animals on gor
Ant
There is a particular variety of ants that inhabit the rainforests near Schendi.
They are referred to as the "marchers." Essentially, this is a huge mass of black ants that
move through the jungles. The ants usually form a column that is about a yard wide but that
could be pasangs in length. The column widens only when food is found. It may then spread
up to five hundred feet wide. To cross small streams, the ants will make a bridge of
themselves. During a rain, they will separate and seek shelter, reforming after the rains
stop. A knowledge individual could guide the marchers on a specific path. The bite of these
ants is extremely painful but not poisonous.
Anteater
There are six varieties of anteaters in the rainforests near Schendi. One type
is the great spined anteater. It is about twenty feet long and has heavy clawed forefeet.
These claws are generally used to break into termite nests, its primary prey. They are also
strong enough to eviscerate a larl. The anteater's four-foot long tongue is coated with an
adhesive saliva that it uses to collect them. It also commonly makes a whistling sound.
Bee
Honeybees are domestically raised for their honey. Though the books only depicted
an instance of such breeding in Torvaldsland, the wide availability of honey throughout Gor
seems to support bee keeping in many other regions.
Beetle
One variety of beetle known to exist on Gor is the marsh beetle.
Bint
There are two types of bints. One is a small, carnivorous freshwater fish like a
piranha that inhabits the rivers of the rainforests. A large school of these bints can strip a
carcass bare in minutes. The other type is a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel.
Bosk
There are fifteen varieties of bosk, a cattle like animal. These varieties
include the brown bosk, red bosk, and milk bosk. They are commonly the long-haired wild ox
of the plains. They have a thick, humped neck, a wide head, and tiny red eyes. They also have
the temper of a sleen. With their two, long, wicked horns they can be quite deadly. The horns
reach out and suddenly curve forward and may even reach the length of two spears. They are
very important animals to the Wagon Peoples and also many others on Gor. Bosk meat and milk
is available over much of Gor.
Carp
Similar to the carp fish found on earth. Found in the Vosk
Centipede
Clam, Tamber
Their polished shells are generally used in making cheap jewelry though
certain shells can be quite valuable.
Crayfish
Cuttlefish
Deer
A swift type of deer lives in the north areas.
Eel
There are several varieties including dock eels, river eels, black eels,
spotted eels, carnivorous eels, and Vosk eels. The dock eel is a black freshwater fish,
comonly about four feet long and weighing eight to ten pounds. They are carnivorous, living
in the shallow waters around the docks of most river ports.
Finches
Fisher, Ushindi
A tufted waterbird of the rainforests near Schendi. It has long white feathers
and long legs
Fleer
The fleer is a large, hook billed bird that hunts at night. There are two types,
the prairie fleer and the long-billed fleer. The prairie fleer lives in the Barrens and is
a yellow bird with long wings and a sharp bill. It is both gregarious and voracious. It
is sometimes called the maize or corn bird from the belief that it is usually the first bird
to find food. The long-billed fleer live in the rainforests.
Flies
There are many types of Gor including sand flies, arctic flies, and sting flies.
Sand flies live in the Tahari and appear after the rains. The flies in the arctic are black
and long-winged. Sting flies, also known as needle flies in the southern regions, usually
live in deltas and similar wet areas. They generally lay their eggs on the stems of rence
plants. They tend to be attracted to eyes and cause a painful sting. Several stings can
cause nausea and a swelling that will go away after a few Ahn. But, in great numbers they
can kill. The hatching time is the most dangerous period and last for four to five days.
Luckily, that season is predictable so can be easily avoided.
Frevet
These are small, quick, and friendly mammalian insectivores. They sometimes
live in insulae in the cities and eat pests. As they cannot eat through walls, then they
do not harm the insulae.
Fruit tindel
This is a brightly plumaged bird that inhabits the rainforests near Schendi.
Gant
: There are a few different types of these birds. The marsh gant is a small,
horned, web-footed aquatic fowl. It is broad-billed and broad-winged. Its call is a kind of
piping whistle. Rence growers tame them and also eat them. The jungle gant is a bird of the
rainforests related to the marsh gant. The migratory arctic gant nests in the Hrimgar
mountains in steep, rocky outcroppings called bird cliffs. Their eggs may be frozen and
eaten like apples.
Gatch, armored
This is a marsupial that lives in the rainforests near Schendi.
Giani
These are solitary, prowling, tiny cat-sized panthers. They live in the
rainforests near Schendi and are not dangerous to man.
Gim
This bird comes in several varieties. The horned gim is a small owl-like bird,
about four ounces in weight, that inhabits the forests of northern Gor. It migrates from
the Plains of Turia late in the spring. The lang gim is an insectivorous bird that lives in
the rainforests. The yellow gim also resides in the rainforests. Most gims make a throaty
warbling.
Gint
There are two types of gints. One is a tiny, six-inch freshwater fish inhabiting
the rainforests. It has bulbous eyes and flipper-like fins. It is amphibious and capable of
walking on its pectorals. It is often found feeding off the scraps of tharlarion kills. It
is similar to the Earth lungfish. They sun themselves on exposed roots near the river,
remaining close to the water. They may even rest on the backs of resting or sleeping tharlarion.
There is also a giant gint in the rainforests that is about ten feet long, weighs a thousand
pounds.and has a four-spined dorsal fin.
Gitches
These are insects that cause a painful bite. Some can grow quite large.
Goat
Golden beetle
One of the most unique and dangerous creatures in the Nest is the Golden Beetle,
that lives in the unlit caverns beneath the Sardar caves of the Priest-Kings. This is an insect
the size of a rhinoceros. Its back seems divided into two thick casings which once long ago
might have been horny wings but which have fused into a thick, immobile golden shell. It has
glowing eyes and its head can almost withdraw beneath the shell. It can still use its jaws
when its head is beneath the shell. It has two multiply-hooked, hollow, pincerlike extensions
that meet at the tips about a yard beyond its body. These suck a creature's fluids out.
Its antennae are very short, curved and topped with a fluff of golden hair. There are also
several long, golden strands that extend from its head over its domed back and fall almost
to the floor behind it. Its bite has a paralytic venom. It hisses and can move fast but only
for a brief time. Its greatest weapon is that it exudes an odor, somewhat oppressive, that
induces sleep in people nearby. This is even effective on Priest-Kings. Its primary food
is Priest-Kings. It lays its eggs, each about the size of a fist, in a host. The egg has
leathery shell and the baby is the size of a child's turtle. The host will not die if the
eggs are removed before they hatch.
Hook billed Gort
This is a carnivorous hunting bird of the rainforests. It preys largely on
rodents like ground urts.
Grasshopper
: In the rainforests, there is a red grasshopper that weighs about four
ounces in weight.
Grub borer
This is an insectivorous bird of the rainforests near Schendi.
Grunt
There are a few different types of this fish. One type is a large, carnivorous
salt-water fish that inhabits Thassa. It is often attracted to the scent of blood like a
shark. The blue grunt is a small, voracious, carnivorous freshwater fish also attracted
to blood. It is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods.
During its mating period, they are harmless. They are also more of a threat when they
school and not when a solitary individual is encountered. The white-bellied grunt is a
large game fish which feeds on parsit fish.
Gulls
Vosk gulls and Schendi gulls are two types of this bird. Vosk gulls
migrate north from the southern hemisphere in the spring time when the ice breaks
in the Vosk River. Schendi gulls nest on land at night.
Herlit
This is the Gorean eagle. It is also called Sun-Striker or
Out-of-the-Sun-it-Strikes, from its habit of striking with the sun above and behind it.
It lives in the Barrens. It has a wingspan of six to eight feet and stands about four
feet high. It is carnivorous. It has yellow feathers tipped with black. It has fifteen
tail feathers which are the mostly highed prized of its feathers. They they are fourteen
to fifteen inches long and used by the Red Savages to mark coups. The wing, or pinion,
feathers are used for ceremonial and religious purposes. The breath feathers, light and
delicate, from the base of the bird's tail, are used with the tail feathers in the fashioning
of bonnets and complex headdresses. Feathers from the right side of the tail are used in the
right side of the headdress and the left side used in the left side. To make a headdress
requires several birds. Two to five Herlits may be traded for a kaiila.
Hermit bird
This is a yellow-breasted bird similar to a woodpecker. It hunts for larvae
in tur trees.
Hinti
These are small, flea like insects though they are not parasites.
Hith
This is the huge, many banded python of Gor. The great banded, horned hith is
the most feared constrictor but is only native to certain areas of the Great Forests. The
golden hith is a rare snake. Its body would be difficult for a grown man to encircle with
his arms.
Hurlit, forest
A bird that migrates from the Plains of Turia late in the spring.
Hurt
This is a two-legged, domesticated marsupial that bounds like a kangaroo.
It is raised on ranches in several northern cities, herded by sleen and sheared for their
white wool. Hurts replace their wool four times a year. The finest wool is sheared in the
spring from the bellies of hurts and verr.
Jard
This is a small, yellow-winged scavenger bird of the rainforests. There is
a variety in the north that flies in large flocks and can strip a carcass quickly.
Kaiila
: There are two varieties of kaiila, the southern kaiila and the desert or
sand kaiila. The earlier books stated that kaiila did not exist in the northern hemisphere
but this was later changed as the Red Savage in the Barrens have kaiila. The two varieties
are very similar. The southern kaiila are used by the Wagon Peoples as mounts. It is a
silken, lofty, and graceful animal. It is long necked, smooth gaited, and carnivorous. It
is mammalian but doesn't suckle its young. The young are born vicious and can hunt as soon
as they struggle to their feet. The mother's instinct is to deliver the young near game.
Once a kaiila eats its fill, it won't eat for several days. They are extremely agile and can
easily outmaneuver a high tharlarion. They require less food than a tarn. They normally
stands about twenty to twenty-two hands at the shoulder. They can cover as much as six hundred
pasangs a day. Its head bears two large eyes, one on each side, and the eyes are triply lidded
so it can travel in adverse weather like storms. It is most dangerous at these times and
often hunts then. Some are colored black. They also have long, triangular tongues, long ears
and four rows of fangs. They are trained to avoid the thrown spear. Until it is proficient
in this skill, it is not allowed to breed. The sand or desert kailla is used as a mount in
the Tahari. They are almost all tawny colored though there are some black ones. This variety
does suckle their young. Kailla milk is reddish and has a strong salty taste. This is an
omnivorous creature and must feed more frequently than the southern kailla. Its paws are
much broader, the digits being webbed with leathery fibers and heavily padded. Its hair is
never sheared though it is gathered when it sheds. The most prized hair is found on its
belly. Such hairs are commonly used to make cloth. The long outer hairs are coarser and
used for ropes and tent cloth.
Kailiauk
This is a short-trunked, stocky, awkward ruminant of the plains. There are several
varieties including the Yellow Kailiauk. The yellow variety are tawny and their haunches are
marked in red and brown bars. The males have a trident of horns and usually stand about ten
hands at the shoulder. Females only stand about eight. The males weigh about sixteen hundred
to two thousand pounds and the females only weigh twelve hundred to sixteen hundred pounds.
They are located in the savannahs and plains north and south of the rain forests. Some herds
even frequent the forests.
The kailiauk of the Barrens is the larger type, standing twenty to twenty-five hands,
and weighing up to four thousand pounds. Their numbers in the Barrens are enormous and
most have never seen a man or sleen. They have nearly no natural enemies. They are
migratory creatures and drift with the seasons, bending northward in the summer and southward
in the winter. They generally follow a gigantic oval pattern that crosses the lands
of many tribes so a tribe need not leave its own territory to hunt them. The known kailiauk
in the Barrens travel in herds that have often been named. Some famous herds include the
Boswell, Bento and Hogarthe herds. The four or five best known herds number between two
and three million animals. The tremors from any of those herds can be felt fifty pasangs
away. There are several smaller herds numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and there
are even smaller herds of hundreds to thousands. They are rarely hunted on foot except
in snow. They are commonly hunted by kaiilaback. They have four stomachs and eight-valved
heart. A red savage can kill one with a single arrow by striking into the intestinal
cavity behind the last rib causing large internal bleeding or by a shot behind the left
shoulder blade into the heart.
Kites
A type of bird with a shrill call. One variety is the Meadow Kite that
migrates from the Plains of Turia early in the spring.
Larl
There are several varieties of this tawny leopard-like beast that is indigenous
to the Voltai and other ranges. It is six to eight foot tall at the shoulder. Its head
is broad, sometimes more than two feet across, and shaped roughly like a triangle. This
makes its head viper-like. Their heads are in constant motion. It has an unobtrusive bony
ridge which runs from its four nasal slits to the start of its backbone. The ridge can be
penetrated by a spear but an imperfect cast would glance off the bone. It has an eight-valved
heart in the center of its breast. They sometimes visit the civilized plains. When it hunts
alone, it is silent until it roars preceding its charge. When hunting with others, they emit
hunting cries, cries to drive their prey toward a certain direction, into the path of quiet
larls of the same pride. A larl prefers to ruin a hunt, even with a number of other quarry,
if it means that one might escape. No one had ever tamed a larl. Even when raised from a
cub, a larl will go wild at sometime and run away. They are hunted with spears. They usually
only attack men when provoked or no other prey is available. Hunters of larls use the Gorean
spear. They go in single file. When they see a larl, the first man in the line casts his
spear and then drops to the ground, covering himself with his shield. If the larl is not
dead, the next man in line will cast his spear. The last spear must stand his ground if the
larl is not dead and face it with his sword alone so the others can escape. The First Spear
is usually the best spearsman and Last the worst. Its pelt is normally a tawny red or sable
black. The black larl is predominately nocturnal and both male and female are maned. The
red larl, the more common type, hunts whenever hungry and has no mane. Females of both types
are smaller but are quite as aggressive and sometimes even more dangerous particularly when
they are hunting for their cubs during the late fall and winter. The white larls have upper
canine fangs that are a foot in length and extend down like a saber tooth tiger. There tails
are long and tufted at the end. There are also larls in the jungles near Schendi. The heart
of the mountain larl allegedly brings great luck, even more luck than that of the sleen.
There is even a larl hunter dance that is performed by men. They dance in a file, dancing
the stalking of the beast including the confrontation and the kill.
Lart, snow
This is a four-legged mammal whose winter fur is snowy white. It has two
stomachs and the food in its second stomach can be held almost indefinitely. It hunts
in the sun, eating bird's eggs and leems. It is about ten inches high and weighs eight
to twelve pounds. A good pelt could sell in Ar for maybe half a silver tarsk.
Leech
A salt leech is one type of known leech. A marsh leech is another. A marsh
leech is about four inches long and half an inch thick. If a leech is stuck on you, burning
it or placing salt on it will cause it to let go.
Leem
This is a small arctic rodent, five to ten ounces in weight. It hibernates
in the winter and their summer coats are brown.
Lelt
This is a small, five to seven inches long, blindfish. It has fernlike
filaments at either side of the head which are its sensory organs. It is white with long
fins and swims slowly. It inhabits the brine pits and is the main food of the salt shar
Lice
Lice vary in size from very tiny to the size of marbles. The larger variety
infest tarns so tarnsman must remove them. When they remove them, they might feed them to
the tarn. Lice can be dangerous though as they transmit the pox.
Lit
There are several varieties of this bird including the common lit, crested lit,
and the needle-tailed lit. They are all found in the rainforests. The crested lit is
brightly plumaged with red and yellow feathers.
Mamba
This is a large, predatory river tharlarion from the rainforests. It has a
long, log-like body with short powerful legs. It has a long snout and tail. It is similar
to a crocodile.
Mindar
This bird is similar to a hummingbird. It is a short winged, yellow and
red bird of the rainforests. It uses its sharp bill to dig at the bark of flower trees
for larvae and insects. Its wings have adapted for short, rapid flights.
Monkeys
Several varieties of monkeys lives in the rainforest such as the Guernon
monkeys , tarsiers and the nocturnal jit monkeys.
Ost
This is a venomous, brilliantly orange snake that is little more than a foot
long. Its bite causes an excruciating death within seconds. A powder prepared from its
venom can be put into wine. The osts of the rainforests are red with black stripes.
The banded ost is yellowish orange and marked with black rings.
Panther
There are several varieties of these cats. They include jungle panthers,
yellow panthers, and forest panthers. The forest panther is a proud beast that does not
care to be distracted when it is hunting. They hunt largely at night but are not
invariably nocturnal. They will hunt when hungry or irritable. Panthers will usually
only attack men if they are provoked or if no other prey is available. Panthers are able
to climb but they normally take a hunting scent from the ground.
Parrot
Parsit fish
There are several types of this slender, silvery fish with brown stripes.
They are migratory fish and the principal prey of sea sleen.
Pike
This is a carnivorous fish about fifteen inches long.
Porcupine
A long-tailed variety lives in the rainforests
Quala
This is a small, three-toed mammal. It is dun colored with a stiff brushy
mane of black hair. It travels in a scampering flock. The plural form for them is qualae.
Rennels
These are crablike desert insects with a poisonous bite though it is not too
lethal. They leave little red bites.
Roach
This is commonly an oblong, flat-bodied black creature about half a hort long.
It has long feelers and is basically harmless.
Salamanders
In the salt mines, salamanders are tiny, white and blind. They are long
bodied with long, stemlike legs. They have fernlike filaments at the sides of their
heads that are feather gills, an external gill system. They have a slow metabolism and
are capable of long periods of dormancy.
Scorpions
Sharks
There are several varieties of sharks on Gor, saltwater and freshwater.
The common shark is nine-gilled and its skin is very rough and abrasive. Varieties include
river sharks, salt shark, marsh shark, white sharks of the north and the Vosk and Laurius
sharks. The salt shark is commonly over twelve feet long, with a sickle-like tail. It has
several rows of triangular teeth and a sail-like dorsal fin. It inhabits brine pits such
as those of the Tahari region.
Slee
This is a rodent of the rainforests.
Sleen
There are several varieties of this six-legged, long bodied carnivorous mammal.
It is almost like a snake. Some can get as big as twenty feet long and up to twelve to
fourteen hundred pounds. They have two rows of teeth in a wide and triangular head. Their
paws have six claws. They smell like a weasel or ferret but only stronger. Sleens are very
dirty animals. It is an efficient, tireless, almost infallible hunter. It is capable of
pursuing a scent, days old, for hundreds of pasangs. Sleens in the wild are burrowing and
nocturnal. They do not climb. Their preferred prey is the tabuk. They mate once a year in
the spring. Their mating ritual is interesting. If a female has never mated before, she
will flee and fight a male sleen. The male must finally take her by the throat and, belly
to belly, mate with her. After mating once, a female never needs to be forced again. The
mating season is usually confined to the spring. Their gestation period is six months and
there are usually four young born. The young are commonly white furred and darken by the
next spring. Young sleen are about eight feet long and adults are nineteen to twenty feet
long. A young sleen's attack is noisy, a whistling rush, a clumsy squealing charge. An
adult sleen sometimes makes kills swiftly and silently. There is also a hunting frenzy
underwent by some sleen that is a function in part of the secretions of certain glands.
Most domestic sleen are bred as it is hard to tame a wild one and a wild sleen could revert.
If young sleen are taken from their mother within the first two months of their life,
there is a good chance they can be tamed. It may still revert though, especially in the
spring, during the mating period. The specific verbal signals between a master and his
trained sleen are private. Verbality is important as a sleen on the hunt may not look at
his master. Sleen are used for herding verr and bosk, tracking tabuk and slaves, guarding
and patrolling, and many other activities. In Thentis, sleen sniff out the smuggling of
black wine beans. Assassins even sometimes use them. The Gray sleen is the best tracker.
The forest sleen is large, and commonly either brown or black. Prairie sleen are smaller
than forest sleen, usually only seven feet in length. They are domesticated as herd sleen
and used as shepherds and sentries by the Wagon People. Aquatic sleen, or sea sleens, are
common in the north. There are four varieties of sea sleen in the north including the black
sleen, brown sleen, tusked sleen, and flat-nosed sleen. Many migrate though some remain
largely dormant in the winter. Their principal prey are parsits and they follow their
migrations. A medium-sized adult sea sleen is about eight feet long and weighs 300 to 400
pounds. There is a white snow sleen in the north as well. Sleen hunters, for luck when
they kill one, eat its heart. The heart of the mountain larl brings the most luck. There
are no sleen in the rainforests. The sleen is considered Gor's most perfect hunter.
Slime worm
This is a long, whitish, wormlike animal that resides in the Sardar. It is
eyeless and has a small, red mouth on the underside of its body. It inches its way along,
hugging the angle between the wall and floor. It once functioned as a sewerage device but
it has not done so for thousands of years. It now scavenges on the kills of the Golden Beetle.
Sloth
Snails
Snakes
Besides the ost and hith mentioned before, other snakes also exist on Gor.
Some other snakes include the adder and marsh moccasin.
Vosk sorp
This is giant-shelled mollusk that creates pearls like an oyster. Its blood
is used for dye. Its shell could even be used as a chair.
Spiders
One unique type of spider on Gor is the rock spider. They are usually brown or
black and when they fold their legs beneath them, they look almost like a rock. Rock spiders
can be huge, almost eight feet thick. They live in the rainforests. Cell spiders are tiny
creatures.
Squirrels
Tabuk
There are several varieties of this one horned, yellow antelope. The
common type frequents Ka-la-na thickets. It is small, graceful and eats berries and salt.
Young tabuk rarely leave the thickets. Their hide is a mottled yellow and brown. Northern
tabuk are massive, tawny, and swift. Many stand ten hands at the shoulder. Northern tabuk
hairs are hollow and give its fur an excellent insulative quality. Both types have a
single horn of ivory, a deadly weapon. It is a yard or so long and two and a half inches
at the base. The herd of Tancred is a gigantic herd of northern tabuk, one of several.
This herd winters in the rims of the northern forests, south and east of Torvaldsland.
In the springtime, short-haired and hungry, they migrate northward, following the shore of
Thassa until they reach the tundra of the polar basin for their summer grazing. When winter
comes, long-haired and fat, they return south. The prairie tabuk reside in the Barrens.
They are tawny, single-horned, and travel in herds. Some varieties lie down when sensing
danger. They can attain short-term speeds of eighty to ninety pasangs an Ahn. Their
evasive leaps can cover thirty to forty feet in length and heights of ten to fifteen
feet. There are twenty varieties of tabuk in the rainforests.
Tanager
This is a brightly plumaged bird in the rainforests near Schendi.
Tarns
These are the giant riding birds of Gor, also called the Brothers of the Wind.
They resemble a hawk but with a crest like a jay. They are surprisingly light for their
size due to the hollowness of their bones. A tarn is an extremely powerful bird. It can
fly from the ground with a spring and sudden wing flurry. Its tongue is thin, sharp and
as long as a man's arm. It has a curved beak, slit with narrow nostrils. They are not
migratory birds and cannot live in the cold northern regions. Tarns are diurnal and
carnivorous. They eat only what they catch themselves, usually antelopes and wild bull.
If enough food is available, they will eat half their weight. But by Renegades of Gor,
tarns are being trained to eat prepared meat. They are seldom more than half-tamed and
it is not unknown for a tarn to attack its own rider. Their plumage varies and they are
bred for color. The most common color is greenish-brown. Black tarns used for night raids,
white for winter raids, and multi-colored for proud warriors who care not for camouflage.
It is extremely difficult to fly a tarn from the sight of land. The jungle tarn is a rare
bird, gloriously plumaged, from the tropical reaches of the Cartius. Tarns often are trained
for specific functions. Draft tarn are used for transporting cargo while Saddle tarns are
used for transport of people. War tarns are used by Tarnsmen in battle. Racing Tarns
are made for entertainment like Earth horse racing. Racing tarns are different in size,
strength, build, and tendencies from most other tarns. They are extremely light so that two
men could lift one. Its wings are broader and shorter permitting a swifter take off and a
capacity for extremely abrupt turns and shifts in flight. They lack the stamina of most
other tarns and cannot carry heavy weight.
Tarsk
This is a six-tusked wild boar, with a bristly mane running down its spine.
There is a giant tarsk that stands ten hands at the shoulder. There are several varieties
of tarks in the rainforests, both large and small. They can be domesticated and the
rencers keep some. They are best hunted from the back of kaiila with lances and the giant
tarsk is often hunted on tarnback with lances. Tarsk meat tends to be salty.
Termites
They are also called white ants.
Tharlarion
There are numerous varieties of this reptile. One type is a species of saddle lizard, common on Gor
especially in swamplands and deserts. They are used mostly by those who have not mastered tarns. Tharlarions
been bred for a thousand generations before the first tarn was tamed. Wild tharlarion have round, shining eyes, webbed
feet, teeth ridges and a long brown tongue that curls around their prey. They are carnivorous creatures. High tharlarion
are short-tempered creatures, that run on its two back feet. Its forelegs are tiny and near useless. They respond to voice
signals though sometimes the butt of a lance is needed to move them, hitting them about the eye or ear openings. Those
are the few sensitive areas on its body as they are almost impervious to pain, having a sluggish nervous system. Most
of the larger varieties have a brain and a smaller brainlike organ, located near the base of the spine. They need far less
water than tarns and their metabolism is slower than a tarn. When they move slowly, their stride is a proud, stalking
movement. When going fast, they bound in leaps that can carry them twenty paces at a time. Its saddle is built to
absorb shock, unlike the tarn saddle. Mounted warriors though still wear a leather belt around their waists. They also
wear high, soft boots to protect against the abrasive hide of the creature. Draft tharlarion are four footed, slow
moving animals. They are herbivorous and also known as Broad tharlarions. There are at least four species of draft
tharlarion. Sea tharlarion, immune to the poison of Cosian wingfish, grow up to thirty feet and more in length and have
a yellowish slatted belly. Rock tharlarion are the small lizards of the Tahari. There are tiny water tharlarion, about
six inches long, that are little more than teeth and tail like piranha. Some live in the swamps. There are also marsh tharlarion
and river tharlarion. River tharlarion are long necked, web-footed, and scaled. Some of them are herbivorous and can be
domesticated. They may be used to tow barges on the Cartius River. Tharlarion are also used as cavalry and there are
even racing tharlarions. Racing tharlarion are usually larger and more agile than saddle tharlarion but smaller than draft or
war ones. The city of Venna is famed for its tharlarion races. Some select breeds of racing tharlarion include the Venetzia,
Torarii and Thalonian.
Tibit
This is a small, thin-legged bird that lives on tiny mollusks on the shores of Thassa.
Toos
This is a crablike creature, covered with overlapping plating, that resides in the Sardar. It lives
on discarded fungus spores.
Tumit
This is a large flightless bird of the prairies with a hooked beak as long as a forearm. Wagon Peoples
hunt these with bolas.
Turtles
There is a variety of Vosk turtle, a hook-beaked creature, that can grow to be gigantic. It is a
persistent carnivore that is almost impossible to kill. The marsh turtle is another variety of turtle on Gor.
Ul
This is a silent, giant pterodactyl-like creature that is native to the swamps of the Vosk delta. It is a
predatory winged tharlarion. It has a wing span of twenty-five to thirty Gorean feet. It has a small head with long,
narrow toothed jaws with a narrow extension of bone and skin in the back. Its long snake-like tail ends in a spadelike
structure. It has a clawed hand with a very long fourth digit. There are several smaller varieties, some as small as a jard.
The larger ones are isolated and territorial. They will not attack a tarn as a tarn could easily tear them to pieces.
Umbrella bird
This bird lives in the rainforest.
Unnamed creatures
There are a few creatures that exist in the Sardar that were described but never named.
There is a segmented arthropod, about eight feet long and three feet high, with multiple legs. It has eye stalks, pincers, and its body plates rustle like plastic armor. It is a timid creature that does not like the sight of men.
There is a flat, sluglike creature with multiple legs.
There is a small humanoid creature with a receeding forehead and an excessively hairy face and body.
Urt
There are several varieties of this common rodent. It is usually fat, sleek and white. It has three rows
of needlelike teeth, tusks that curve from its jaw, and two horns that protrude over its eyes. It also has a long hairless
tail. Most are tiny enough to hold in palm of your hand but some can get as big as wolves or ponies. Certain varieties
migrate twice a year though it is only dangerous if you are in the middle of their path. In the rainforests there are gliding,
ground, leaf and tree urts. The canal urt is web footed and can be found in Port Kar's canals. There are also brush urts
and forest urts. Some large urts are domesticated and bred for attacking and killing. Most urts attack in a pack and are
messy and noisy when attacking.
Vart
These are blind, batlike flying rodents. They can grow to the size of a small dog. They can strip a
carcass in minutes. Some are rabid and they hang upside down like bats. There are jungle varts in the rainforests.
Varts on Tyros are trained as weapons.
Veminium bird
This is a songbird that may live among veminium flowers.
Verr
This is a mountain goat, indigenous to the Voltai Mountains. They are long-haired, spiral horned,
and ill-tempered. There is a small, long-haired verr that is smaller and less belligerent than the wild verr. Some are
domesticated and they are a source of wool and milk. The finest wool is sheared in the spring from the bellies of the
hurt and verr.
Vints
These are tiny, sand-colored insects.
Vulo
These are domesticated, tawny-colored pigeons raised for eggs and meat. At least some of
their meat is white.
Wader
There are at least two varieties of this waterbird in the rainforests. This includes the ring-necked
wader and the yellow-legged wader.
Whales
There are several varieties of whales on Gor including the Karl whale, baleen whale, and the
Hunjer Long Whale, a rare toothed black whale which eats cuttlefish.
Wingfish, cosian
This is a tiny, delicate fish, about the size of a tarn disk when curled in one's hand. It is blue in color
and has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin that are poisonous. It can hurl itself from the water and glide through
the air for brief distances on its stiff pectoral fins. It does this to evade sea-tharlarions who are immune to their poison.
It is sometimes called the songfish because of the whistling sound they make in courting rituals. The fish thrust their heads
out of the water to whistle. The blue, four-spined variety is only found in Cosian waters. Larger varieties are found farther
out to sea. It is a great delicacy, especially its liver.
Woodpecker
There is an ivory-billed variety
Worms, silk
Yellow pool monster
This was a bizarre creature so far unique to the city of Turia. Its origins are unknown. It makes its
appearance in Nomads of Gor. The merchant, Saphrar, has this creature in an indoor pool area. This pool area is
a spacious chamber decorated with numerous exotic floral designs representing the vegetation of a tropical river. The
room is hot and steamy. This may mean that this creature comes form the jungles near Schendi. The creature occupied
an entire inground pool area. At first glance, it looks like a pool of yellow water that sparkles as though filled with gems
. But, it is much more.
It apparently breathes by releasing gases or steam. It also contains filamentous strands and spheres of color. The
creature can thicken and gel around someone within it. A victim's flesh will tingle and burn due to the corrosive
elements within the creature. Saphrar would place men into the pool and the victims would find themselves unable to
escape the creature and they would slowly be killed. It might take hours for a victim to be fully digested by this beast.
A few men have lived as long as three hours. Slashing or cutting it generally does no harm to it. But, it has a collection
of threads and granules in a transparent bag, imbedded in a darkish yellow jelly. This is walled off by a translucent membrane.
This area is vulnerable to attack and it reacts violently when this area is threatened. It may then solidify and push out
someone irritating until you are standing on its now hard outer shell. Tarl Cabot was fed to this creature but learned how
to irritate it. Once he found he could not escape its clutches, he swam within it towards its center. He attacked the darkish
bag and it reacted by expelling him. The creature would then later be killed by being burnt to death once the Tuchuks
had taken the city.
Zad
This is a large, broad winged, black and white bird with a long, narrow, yellowish, hooked beak.
There is a variety found in the Tahari, scavengers like vultures. There is a jungle zad in the rainforests, but it is less
aggressive than the desert ones. They both like to tear out the eyes of weakened victims.
Zadit
This is a small, tawny-feathered, sharp billed bird of the Tahari. It is insectivorous, feeding on sand
flies and other insects. It often lands on kaiila and eats the insects on this animal. They leave small wounds on the kaiila
which the drovers treat with poultices of kaiila dung.
Zarlit fly
This is a large, harmless, purple insect about two feet long with four translucent wings spanning a yard
across. It is insectivorous. It hums over water and alights on the water with its padlike feet daintily walking across the
surface.
Zeder
This is a small, sleen-like carnivore from the rainforests. It frequents the Ua River and its tributaries. It
grows to two feet and weighs eight to ten pounds. It is diurnal, can swim well, and builds a stick and mud nest in tree
branches where it sleeps at night.
