull - the nasion - is rather flat and shallow. In contrast the nasion of dogs slopes greatly, forming an 'angle' between the muzzle and rest of the skull.

-Mustelid ears are set more on the sides of the head, not on top as in cats and dogs. They are small, round, flat flaps of skin that don't move much. They lack the 3D shape, rigidity and expressivity of cat and dog ears. (Some marten species have bigger, pointier ears that resemble cats' or dogs' but they're still anatomically more similar to other mustelids).

-They are plantigrade. Wolverines have big-ass snowshoe paws. All mustelids have 5 digits on every paw. The innermost digit is a thumb, not a dewclaw. The paw pads are not the same as a cat's or dog's. There are references out there.

-The wolverine tail is short and puffy. It's almost more like the plume in a stereotypical medieval knight's helmet than an actual tail. It's one of my favorite wolverine features but artists hardly ever capture it.

-Wolverines do not have a canine penis. I've only found one photo of a male wolverine's penis and it was low-res and grainy, but it appeared to be somewhat similar to some otter species, perhaps a bit shorter and girthier. Don't ask me for the photo, FA admins will probably freak out or something - not that I'd really give a shit if I got banned from this terrible website.

More specific to ferals:

-The mustelid chest does not puff out like it does in dogs. There is no abdominal tuck as in dogs; mustelids have pot bellies, dogs have wasp-waists.

-Wolverines have longer legs than mustelines (weasels, minks, ferrets etc.) but shorter legs than canines.

-Mustelids have strongly convex/arched backs. Canine backs are a bit straighter.

-More of a fun fact; all mustelids except badgers and otters have horizontal slit pupils, though they appear round in lower-light settings. I recognize this is more of an acquired taste but it's a nice touch when artists add it.

I'm sure there's more I missed, but these are the major points. If anyone reading this thinks I'm being too picky or whatever, all I have to say is: if I drew your normal dog character with wings and a beak and a fucking scorpion tail when none of this is on your ref sheet would you be annoyed? It's still a dog, I just took some artistic liberties! So what if my anatomy is a little off? I recognize mustelids are very niche but I'd still expect a baseline level of competence when commissioning an artist who does this kind of thing for a living. I'm not going to measure the angles and lengths of every bone in the skull but hell, at least get the basic, defining features of the species right. At a certain point it stops being a wolverine no matter what you call it.

Artists: pay attention to your references and save me the trouble of having to suspend my disbelief so much. Commissioners: give your artists good references of your species and insist they're drawn accurately. Don't contribute to the problem by being an enabler. Take the time to actually learn about the species you're getting art of (heaven forbid). If you can't appreciate and respect the features that make your species unique I don't want to hear you label yourself an 'animal lover'. I will gatekeep the shit out of this, I don't care. A wolverine is not a hat, it's not a feeling, it's not an 'aesthetic', it's a distinct animal species with objective qualities. Stop being so flippant about reality.

Now go out and commission some good fucking mustelids.