Ursaluna is a large, quadrupedal dark brown bearlike Pokémon with a gray pelt around its back, paws, and round tail. The pelt has nine rectangular brown spikes on its back and four rectangular spikes on each side of its head. The front paws have five claws each while the back paws have three claws. Its face has a light-yellow circle resembling a full moon on the forehead, two gray eyebrows resembling clouds, and a light yellow snout that contains a small, black nose and sharp canine teeth.
Ursaluna's Evolution is believed to have been triggered by Ursaring being exposed to the swampy terrain of the Hisui region during a full moon. Ursaluna's physique allows it to travel through the swamps with ease, and it can also manipulate peat to its advantage. Ursaluna are known to be good at searching for items, and even missing persons, using their sense of smell.
A special Ursaluna is worshipped in Hisui for being a descendant of the ten ancient Pokémon blessed by Arceus. It is one of the Ride Pokémon who resides in Crimson Mirelands and assists humans.
Ursaluna is implied to be at the brink of extinction in the present day, with only one specimen known to exist, found in Kitakami's Timeless Woods.
Forms
Initial sighting of Bloodmoon Ursaluna
A particular Ursaluna has a unique form called Bloodmoon Ursaluna. Known as the "Bloodmoon Beast", it is stated that this Ursaluna is the only one known to exist, and is unique in that its altered appearance cannot be attributed to Evolution or form change.[1] The name of this unique Ursaluna comes from the distinctive red moon mark on its forehead.
Taller, bulkier, and lighter in color than a regular Ursaluna, its appearance is otherwise largely similar, except for the full moon-like circular mark on its forehead, which is larger and bright red, resembling a blood moon. Its left eye, which allows it to see in the dark, is black with a green pupil smaller than the right eye's pupil and has what appears to be a scar near the eye. Its hands, legs, chest, back, and the left half of its face are covered in grey mud that is as hard as iron. Unlike regular Ursaluna, this Ursaluna walks on its hind legs (though it still runs on all fours).
This Ursaluna is very old, having used to live in the Hisui region a long time ago until it drifted across the seas and arrived at Kitakami, where it made residence in the land's Timeless Woods. It gained special powers due to adapting to the hard environment of Kitakami. It is highly alert and rarely makes itself seen, but it tends to appear during foggy nights. Bloodmoon Ursaluna can unleash the full brunt of its spirit from the red moon mark in its forehead.
It started living in the Timeless Woods since then, surviving in the harsh, new habitat, eventually leading it to gain a long lifespan, unique appearance and special powers. While living in the Timeless Woods, Ursaluna became known as a myth, known as the "Bloodmoon Beast" among the people of Mossui Town.
In The Teal Mask, a photographer travelled to Kitakami wishing to take a photo of it, referring it to as the Bloodmoon Beast due to the myths of it in the land, asking the help of Florian/Juliana during their school trip there. Once they manage to catch at least 150 of Kitakami's Pokémon and defeat her in a Pokémon battle, both travel to the Timeless Woods, managing to encounter the Ursaluna. After a brief stare, Perrin accidently scares it with her camera's flash and the player is forced to battle it and then capture it.
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation VIII.
A particular Ursaluna has a unique form called Bloodmoon Ursaluna. Due to the distinctive red moon on its forehead, this Pokémon is known as the "Bloodmoon Beast". This Ursaluna is always male and its form cannot be changed. It cannot evolve from Ursaring.
Mechanically, other than its shared species, the only traits that Bloodmoon Ursaluna shares with regular Ursaluna are its type and the ability to produce TeddiursaEggs when bred with Ditto, and therefore the ability to acquire Egg Moves via Mirror Herb. Bloodmoon Ursaluna has a signature Ability, Mind's Eye, as its sole Ability, and its base stats, learnable moves, and cry are also different from those of regular Ursaluna.
Coincidentally, their pre-Evolutions cannot evolve into them outside of their debut game. In Ursaluna's case, this is due to the absence of the Peat Block. However, Ursaring is able to evolve into Ursaluna in Pokémon GO.
Prior to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet v3.0.0, if the player has Bloodmoon Ursaluna registered in the Kitakami Pokédex, its Shiny form is viewable in the Pokédex if they also either have or have had a Shiny regular Ursaluna. As Bloodmoon Ursaluna is Shiny-locked (prevented from being Shiny), this is the only way to see its Shiny form in-game.
In 3.0.0 onward, the game was hardcoded to prevent this from occurring, making Bloodmoon Ursaluna the only Pokémon prevented from appearing as Shiny in the Pokédex, (even via cheating to obtain it as Shiny, or to try to force the Pokédex to display it).
Although Teddiursa and regular Ursaluna can learn Charm from breeding or TM, Bloodmoon Ursaluna can't learn it by TM. However, it can still learn the move if holding a Mirror Herb during a picnic if another Pokémon knows the move.
Origin
Ursaluna may be based on the Ussuri brown bear, a subspecies of the brown bear native to Hokkaido (on which Hisui is based) and its surrounding areas. Its mountain-like body shape and Ground type may refer to Kim-un-kamuy, the Ainu god of bears and mountains, or the fact that Ussuri brown bears mostly live inside burrows excavated into hillsides. Its affinity with peat may be inspired by the real distribution of Ussuri brown bears around former coal mines like Yubetsu, Akan-chō. The pattern on its head evokes the image of a full moon shining through clouds.
Bloodmoon Ursaluna, as indicated by its name, appears to be based on the lunar eclipse phenomenon, also known as "blood moon" due to the moon appearing red in the sky. It also seems to be based on onikuma, bears that have transformed into yokai after living for an exceptionally long time. Onikuma are known to walk on two legs and continue to grow, reaching sizes much larger than even the largest natural bears.
Name origin
Ursaluna may be a combination of ursa (Latin for bear) and luna (Latin for moon).
Gachiguma may be a combination of 月輪 gachirin (round moon) and 熊 kuma (bear).
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.