Avalugg are abundant in all the world's northern seas, and drift without difficulty onto the flat shores of Kalos. Sinnoh, with its thick cliffs and undulating motion as it floats through cold waters, is a different matter. Only the strongest of Avalugg can even climb aboard, and those who do often wind up with bare, rocky legs for their trouble – along with a misplaced ice "beard" created when they inevitably trip and land face-first. Avalugg do not move much once they reach Sinnoh, although whether this is from the exhaustion of the climb or the normal behavior of the species is unclear; once they find a comfortable resting spot, they stand in place for generations.
Nowhere are birds happy with ice, but Staraptor, which punches through it, is emblematic of Sinnoh's avian life; one must be at least somewhat cold-tolerant to survive in its harsh climate. Hisuian Avalugg are so difficult to reach from the ground that they serve as makeshift rookeries, and can be distinguished from true cliffs and glaciers by the flocks of Starly or Rufflet that take flight when one approaches them.
Savvy trainers once made note of the difference between Hisuian Avalugg and natural formations, but Avalugg, like Corsola, serve as habitat pokemon – and the decline of Corsola in Galar, and Braviary closer to home, spurred Sinnoh's authorities to act. A highly protected species, Hisuian Avalugg do not battle today, for entering one in a tournament is tantamount to confessing to poaching; indeed, the term "Hisuian" in relation to this species originated in historians of pokemon battles who emphasized that they were a thing of the past. Many today have forgotten how many of the landmarks in Sinnoh today are in truth living Avalugg – just as they've forgotten that Sinnoh itself is a Torterra's back.