Shirshu



The Shirshu is a large, mole-like creature, and is found in the southern Earth Kingdom. It has no true eyes, instead using its remarkably keen sense of smell for navigation and capturing prey. The animal's face is dominated by a large snout that ends in a collection of small tentacles (similar to that of the star-nosed mole) that are used to to sense the environment. This unusual ability makes the Shirshu a superior tracker, as it can smell a particular scent over hundreds of miles. In addition to its nose, the Shirshu's whip-like tongue contains paralyzing toxins - depending on a person's size and how hard they are hit, the Shirshu's tongue can paralyze anywhere from one minute to two hours. Almost as large as Appa, the Shirshu is nevertheless extremely fast and agile. Shirshu poison is widely used to make paralyzing darts.

June has her own Shirshu. This Shirshu was originally from a small area in the Southern Earth Kingdom. A rare animal collector took it when it was just a baby and later gave it to June's father as payment for a bounty. June's father passed it on to June and they have been together for more than 17 years. It was revealed before the arrival of Sozin's Comet that the Shirshu's name is Nyla. Appa and Nyla meet again, but Appa licks him as a sign of affection. Shortly after June gives her meat, Nyla copies the bison forgetting about its paralyzing ability.

If there is a difference between domestic and wild Shirshu, it is unknown.

Connection
The Shirshu is apparently the combination of a Giant Anteater, a German Shepherd, and a Star-Nosed Mole, which engenders rumors that it has excellent digging ability. Instead of digging with its nose, it uses it much like a bloodhound in the real world.

In Combat
The Shirshu's nose is so keen, it sees with it as if it had eyes. Given a scent sample, it will be able to track the scent to its source across the entire world. It has claws for close combat situations and has outstanding agility. It is also very large and heavy, making it hard to knock out. Its tongue is used to paralyze enemies in battle.

Weakness
The Shirshu becomes "blind" if it is exposed to powerful fumes. As a last resort, the Shirshu will go on a brief yet atrocious rampage and then flee. Also, should the scent it is tracking be masked by a much stronger scent, it will be unable to track its target, as demonstrated when Aang's scent was masked by a Lion-Turtle.