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In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, simurghs (singular simurgh; pronounced /ˈsɪm.əɹɡ/ SIM-erg) are giant flying birds in the Hidden City. They appear in the episode "The Hidden City Job".
Description[]
Simurghs are giant birds with purple skin, light blue feathers, long necks and broad horizontal backs. They live and fly wild in the giant subterranean chamber where the Hidden City is located. The Yōkai have domesticated some to use as flying mounts, and these are fitted with bridles similar to those used for horses, though no saddles. Wild simurghs can be tamed rather quickly with an appropriately jaunty tune and joyful dance. A simurgh's "joey pouch" can be spacious enough to smuggle multiple people inside.
History[]
In "The Hidden City Job", Capitán Piel enlisted the help of his reluctant brother Señor Hueso and Hueso's associate Leonardo for a heist in the Hidden City Piel needed to obtain to pay a debt. The location of the heist was Big Mama's auction house, which was located in the Hidden City's sky, hanging from a spider web attached to nearby subterranean pillars. To reach the auction house, the group needed to fly there, Piel took Hueso and Leo to just outside a business called Luxury Simurgh, but Hueso noted they could not afford to obtain a commercial simurgh. Piel instead suggested they tame one of the nearby wild simurghs. They spotted a female simurgh, and Leo unsuccessfully tried to pounce on her. But Piel and Hueso had better success, with Piel playing a tune on his flute and Hueso dancing a dance that captivated the simurgh and convinced her to allow them to mount and ride her. Piel had an invitation for one to the auction house, but he also needed to sneak Hueso and Leo in unnoticed, so he the latter two were smuggled inside the simurgh's warm joey pouch, and discreetly expelled as Piel showed his invitation to the doorman.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Simurghs are a benevolent bird in Iranian mythology. Unlike in Rise of the TMNT where the word simurgh is pronounced with stress on the first syllable, the mythological simurgh is conventionally pronounced /sɪˈmɜːɹɡ/ sih-MURG in English with the stress on the second syllable.
- The appearance of simurghs in Rise of the TMNT is extremely similar to that of chocobos in the Final Fantasy series, which are also domesticated as mount animals.
- Pouches for joeys are an anatomical feature associated with marsupial mammals. While a fictional animal like the simurgh can be designed to have one, too, it is worth noting that real birds do not have a joey pouch. Birds do, however, have a cloaca, which is a single orifice for waste, mating and birthing, and is also found on all amphibians and reptiles as well as monotreme mammals. (At least, this much can be said with certainty for non-mutant individuals of these species.) A joey pouch, like a cloaca, is involved in mating and birthing, but it is also used for sheltering young after they have been born.