Pokemon has given us a look at the latest monster being introduced as part of the Gen 9 games Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Grafaifai.

Grafaifai is the ‘toxic monkey’ pokemon. It is a poison/normal type, the first time this type combination has appeared in Pokemon. Its abilities are unburdened and poison touch.

Here’s the pokemon’s official description:

“Grafaiai is a moody pokémon with a fastidious disposition. It doesn’t form packs, preferring to roam alone, and it is constantly caught up in territorial struggles with other pokémon. Grafaiai specializes in using its poisonous saliva — which changes color depending on what the pokémon eats — to attack foes by spitting at them or by slashing at them after coating its claws with the saliva.

Grafaiai is nocturnal and once the sun sets it licks its hands and fingers to cover them in poison and uses them to draw patterns on the trees in its territory. The poisonous saliva it uses to paint paralyzes bug pokémon, which are drawn to the saliva’s sweet, fragrant scent.”

Grafaifai is partially based on a stereotypical longer graffiti artist hence its paint-like saliva however it’s also based on one of the strangest primates in the animal kingdom: The Aye-Aye.

The Aye-Aye is a species of lemur native to Madagascar. Its most notable features are its’ giant yellow eye-eyes, rodent-like buck teeth, and long thin middle fingers on both hands.

These odd-looking creatures also have an interesting way of hunting. It knaws a hole into tree bark with its large incisor teeth, kind of like a beaver, and then inserts its long middle finger into the hole to pull out grubs and other insects.

Grafaifai likewise also has large glowing eyes, buck teeth, and long middle fingers. It even hunts bug pokemon using its long finger the same way the real Aye-Ayes do (minus the paint saliva).

With so many Pokemon released over the series’ history, it’s cool to see the developers using a lesser-known animal as the basis for a new Pokemon. I’d love to see more designs like this in the future. I mean, we’ve got over 20 cat pokemon, so why not one Aye-Aye?

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will launch on Nintendo Switch on November 18th, 2022.