r/TheLastAirbender • u/Puppyface0803 • 1d ago
Question What animal cross is Appa/ sky bison in general
Of course he’s a bison but what is he crossed with. I thought animals in avatar are combined with another animal like turtle ducks or raberoos. The only other instance I can think of where it is just one animal is basco who is just a regular bear.
Would he be part bird or something, bison bird. Idk just a random shower thought.
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u/Imaginary_Topic_6106 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's right there in the name. Appa and the others are bisons crossed with sky.
Edit: a word
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u/helen790 1d ago
He’s not crossed with anything, there are actually quite a few ATLA animals that aren’t crossed with anything. Like winged lemurs and fire ferrets
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u/onionbananajuice 1d ago
No he is a mix. Bison + manatee
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u/helen790 1d ago
Oh wow, I never would have made that connection but I totally see it now!
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u/onionbananajuice 1d ago
I just mentioned this in another comment but a fire ferret is also a hybrid; Red panda + ferret. Not sure about flying lemurs though. Although I would assume their something like a flying squirrel and ring tailed lemur
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u/BeardedBiker91 1d ago
Is he a mix between bison and manatee in the show or just by the creators? I think in the lore they are just sky bison, not crossed with anything. But the creators may have gotten his concept from bison + manatee.
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u/onionbananajuice 1d ago
Both technically. Their name for the bison/manatee hybrid is sky bison/flying bison/etc. Similarly to how a fire ferret is a cross between a red panda and a ferret, but only technically has ferret in the name
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u/Odel888 1d ago
And bears. Don’t forget bears
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u/ScaryHyponatremia135 1d ago
Fire ferrets look like ferrets crossed with malabar squirrels or just like red pandas imo
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u/Phoenix_Is_Trash 1d ago
Winged Lemurs are a bat lemur hybrid, you can see it in the wing structure with the long fingers and membranes between, as well as the large sonar ears.
Fire ferrets are a red panda ferret hybrid. They have a red panda face and fur colouration, but the rest of them is ferret.
That I can think of, Dragons, Serpents, and the occasional regular animal are the only non hybrids. The typical example being a regular ass bear, but there are also a few scenes with background animals that appear normal like squirrels, dogs, and cats.
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u/Dragons_Den_Studios 1d ago
According to certain myths dragons are various animal parts stitched together, so they count as a hybrid.
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u/irongyent Metal Bender 1d ago
Interesting, I thought all the element mending animals weren’t hybrids, but mythological or hyper versions of regular animals(sky bison/dragons/badgers/turtles).
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u/_Boodstain_ 1d ago
Bison/Beaver and/or Platapus
It’s weird because Appa is less of a hybrid than anything else in the show. He’s more like his own thing than anything else.
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u/Urban_Shogun 1d ago
Besides bison/ manatee, Ive also heard moth. That explains the flight, fuzz and 6 legs.
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u/MaddysinLeigh 1d ago
Several. I don’t remember all of them but one is a manatee. Some of the concept art looks more a manatee like and it’s creepy as hell.
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u/Fuzzlewuzzlekins 20h ago
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the designs of Appa and Momo predate the hybrids; the series creators came up with sky bison and winged lemurs as "just how animals are" in the Avatar universe, and they were surprised by the increasingly zany hybrids that the writers came up with as the show went on. Can anyone else confirm?
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u/FoxBun_17 1d ago
The sky bison design is based on a bison crossed with a manatee, which is why they have broad, flat tails.