One of the best parts of Avatar: The Last Airbender's worldbuilding is the plethora of creatures that the characters encounter in their travels across the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, the Air Temples, and the Water Tribes. While some of Avatar's creatures have close real-world counterparts and others, like Momo the winged lemur, add an interesting feature to already familiar fauna, the most unique among them are the totally imaginative animal hybrids.
Bone-chilling spirits like the face-stealing Koh may take the cake for Avatar's most awe-inspiring beings, but there are many memorable hybrids from across the series that stand out for their fearsome natures and striking appearances.
Iguana Parrot
When Katara steals an important Water Tribe artifact from a group of pirates in "The Waterbending Scroll," she attracts the ire of not only the swashbucklers, but also their iguana parrot pet, as well. The impressive and colorful reptile-avian hybrid combines the wings and beak of a tropical bird with the facial frills with the thick legs, clawed feet, and long tail of a lizard.
This reinterpretation of a pirate's favorite companion memorably clashes with Momo as the raiders fight with Aang and friends and later, Zuko's Fire Nation soldiers. Thankfully, Momo outsmarts the flying creature by wrapping it in a flag at the end of a ship's mast.
Catgator
Aang and company encounter several of these memorable creatures in the Foggy Swamp when a tornado drags them there in Book Two's "The Swamp." This region clearly draws inspiration from Floridian wetlands, and this beast, which combines features of the Everglades' alligators and catfish, is no exception.
With the four legs and the torso of a large reptile but the whiskers and face of a giant catfish—save for a jaw full of sharp teeth—the catgator appears to be a fierce predator and even tries to eat Momo. Later in the episode, viewers discover catgators have been domesticated by the swamp's waterbenders.
Mongoose Lizard
Avatar fans these fearsome creatures from "The Chase," when Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee relentlessly pursue Aang and friends across the Earth Kingdom. The villainous trio uses these giant reptiles as mounts which not only are able to run at very fast speeds, but also possess the reflexive agility of a mongoose.
One of their most impressive abilities is, like some real-life lizards many times smaller, to run across water without sinking, a skill that proves invaluable in chasing down the airborne Avatar.
Buzzard Wasp
This fearsome beast merges the head of a long-beaked raptor with the body of a giant wasp, making for every entomophobe's worst nightmare. A hive of buzzard wasps native to the Si Wong desert takes on a significant role when the group searches for a kidnapped Appa in "The Desert" and Sokka has a taste of their pungent honey.
Their most thrilling arc, however, is in the next episode "Appa's Lost Days," where they chase the lost sky bison until he manages to lose them with a gust of air from his tail.
Elephant Mandrill
In Book Two's "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," the characters experience divergent adventures in the Earth Kingdom capital. Aang stumbles upon a zoo containing this massive beast in far too small a cage, and, when he releases it, it rampages across the city.
The hulking beast is quadrupedal like an elephant and boasts that animal's characteristic feet. However, it's furry, has smaller primate ears, and, most shockingly, has the bright facial coloration and visage of the distinctive monkey. The powerful beast doesn't cause too much damage to Ba Sing Se since Aang releases it into his homemade pen outside the city walls.
Saber-tooth Moose Lion
One of Sokka's most boneheaded moments across the series sees him become involved with these dangerous creatures in Book Two's "Bitter Work." When a hungry Sokka tries to hunt a saber-tooth moose lion cub, he becomes trapped in a large crack in the dry Earth Kingdom terrain. The adorable cub keeps him company for much of the episode until its mother appears and attacks Aang, who has come to Sokka's rescue.
This beast has the paws, body, and tail of an overgrown lion, but with an impressive set of antlers and giant teeth that bring to mind the extinct real-world smilodon.
Boar-q-pine
One of this massive beast's most memorable appearances is in "Appa's Lost Days," when the wandering sky bison comes to rest in an Earth Kingdom grove only to be attacked by a ferocious boar-q-pine. With the body of a giant hog, fearsome tusks jutting from its mouth, and sharp porcupine quills springing from its back, it's one of the Avatar world's most dangerous animals.
Although a boar-q-pine again terrorizes the Aang gang when Sokka and Bosco the bear disturb its home, viewers get to see a sweeter side of the beast when Toph finds a baby version in "Nightmares and Daydreams."
Eel Hound
In the second part of the four-part series finale, "Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters," viewers meet a giant amphibian said to be the fastest animal transport on both land and water. At a critical moment, the scaly green steed lives up to its reputation as Sokka, Suki, and Toph board one at the direction of Sokka's onetime swordmaster Piandao to reach the Fire Nation air fleet.
The trio crosses a huge stretch of the beast's native Earth Kingdom territory to reach the ships just in time. The eel hound's combination of a snake-like fish and a giant greyhound makes for one of Avatar's most unusual but impressive hybrids.
Badgermole
These hulking beasts take on special significance in the world of Avatar as the first earthbenders, from whom humans learned the skill long before the beginning of the series. Viewers' first encounter with badgermoles is when they threaten Aang and friends in the episode "The Cave of Two Lovers," but they recur in "The Firebending Masters" when Toph explains that these subterranean creatures taught her how to earthbend when she ran away from home as a child.
With the bodies of giant badgers but the digging claws and vestigial unseeing eyes of moles, these creatures are some of the most important and impressive in the Four Nations.
Lion Turtle
Although the mythology of this species is In Aang's time, the only one remaining is disguised as an island thanks to the vegetation growing on its back.
In addition to its awe-inspiring size, the lion turtle is unique among animals for possessing great intellect and wisdom, and it grants Aang the crucial power of energy bending.
