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The Howlibird (original French name Cracoucass) is a creature that appeared in the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Howlibird" and the 1981 television series episode of the same. It is a big predatory bird with powerful wings and incredible strength that lets it destroy anything it can pound with its talons. The Howlibird is so named because of its screeching cry, "Howlihowlihowli".

In the original comic book story, the Howlibird was first created when two Smurfs had dropped a vial of Papa Smurf's failed plant growth formula, which previously mutated a harmless flower into a carnivorous plant, into a ravine instead of taking it out into the desert to be buried. Though they thought that the formula was safely out of reach, the vial opened and spilled its contents into a nest below, with a baby bird swallowing its drops. Later on, that night, one of the two Smurfs heard the screeching sound of a bird and saw a giant shadow of one passing by overhead. The other Smurfs started noticing other things: the storage house for their food was wrecked, and there were large bird tracks on the ground. Fearing that the worst has happened to the Smurf River bridge, Papa Smurf led some Smurfs down to the river to check on it when they saw with their own eyes the Howlibird coming toward them. The bird pounded on the bridge until it was destroyed, and the Smurfs fell into the river. Making it back safely on dry ground, Papa Smurf and the several Smurfs that were with him sneaked their way back to the village to warn the others about the dangerous bird.

It was then when Papa Smurf discovered that the two Smurfs didn't bury the formula in the desert like he asked them to but dropped it into a ravine. But before he could do anything more about the issue, the Howlibird attacked the village, destroying houses that the Smurfs ducked into for cover. Papa Smurf led them out of the village and into the forest, where he discovered a watchtower in which he and his little Smurfs would be safe. Handy found an old crossbow in the watchtower and converted it for use in launching rocks at the Howlibird for their defense. Though they were able to fend off the Howlibird, they weren't able to knock it down, so Papa Smurf came up with a new plan: going to steal a formula from Gargamel's hovel that would shrink the Howlibird. Two Smurfs accompanied Papa Smurf as they collected enough for Papa Smurf to work with, then raced back to the watchtower before the Howlibird got them.

Cracoucas2

The shrunken Howlibird

With Gargamel's formula on hand, Papa Smurf then goes to his lab in the village to get an explosive which, when launched by the crossbow, stripped the bird of its feathers and knocked it down. Then, Papa Smurf defeats the Howlibird with bullfighting techniques, and uses a formula stolen from Gargamel's lab to make the Howlibird to shrink to less than Smurf-size so it would be unable to harm any Smurf when it regrows its feathers.

In the cartoon show episode, Hefty and Lazy are identified as the ones that have accidentally created the Howlibird, and Papa Smurf went to the ravine where they dropped the formula to get as much of the formula as he can to reverse its properties. However, instead of restoring the Howlibird to its normal appearance as a baby bird, the reversed formula shrank the Howlibird to less than Smurf-size.

The Howlibird does make a brief appearance in the comic book story "The Aerosmurf" and the Grandir avec les Schtroumpfs story "Le Schtroumpf qui avait peur du noir".

Trivia[]

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