Ahuizotl Yokai

**Ahuizotl Yokai** are creatures who has an additional hand on their tails.

## Physical Appearance

Ahuizotl Yokai are described as being either a dog, monkey or otter-like being with waterproof fur that clumps up to create spikes (hence its name). They have an extra hand on their tails and are usually seen walking on all fours. The most common type is that with black fur but there are different colors of fur that these yokai can have.

## Description

Ahuizotl Yokai are one of the many wild Yokai that lives in the wilderness. They usually live in or near the water. These yokai are feared because they have a liking for human flesh, especially nails, eyes, and teeth. They use the hand on the end of its tail to snatch its prey, dragging the person into the depths to drown them. Making them one of the most dangerous Yokai to be on the Surface World if it lives there.

## Abilities

Here are the abilities that Ahuizotl Yokai can have in their arsenal:

* Aquatic Adaptation
* Drowning
* Enhanced Strength
* Multiple Arms
* Prehensile Feet
* Prehensile Tail
* Spike Protrusion
* Vocal Replication

## Pop Culture

The Ahuizotl has appeared in shows like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Secret Saturdays. Aipom and Ambipom from Pokemon are based on the Ahuizotl because they are monkeys (which is one of the main forms the Ahuizotl has along with dog and otter) and they have a hand on their tails.

## Variations

### Dog Yokai

In some stories, the Ahuizotl was described as being a dog-like creature with a hand at the end of its tail.

### Monkey Yokai

In some stories, the Ahuizotl was described as being a monkey-like creature with a hand at the end of its tail.

### Otter Yokai

In some stories, the Ahuiztol was described as being an otter-like creature with a hand at the end of its tail.

## Life in the Hidden World

The Ahuizotl lives in or near the water. Many Yokai breeders have these yokai creatures so they can bring the babies to pet shops where it could be sold as a pet to more advanced Yokai handlers. Ahuizotl Yokai are difficult to care for mainly because of their diet. Their diet is that of human flesh. Especially if they get to eat the nails, eyes and teeth from a human. Thus some yokai would have to find these items so the Ahuizotl doesn't get hungry and attack them instead. If the Ahuizotl Yokai were to live on the Surface World, they would start attacking humans that passes by their watery homes. They would use their tail hands to drag the human prey down to the water as an attempt to drown them and eat them afterwards. Their fur is waterproof and when it gets clumped up, it can create spikes that are used as weapons.

## Symbolism

The ahuizotl is included within Book 11 of the Florentine Codex, which describes it as:

*"...very like the teui, the small teui dog; small and smooth, shiny. It has small, pointed ears, just like a small dog. It is black, like rubber; smooth, slippery, very smooth, longtailed. And its tail is provided with a hand at the end; just like a human hand is the point of its tail. And its hands are like a raccoon's hands or like a monkey's hands. It lives, it is a dweller in watery caverns, in watery depths. And if anyone arrives there at its entrance, or there in the water where it is, it then grabs him there. It is said that it sinks him, it plunges him into the water; it carries him to its home, it introduces him to the depths; so its tail goes holding him, so it goes seizing him ... [When the body is retrieved] the one it has drowned no longer has his eyes, his teeth, and his nails; it has taken them all from him. But his body is completely unblemished, his skin uninjured. Only his body comes out all slippery-wet; as if one had pounded it with a stone; as if it had inflicted small bruises ... When it was annoyed - had caught no one, had drowned none of us commoners - then was heard as if a small child wept. And he who heard it thought perhaps a child wept, perhaps a baby, perhaps an abandoned one. Moved by this, he went there to look for it. So there he fell into the hands of the auítzotl, there it drowned him..."*