a variant is a different version of an existing pet! If you're familiar with pokemon, think of them as regional forms.

an example would be Noo-Long and the Albino Noo-Long; you have to give a regular Noo-Long a special evobar to change it into its albino variant.

another example is Sunobra and Nightshade Sunobra, both of which can be found on hoards.

In this particular case, a new evobar has been made available, found at the very bottom of the recipe list in the evobars baking section!