An animal puffing up its body as a defense mechanism in a threatening situation in order to appear larger in size, to signal defensive aggression towards the enemy. In mammals, this is usually done alongside an arched back.
Often accompanied by hissing. Though unlike hissing which is an offensive move almost always shown as a form of threat or anger, puffing up can be seen on other occasions such as fear or shock.
The following tags are aliased to this tag: raised_hackles (learn more).