Shirshu



The Shirshu is a large, wolf-like creature with 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 that 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.



Jun 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 Jun's father as payment for a bounty. Jun's father gave it to Jun and they have been together for more than 17 years.

There are no strong real world parallels to the Shirshu. Bloodhounds and other tracking dogs have been used since at least the sixteenth century to track people, but all of these have eyes and do not "see by smelling." The closest relationship the Shirshu has would be to the star-nosed mole. Functionally blind, this animal's highly sensitive nasal tentacles, called Eimer's organs, give it an extraordinary sense of smell that can help it find food sources underground. (avatarspirit.net)