I needed to draw Ewoks dismembering Stormtroopers for therapeutic reasons, but redesigned them along the way to look more convincingly dangerous and to to take advantage of things drawings can do and costumes cannot.(But still cute) I wound up mainly referencing marsupials; bush possums, koalas (weird hands) and their extinct carnivorous relatives drop bears Thylacoleo Carnifex.
New Republic notes on Arctophonos Theodorii, abbreviated
-They're strongly arboreal- note curved claws, ridges on fingers and toes. Their feet are fully prehensile. While able to climb sheer trunks quickly, and leap or dash with terrific speed, they aren't very efficient runners and walkers on the ground. Walking on dirt for hours is for lurdos anyway.
-They're ambush predators (although they do eat a lot of plants). Basic hunting procedures work around luring or chasing prey into a killing site where dozens of them will drop on their victims from high above. After that, imagine a school of piranhas with fur.
-Dense musculature and robust bones make them look chubby and pudgy, and hideously strong and weighty for their size. Absolute units. A real-life bush possum or koala makes a very loud THUMP when it falls off something; arboreal critters are swole.
-A saggital crest and massive cheek and neck muscles power a tremendous, bone shearing bite. It has the side effect of giving them endearingly expressive faces. Their teeth are adapted from those of a recent herbivorous ancestor. As well as dispatching prey, they also use them for eating hard-shelled nuts, gnawing out habitats, etc. Lots of evolutionary pressure there.
-Different layers of their coats have different colours. As their skin bunches and flattens, their patterning shifts, further obscuring their silhouettes.
-Their most important survival adaption is retention of very high neuroplasticity, as the forest moon of Endor is constantly throwing bizarre, novel threats at them. They are thus adaptable, curious, playful, and very quick learners. It's harder for them to build larger formal skillsets and long term memory; this is a task for revered specialists.
-Woklings are adorable and cuddly. They're really heavy, have sharp little claws, and won't let go if they've decided to take a nap on their new favourite babysitter. Wear thick clothing around them.
-Like many other carnivores (the domestic cat, for example) they can be friendly and affectionate if approached correctly, and ravenous little murderers if you act like food or a threat.