Nyla was a male shirshu who served as the mount and constant companion of the bounty hunter June. June acquired Nyla from her father when he received him as payment for a bounty he had collected while working for a rare animal collector. Nyla and June had been together for over seventeen years.[2] Like other shirshus, Nyla's tongue contained toxins that could temporarily paralyze a human being.
In one of June's missions, Nyla tracked a bounty stowed away on Zuko's ship. He bit into the metal deck, tearing a large piece out to reveal the stowaway. Zuko hired June to track down the Avatar using the shirshu. When Zuko tracked and attacked Aang, Nyla fought Appa and paralyzed him with his tongue, although it took several hits to bring the flying bison down. Katara defeated Nyla by confusing him with perfume which she bent out of pots in the abbey. Nyla 'blindly' lashed out and paralyzed Zuko and June successively before running wildly away.[1]
Months later, when Aang went missing, Zuko and Team Avatar traveled to the Earth Kingdom, where they found June in a tavern.[3] Outside, Nyla and Appa seemed to have befriended each other. Katara handed Aang's staff to June so the shirshu could sniff it. He turned in circles then covered his nose, unable to find Aang. Zuko then decided to track down Iroh instead, and he handed June his uncle's sandal. Nyla sniffed it then led them to the walls of Ba Sing Se, where he and June then departed them.[4]
After the Hundred Year War, June and Nyla were again hired by now-Fire Lord Zuko to track down Ursa, his long lost mother. However, the search turned up no results.[5]
Nyla was able to track scents that were hundreds of miles away. According to June, he could smell a rat a continent away.[1]
According to Avatar Extras, Nyla was named after the pet dog one of the writers owned.
Nyla appeared briefly in the animated short "School Time Shipping" along with a few other familiar creatures.
Nyla has the same characteristics as Wildmutt in the series Ben 10, as both creatures rely on their sense of smell to navigate and are powerful enough to rip through metal to find their target.
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