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Common Name: Snover, Yukikaburi (juvenile), Abomasnow, Yukinooh (adult)

Scientific Name: Geliarboris niveus

Description: Abomasnow are huge mammo-reptiles, standing over 7 feet tall on two legs. Their bodies are covered with dense, white fur, growing particularly thickly as whiskers on their face and as comically bushy eyebrows. These ruffs protect their eyes, nose, and mouth from flying snow. They also have a ruff around their shoulders. However, their lower arms, legs, and the tip of their tails are hairless, and are covered in green scales. Two spikes extend from the sides of the tail, and two pairs of green bony plates extend from the Abomasnow's back. They have three fingers and toes. Abomasnow teeth are peglike and blunt, and their eyes are pale pink with small pupils to cope with snow glare.

Somewhat different in appearance are the Abomasnow's young, known as Snover. Snover lack the thick ruffs of fur around the shoulders, but have a mane on their heads, including hairs that stick straight up, forming three ridges along the top of the head. Their lower bodies, legs, and underbelly are often brown in color. Snover have only two plates on their backs and lack tail spikes, but they have four spines around their wrists, which are lost in adulthood. Snover eyes are green.

Range: Abomasnow are found in Northern Sinnoh and the Coronet Range.

Habitat: Abomasnow live in cold conifer forests, dominated by cedar and fir.

Call: Abomasnow have a highly distinctive call, a low, foghorn-like moan. They also make a grumbling growl. Snover make a high warble.

Diet: Abomasnow live off of conifer needles, of which they must eat vast amounts to gain any nutrient value. These needles also contain toxins, which Abomasnow secrete as bright red droplets on their bodies. These quickly dry into hard pellets stuck in the Abomasnow's fur, which are affectionately dubbed 'berries' by researchers.

Life Cycle: Abomasnow mate in spring, when males track down females by scent. If she accepts him, they will pair bond and dig a den together. She lays 3-5 eggs in the den and lines it with her own fur. Both the male and the female incubate the eggs through the long winter. The hatchlings, which are brown colored and helpless, are fed a fatty secretion from their parent's mouths, not true milk but similar. By summer, they are ready to leave the den (a good thing, as dens tend to accumulate parasites), and follow their parents as they learn to eat solid food. The Snover are very vulnerable at this point, and parents are exceedingly protective of them. By the next winter, the Snover are large enough to fend for themselves, and leave their parents. However, it may take 5 years or more to become sexually mature, as they slowly lose their brown fur in exchange for the adult white. Females tend to mature faster than males, so have more white fur at the same age.

A mated pair may stay together if they are particularly successful in rearing young, but if they fail they are likely to part and find new mates.

Abomasnow may live 38 years.

Relationship with Humans: Although Abomasnow are very powerful, their harsh habitat prevents most trainers from seeking them out. Abomasnow are shy of humans, and generally retreat from areas that are inhabited by them. Unfortunately, due to their timidity, is very difficult to measure the Abomasnow's population dynamics, and it is unknown if the population is stable or declining. It is not currently considered endangered.

Abomasnow is considered the basis for the "Abominable Snowman" and similar legends.

The 'berries' that are secreted in Abomasnow's fur are considered medicinal by some traditional people, and feature in several homeopathic cures. Thankfully, they can be collected without hurting the Abomasnow during the shedding season, but in practice this is not always the case.

Naturalist's Notes: Abomasnow is capable of hydrosolidification, or the forced conversion of water to ice. They use a combination of potently endothermic chemicals sprayed from a throat gland to form ice shards in a spray, enough to drive away most attackers.

Abomasnow are preyed upon by Palkia, and may be eaten by Weavile when young.