A dorsal view of the left forepaw, in color! Notice the discolored claw on the digit next to the inner thumb. That's the writing claw. It's supposed to be flatter and broader than the other claws, but I had a hard time making it look right.

The ink sac is located near the knuckle, with a duct leading to the point of the claw. These structures are homologous to musk glands in other animals in the yinrih's clade. As such, the ink is very fragrant. Humans compare it to the smell of rain (petrichor). There is a rumor among the yinrih that humans like to drink it. It's not true, although we do enjoy the smell. The ink is largely sterile, but it's still a bodily fluid, so drinking it is ill-advised. The fact that yinrih use a bodily excretion to write with causes some friction when yinrih try to live on Earth. Imagine peeing on a check. Using a writing utensil feels very unnatural to a yinrih, and the best compromise humans can come up with for the sake of hygiene is a thimble-like contrivance that fits over the writing claw and provides its own synthetic ink.

The first joint of the digits lacks fur. This, along with the yinrihs' prehensile tail, is why they're sometimes called “dog possums”. Other nicknames include “monkey foxes” and “wolf lemurs”. The skin of the paws is strongly pigmented, as you can see from the fingertips. It's more obvious with healers since they have no fur. Their paws and muzzle are covered in black splotches.

The word “yinrih” (pronounced /ˈjɪn.ɹə/ or /ˈjɪn.ɹi/ or /ˈjɪn.ɹɪ/) is an onomatopoeia of the Commonthroat word <odmGm> (yip, short high strong whine, huff, long high weak growl, huff) which means a person from the planet Yih. The word is analogous to the word “Terran” or “Earthling”. Commonthroat uses a different word to refer to a member of the yinrih species. There is an English word, “cynoid”, from Greek κύων (dog) -ειδής (shape), that can be used in more scientific contexts. It has the pleasant traits of being etymologically accurate and having that pulpy sci-fi flare. The yinrih don't mind any of these names, provided they're not deliberately derogatory. “We won't tell you how to speak your own language.”

The yinrih refer to humans as <mJmj> (huff, long low strong grunt, huff, short low strong grunt), which is the best their vocal tract can replicate the English “human”. The missionaries who land on Earth refer to humans as <f oDoDl mI> “our friends”, and the human residents of the small Texas town they've decided to live in refer to the missionaries as “our little visitors from out of town.”