After announcing that archeology is in for the next update, Mojang is back today with another Minecraft 1.20 reveal and this time it's the big ol' Sniffer mob. We already knew it was coming, of course, after it won the community mob vote last summer, but this is the first time we're seeing what its in-game model will look like and I think the initial hype for this big mossy buddy is definitely going to continue.
"Sniffer eggs can be found in the newly introduced archeology sites near desert temples," Mojang says, a detail which we learned as part of last week's archeology announcement. "Players can hatch the newly unearthed egg into a baby snifflet, which will grow up into the huge sniffer. The new mob can 'sniff' out ancient seeds from when it once roamed the overworld. The new seeds will grow into unique decorative plants."
Mojang has posted several photos of the Sniffer in today's announcement post (though none of its baby Snifflet version, sorry) and it really is as large as advertised. I voted for the Sniffer myself and am loving the funny little flop pose they have. I only wish Mojang had thrown in a villager for size. The other bit of Sniffers we've yet to see is what these ancient plants they can dig up will look like.
Like the archeology feature, Mojang says that the Sniffer is coming to Minecraft Java snapshots and Bedrock version betas "very soon." Of note is that the first snapshot iteration of the Sniffer will be found in creative mode where you can create them via spawn egg rather than digging them up in survival mode as intended for the launch version coming later.
Reiterating what it said in Friday's announcement, Mojang adds: "Keep your eyes peeled, we’re not quite done revealing the features that are going to be included in Minecraft 1.20." Plenty of version 1.20 mysteries remain, it seems.
