Ekans (Arbo (アーボ Ābo) in the original Japanese) is a snake_like Pokémon that swallows whole the eggs of small bird pokémon such as Pidgey or Spearow. Its highly poisonous fangs make it a hazard in the wild. It uses its tongue to test the air for the presence of prey (small Pokémon that it feeds on.)

Ekans normally evolves into Arbok at level 22.

Name origin

The name Ekans is the word snake spelled backwards. The Japanese name, Aabo, is a reversal (by syllables/morae) of the word "boa".

Pokédex information

• Red/Blue Pokédex description: Moves silently and stealthily. Eats the eggs of birds, such as Pidgey and Spearow, whole.
• Green Pokédex description: Mostly lives in grasslands and the like. Its tongue allows it to feel danger in its surroundings.
• Yellow Pokédex description: The older it gets, the longer it grows. At night, it wraps its long body around tree branches to rest.
• Gold Pokédex description: It can freely detach its jaw to swallow large prey whole. It can become too heavy to move, however.
• Silver Pokédex description: It always hides in grass. When first born, it has no poison, so its bite is painful but harmless.
• Crystal Pokédex description: It flutters the tip of its tongue to seek out the scent of prey, then swallows the prey whole.
• Ruby/Sapphire Pokédex description: EKANS curls itself up in a spiral while it rests. Assuming this position allows it to quickly respond to a threat from any direction with a glare from its upraised head.
• Stadium Pokédex description: Slithers silently through grass, searching for its favorite food--PIDGEY and SPEAROW eggs.

The last one was a variation of the Red/Blue description.

Anime Appearances

In the Pokémon Anime, a semi-sentimental scene in episode 31 showed Jessie's Ekans evolving after Jessie cried over it. As an un-evolved Ekans, one of the things that Jessie used it for is its wrapping technique, similar to that of a boa constrictor's.