{{Animedexbody|BW001|Tsutarja|Shooti's Pokédex|Tsutarja, the Grass Snake Pokémon. It appears in the rarest tall grass. When it spins his tail, it can throw a lot of energy!}}
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Tsutarja is a reptilian Grass-type Pokémon. Most of its body is green in coloration, while it has a cream-colored underside. A yellow stripe runs down the length of its back and tail, and it also has yellow markings around its large eyes. Yellow, curved structures protrude from its shoulders and bend backwards. These structures resemble leaves or small wings and give Tsutarja the appearance of wearing a collar. In spite of being snake-like in appearance, it has fully-developed limbs. Its slender arms are the same green color as the rest of its body and have three fingers, while its tiny feet match its underside in coloration and have no digits whatsoever. It has a large, palmate leaf with three prongs on the end of its tail.
Tsutarja and its fellow Black and White starters were first revealed as silhouettes on the May 9, 2010 episode of Pokémon Sunday. They were later revealed in full in the June 2010 issue of CoroCoro.
Ken Sugimori has said that Tsutarja's personality was meant to be similar to that of European (particularly French) royalty, specifically mentioning The Rose of Versailles anime as inspiration. The Rose of Versailles was also the inspiration for two characters of the day in the anime.
Tsutarja is the first Grass-type starter that is not listed as the first Pokémon in its regional Pokédex, although it is still #001. It is also the only Grass-type starter so far that is not the first Pokémon of its generation in National order.
Origin
Tsutarja may be based on Oxybelis fulgidus, a slender snake with a pointed head that inhabits Central America and South America. Its color scheme resembles Opheodrys aestivus, the North American grass snake that is likely the namesake of Tsutarja's species designation.
The Pokémon's combination of snake- and lizard-like features is also similar to that of the skink, more specifically the Neoseps. Neoseps heavily resemble snakes but have small, stubby legs. Its head and general body shape, as well as its protrusions on its shoulders, may be based on the birds of paradise flowers or false birds of paradise.
Name origin
Tsutarja's name is possibly derived from ツタ tsuta, Japanese ivy, and 蛇 ja, snake.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.