Tuskaninny

Tuskaninny Facts

Pronounced: TUSK-a-NIN-ee

Plural: Tuskaninnies

Discovered: 27th November 1999

Species Day: 12th July

Native Land: Neopia Central

The Tuskaninny is a smooth-skinned Neopet, with two large forefins and a fishlike tail. It has a small patch of fluffy fur on top of its head, and is also noticeable for its large nose and freckled face. It is a medium-sized pet.

The Tuskaninny is an aquatic Neopet by nature, and a good swimmer. While it can move around on land quite freely, it likes being near water. They are playful pets, who enjoy being out in the sunshine, and good learners. While quite willing to take to any new subject, including Battledome training, they are less fond of conventional competitive sports, due to moving more slowly on land than pets with legs.

Tuskaninnies are among the first Neopets released. They were named as part of a competition, with the winner, wintergreen taking the prize of 1,000 Neopoints. Names that were runners up included Mendal, Psyla, and Walrunt.

They were originally drawn with bodies almost as round and bulky as that of a Skeith! Later revamps streamlined their form to make more sense for a swimming Neopet, as well as lengthening what had previously been very feeble-looking fins.

Old Tusk

Tuskaninnies have a unique language of clicks and whistles that they use to communicate with each other in secret, known as Tuska. However, this language does not appear to be based on any unique physiology to Tuskaninnies as other species are capable of learning it.

Tuskaninny Trivia

Despite their name, in none of their redraws through the years have Tuskaninnies ever had tusks of any sort.
The default Tuskaninny petpage seems to have been written by someone with a hazy idea of how Neopia worked. It refers to killing frogs (which may not exist in Neopia) as part of classes at an academic Neoschool (which definitely doesn't exist in Neopia). It also manages to misspell "Tuskaninny" twice, making it a definite candidate for the next revamp.

A Few Famous Tuskaninnies

A climbing Tuskaninny stars in Cliffhanger. While he's fallen off more cliffs than he probably cares to remember, he never sustains any serious damage and is always ready to try again!
Little Timmy is a regular contestant in the game of Cheat. He tries to look like a cool customer, but tends to go to pieces under pressure, and he's never made it to the later rounds of the game.
Senator Palpus, an ex-military politician from Sakhmet, works behind the scenes to help keep the city running smoothly under Amira's rule. He proudly displays his medals from wars past.
A Tuskaninny waitress works at the Slushie Slinger shop every summer when the Altador Cup comes around. She does her best not to be flustered by the constant streams of customers, but it isn't easy when the fans are impatient.
Altador Cup fans also have the chance to see Tuskaninny player Goltron Mk1 (Team Virtupets), although it's not clear if this purpose-built robot really counts as a Neopet. Older players might remember Elbin Towse (Team Faerieland) and Tico Tems (Team Terror Mountain).