Hippo cow

"fire"

- Everyone here eats meat, even the meat! The cow hippo is a very large, meat-eating domesticated animal. They are commonly found in the Fire Nation.

History
The cow hippo was first seen when Sokka, Katara and Toph headed into a meat store. Sokka tried to persuade Aang, a vegetarian, to follow along with them, pointing to the beast and stating, "Everyone here eats meat, even the meat!" Aang later had a nightmare about Fire Lord Ozai riding a flying, fire-breathing cow hippo.

Anatomy
The cow hippo is mostly white with irregular black spots on its skin, small horns and floppy ears. It has the head and body of a hippopotamus but the horns and coloring of a cow, with short stubby, hippo-like legs that end in cow-like hoofs. The cow hippo also has udders, like a cow but unlike the hippopotamus.

Connection
The cow hippo has the body shape of the real-life hippopotamus. However, the horns, udders and colors of the cow hippo are that of a Friesian cow. Despite the fact that both of its namesakes are normally herbivorous, the cow hippo eats meat. This may be explained away by the fact that the hippopotamus is known to scavenge corpses already killed by crocodiles in times of need; the cow hippo is only seen eating the meat of already dead animals, so it is somewhat like the real-life hippo in this regard.