Chocobo
Chocobo [ˈtʃoʊ.kəˌboʊ], also called Chocob, is a recurring animal in the series. Large avian creatures, chocobos roughly act as the Final Fantasy equivalent of horses, being domesticated for use as mounts, for pulling carts and carriages and for racing. Since their first appearance in Final Fantasy II, they have appeared in every game in the series in some capacity. As a mainstay they could be considered the series's mascot.
Chocobos are generally depicted as yellow-orange birds with three-toed feet, large wings and long necks. Later games have made the yellow variety the common breed and introduced other types characterized by different colors. While the yellow chocobo is flightless, stronger breeds can swim and fly. Common variations include the black chocobo, red chocobo, blue chocobo, and the chocobo breed universally regarded as the strongest, the gold chocobo.
Other games depict colors such as green, white, silver, brown, and purple. Chocobo breeding is a sidequest in several games, as stronger breeds able to swim and fly can reach optional areas an airship cannot. The ruler of the chocobos is the Fat Chocobo, a corpulent chocobo capable of human speech who possesses varying degrees of magical powers over lesser chocobos.
Chocobos are known to be intelligent and to understand human language. Bar the Fat Chocobo, the cases of a regular chocobo speaking are rare. Otherwise they are known for their signature kweh cry.
Chocobos are known for their swift footspeed, the Dissidia Final Fantasy Museum stating a healthy adult chocobo can run at speeds over 20 mph. Because of their speed, some games make mention of training being required to ride them safely, or a license being needed to be allowed to ride. Greens are the chocobos' typical food and come in many varieties, Gysahl Greens being the most common, and sometimes being available as an item to call them for a mount on the world map. Males are predominately raised as steeds, as females are sometimes considered ill fit to ride. Sometimes chocobos are used for racing.
