Airiodactyls are an alien bird-like species native to the planet Zoa.
Description[]
Airiodactyls are gigantic flying beings resembling enormous eagles, native to the planet Zoa. Voracious and aggressive, they are impervious to even the most advanced weapons, thanks to armor-like, metallic skin. Airiodactyls' natural habitat are mountains, due to the pollen of the otherwise-omnipresent Sarx Trees keeping them at bay, but in 1980, Doeg's hunt interfering with the lifecycle of the Sarx Trees led to a brief but devastating incursion of large amounts of Airiodactyls into Zoaite-inhabited areas, with the monstrous birds destroying cities and crops with no one able to stop them.
In desperation, ambassador Torgel called for the help of Earthling Mickey Mouse, who was in position of a top-of-the-range Electronic Scarecrow at the time. Though the gizmo proved ineffective against the flying menaces, Mickey did manage to solve the mystery with the help of his friend Goofy and the local scientist Arbol the Naturalist, and Zoa was returned to normal.
Behind the scenes[]
Airiodactyls appear in the 1980 story Mission to Planet Zoa.
In the cover to the story, they are depicted as purplish; however, in the story proper, they are grayish and metal blue, emphasizing their metallic nature. This discrepancy was corrected in the South African printing, as well as in many non-English ones.