Badgermole

Badgermoles are gigantic blind mammals which inhabit the Earth Kingdom. Living mostly underground, they were the first Earthbenders, later teaching man the same art.

History
Badgermoles are responsible for teaching humans how to Earthbend. In order for Oma and Shu to meet when they were in love, they learned Earthbending from the Badgermoles. They and the Badgermoles created a maze of tunnels which had crystals on the ceiling that showed the way to each other. Toph has mentioned that she learned Earthbending from Badgermoles just like the first Earthbenders. She had run away from home and met them in a cave. She said their Earthbending wasn't just fighting, but more of an extension of their senses and their way of interacting with the world.

Due to the Badgermole's importance in Earth Kingdom history, they can frequently be found influencing the architecture of the Earth Kingdom, such as the throne of the Earth King in Ba Sing Se and the two statues present outside of the Earth King's palace. Despite their significance, these were launched at Team Avatar by the Earthbender guards when they broke into the palace.

Anatomy


Badgermoles are giant Earthbending creatures. They have brown fur with one white and two black stripes running down their backs and white, mask-like patches on their faces. They have long tails and five claws on each paw. Badgermoles use their noses to inspect objects in front of them. They then lick them to show their affection, just as they did to Toph when they first met. They enjoy hearing music, which seems to put them in an almost tranquil state. The Badgermole seems to be the natural predator of the Wolfbats. Badgermoles use Earthbending to make tunnels and travel underground, where they hunt for prey and live. Although they have vestigial eyes (probably left over from some long-forgotten time when they spent more time above ground), Badgermoles are basically blind, but their Earthbending abilities allow them to feel the presence of their surroundings in recompense. If fully and properly tamed, Badgermoles can be used as beasts of burden and perform tasks such as paving pathways or clearing stone debris, such as during Earth Rumble in "The Blind Bandit", when one was used as a make-shift zamboni to clear away the rubble from the fights.



Trivia

 * Badgermoles are the only original animal benders not to be endangered.
 * Badgermoles are blind like Toph, so they got along well and in return taught Toph how to Earthbend.
 * The Boulder has a tattoo of a purple Badgermole on his back.
 * Badgermoles can be domesticated.
 * Badgermoles are the only one of the original animal benders that is not known to be a companion to an Avatar. Roku had the Dragon Fang as a life long friend and Aang had Appa the Sky Bison. No known Earth Kingdom Avatar had a Badgermole companion, but if they did, it was never shown.
 * Badgermoles are music lovers.

Connection
The Badgermole resembles a cross between the American badger and the common mole. The facial coloring and white back stripe of the Badgermole resembles the badger whereas its claws and tail are indicative of the mole's.