Boarcupine



The Boarcupine and Avatar: The Last Airbender are Property of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, all rights reserved.

A large mammal native to Fanrong, Boarcupines were initially and briefly mentioned by Toph Bei Fong as highly dangerous beasts which come out at night and kill more people on the planet than any other creature. Later, they were properly introduced as one mother Boarcupine battled a mysterious visitor outside the Earthbending school for a short time to protect her young. She soon abandoned the fight and coraled her young away.

Description
Huge in size, Boarcupines generally resemble the wild boars of Earth, with shaggy, dark gray fur and glowering red eyes with black pupils. However, what makes them clearly different is that, on their backs, long, narrow quills jut up and back as extra protection. Though it is only a myth as far as real-life porcupines are concerned, Boarcupines are able to fire their quills haphazardly as a defense mechanism. However, their main tools for combat are their huge tusks, which are normally used to help shovel through leaf litter and dirt to find food: despite their boiling hot temper, Boarcupines are entirely vegetarian.

Behavior
As far as other races go, Boarcupines are notorious for how many humans they kill on Fanrong as compared to any other wildlife. Most telling, even a master Earthbender of Toph Bei Fong's level refuses to so much as consider trying to battle a whole herd of the brutes.

Highly protective of their young, more likely than not, mothers coming to their offspring's supposed rescue is the result of most attacks. However, should the attack go on with little retaliation for long enough, it seems that Boarcupines tend to lost interest and disengage on a whim to relocate themselves and their young.

Trivia

 * Boarcupines are among the few creatures that have managed to pose a threat to one of the more powerful beings of BZPB, as seen with the mysterious being one attacked to protect its young from the perceived danger to them.