Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the Monster Manual II Art Gallery here.
[I have to wonder if these were inspired by Dougal Dixon’s After Man. That speculative zoology classic features the raboons and horranes, which were both primates evolved into hypercarnivores.]
Gamboll This enormous
creature resembles a cross between a baboon and a hound. Its purple skin is
visible on its hands, feet and face, beneath a shaggy coat of blue fur. It
moves towards you at incredible speed.
Gambolls are supernatural carnivores that combine
the worst features of primates and canids. Their heads are baboon-like, and
their forelegs end in prehensile hands, but their four limbs are long and
dog-like, and they almost always move on all fours. Gambolls have a
supernatural speed and are capable of covering great distances and making
mighty leaps in the blink of an eye. When hunting, gambolls rely on their
horrific howls to flush prey from hiding, then chase it down, grab it in their mighty
jaws, and drag it off for consumption.
Most gambolls are solitary hunters that live in any
relatively flat terrain. They do like to have rocky outcroppings and cliffs
from which to oversee their territory and to act as obstacles to slow their
prey. They do occasionally hunt in groups, although such hunting is not
terribly cooperative—each gamboll typically chooses a single target from an
entire panicked herd. When gambolls do cooperate, however, they can easily down
prey as large as mammoths or giants.
A gamboll stands five feet high at the shoulder and
is about ten feet long. They weigh about 400 pounds.
Gambolls are found in the savannas of Koll. They willingly pursue humanoids and beasts alike, but are reluctant to harm other primates and will not eat them. Pilts sometimes find young specimens and raise them as part of their tribes, though they must keep these companions well fed.
Shores of Swords 