Canyon crawler

The Canyon Crawler is a large animal found in the Great Divide. Food brought by the Gan Jin and the Zhang tribes attracted them.

Anatomy
The Canyon Crawler resembles a strange mix of a crocodile, an ant, and a spider. It has eight eyes on either side of its face and a forked tongue in a sharp-toothed jaw. Much like a traditional arachnid, the crawler retains a two-segmented body made up of a cephalothorax and an abdomen, and its four skinny legs attach to this center body. With its arachnid-like characteristics, the Canyon Crawler is able to run up sheer mountain walls, obviously earning it its name. The Canyon Crawler also contains multiple sensitive nostrils, causing it to be easily attracted by the scent of food.

Connection
These creatures seem to be based off real life ants. Their body structure is somewhat similar to an ant's, with the long insect-like legs connecting only to the center of the body as an ant's legs connect to its thorax. In addition to its appearance, the Canyon Crawler is also like an ant in behavior. In The Art of the Animated Series, the creators stated that the Canyon Crawlers were the product of an experiment to see how crazy they could make the hybrid animals. Reportedly, they asked if anyone could make a cross between an alligator and a spider because they could not visualize such a hybrid. One animator produced a drawing, and that design turned into the Canyon Crawler.

Behavior


The Canyon Crawler is a dangerous animal that primarily inhabits the canyon of the Great Divide, but its habitat widely extends throughout the arid terrain of the Western Earth Kingdom. Though the crawler prefers live meat and its various useful features make it the perfect hunter, the Canyon Crawler is primarily an omnivorous scavenger that is willing to eat whatever it can find.

Trivia

 * In the Avatar: The Last Airbender video game, Canyon Crawlers are the most powerful enemy.
 * The Canyon Crawler began as a hybrid creature of a crocodile and a spider that infested the canyons.