Eel hound

The eel hound is a quadrupedal creature used for efficient transportation over both land and water.
== History ==
In the annals of the Earth Kingdom, ancient nomadic barbarians traveled great distances mounting eel hounds, surprising footslogging armies with such tactics. A single rider would bring multiple mounts on a journey, switching between them on the fly to keep the animals as fresh and speedy as possible.
In 296 BG, eight eel hounds were used by Jianzhu and two of his guardsmen to facilitate easy travel through the Taihua Mountains in pursuit of Avatar Kyoshi. They used the ancient barbarians' tactic, so that when one of the animals got tired, injured, or died, they would simply mount another and continue their journey.
Shortly before the end of the Hundred Year War, Piandao provided Sokka, Suki, and Toph with one of these creatures to transport them to Ozai's airship base in order to stop the Fire Lord's airship fleet. The eel hound quickly crossed the Earth Kingdom and swam toward the base, allowing its riders to board the departing fleet at the last moment.
Suki later borrowed an eel hound to quickly travel from Yu Dao to Cranefish Town after Sokka had sent her a messenger hawk inviting her to come and help Team Avatar deal with the conflict between benders and nonbenders.
== Anatomy ==
The eel hound is a large, amphibious creature that exhibits the ability to swim and run quickly. It is at least eight feet tall and roughly twenty-five to thirty feet long with dark green scales, except along its ventral side, from its jaw to its tail. The eel hound is green in color with a lighter shade on its underbelly, and a darker shade of green on top of its body.
== Behavior ==
The eel hound has a very wild nature, which can make it challenging to train. As such, very few people have attempted to do so, making the animals not commonly used as mounts.
Once it is properly trained, however, the eel hound's nature calms, and they can be used for swift transportation; Piandao credited them as being the fastest known animal over land and water.
== Connection ==
The eel hound is a cross between a greyhound and an eel. With its long, powerful legs, deep chest, flexible spine, and slim build of the greyhound combined with an elongated neck and tail similar to an eel, it slightly resembles a gigantic greyhound and can run at similar speeds. They bear a slight resemblance to the Spinosauridae, like the Ichthyovenator, Suchomimus, and Spinosaurus, due to having short forelimbs, a long slender snout, and a semiaquatic lifestyle.
== Trivia ==
* After the Hundred Year War, a pro-bending team named itself the Ember Island Eel hounds.
== References ==
== See also ==
* Fauna in the World of Avatar
* Transportation in the World of Avatar
de:Aalhunde
es:Anguila cazadora gigante
fi:Ankeriaslisko
nl:Reuze Aal
ru:Гончий угорь
Category:A to Z
Category:Earth Kingdom
Category:Fauna
Category:Hybridized creatures