Animals of Gor

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.

"More than six varieties inhabit the rainforests of Schendi. The great spined anteater grows to 20 ft in length and feeds on white ants or termites breaking apart their towering nests of toughened clay with mighty claws then darting it's 4 foot saliva coated tongue, drawing thousands into it's narrow tubelike mouth." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 293 and 35)

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.

“A huge, shambling animal, with a thick, humped neck and long, shaggy hair. It has a wide head and tiny red eyes, a fearful temper, and two long, wicked, curved and pointed horns. The horns, from tip to tip may measure two spears in length. It is for good reason the bosk is called 'The Mother of the Wagon Peoples'.” (Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 45) Return to Top

Deer

A swift type of deer lives in the north areas.

In the distance, near the yellowish thicket, I saw a small, yellowish animal moving, delicately. It was far off and I could not see it well. I thought it might be a deer or gazelle. It disappeared into the thicket. Return to Top

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.

"The small animal skittered backward, with a sound of claws on the boards. Its eyes gleamed in the reflected light of the lamp. "Generally, too, they do not come this high," said the proprietor. "That is a frevet." The frevet is a small, quick, mammalian insectivore. "We have several in the house," he said. "They control the insects, the beetles and lice, and such." (Mercenaries of Gor, pg. 276) Return to Top

Gatch, Armored

This is a marsupial that lives in the rainforests near Schendi.

"I watched the black, segmented bodies of some fifteen or twenty ants, some two hundred yards in advance of the column, approach the meat. Their antennae were lifted. They had seemed tense, excited. They were some two inches in length. Their bite, and that of their fellows, is vicious and extremely painful, but it is not poisonous." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 401) Return to Top

Giani

These are solitary, prowling, tiny cat-sized panthers. They live in the rainforests near Schendi and are not dangerous to man.

"In the lower branches of the "ground zone" may be found, also, small animals, such as tarsiers, nocturnal jit monkeys, black squirrels, four-toed leaf urts, jungle varts and the prowling, solitary giani, tiny, cat-sized panthers, not dangerous to man." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 31) Return to Top

Goat

Similar to on earth

The verr was a mountain goat indigenous to the Voltai. It was a wild, agile, ill-tempered beast, longhaired and spiral-horned. Among the Voltai crags it would be worth one's life to come within twenty yards of one. (PriestKings of Gor) Return to Top

 

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.

"Cernus of Ar wore a coarse black robe, woven probably from the wool of the bounding, two-legged Hurt, a domesticated marsupial raised in large numbers in the environs of several of Gor's northern cities. The Hurt, raised on large, fenced ranches, herded by domesticated sleen and sheared by chained slaves, replaces its wool four times a year." (Assassin of Gor, pg. 39) Return to Top  

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 mount of the Wagon Peoples, unknown in the northern hemisphere of Gor, is the terrifying but beautiful kaiila. It is a silken, carnivorous, lofty creature, graceful, long-necked, smooth-gaited. It is viviparous and undoubtedly mammalian, though there is no suckling of the young. The young are born vicious and by instinct, as soon as they can struggle to their feet, they hunt.” (Nomads of Gor, pg. 13);

• 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.

  "I conjecture, though I do not know, that the sand kaiila is a desert-adapted mutation of the subequatorial stock; both animals are lofty, proud, silken creatures, long-necked and smooth-gaited; both are triply lidded, the third lid being a transparent membrane, of great utility in the blasts of the dry storms of the southern plains or the Tahari; both creatures are comparable in size, ranging from some twenty to twenty-two hands at the shoulder.” (Tribesmen of Gor, pg. 71)

• Either the Southern kaiila or the Desert Kaiila can be referred to as a war kaiila if they are trained and outfitted for combat.

  "The war kaiila, rearing on its hind legs, its claws, however, sheathed, lunged at the other animal, its clawed back feet thrusting with an explosion of sand away from the ground; the long neck darted forward, the long, graceful head, its fanged jaws bound shut with leather, struck at the man astride the other beast. He thrust the jaws away with the buckler, and, rearing in the stirrups of his high saddle , slashed at me with the leather-sheathed, curved blade. The kaiila, both of them, with the swiftness, the agility of cats, spun, half crouching, squealing in frustration, and again lunged toward one another." (Tribesman of Gor, pg. 59) Return to Top

Kailauk

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.

  "It is a gigantic, dangerous beast, often standing from twenty to twenty-five hands at the shoulder and weighing as much as four thousand pounds. It is almost never hunted on foot except in deep snow, in which it is almost helpless. (Savages of Gor, pg. 40) Return to Top

Kur

Large animal that eats humans. Also called "the Others." They are at war with the Priest Kings for control of Earth and Gor.

"The beast stood there, blinking, bent over the body. Its fir was sable, mottled with white. Its ears, large, pointed and wide, were laid back flat against its head. It was perhaps seven feet tall and weighed four or five hundred pounds. Its snout was wide, leathery. There were two nostrils, slit-like. Its tongue was dark. It had two rows of fangs, four of which were particularly prominent, those in the first row of fangs, above and below, in the position of canines; of these, the upper two were particularly long, and curved. Its arms were longer and larger than its legs; it held the body it was devouring in clawed, paw-like hands, yet six-digited, extra-jointed, almost like tentacles. It hissed, and howled and, eyes blazing, fangs bared, threatened us.” "This is a small Kur," said the Forkbeard." (Marauders of Gor, pg. 109) Return to Top

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. Females 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 black larl, which is predominantly nocturnal, is maned, both male and female. (Priest Kings of Gor, pg. 18)

• The red larl, the more common type, hunts whenever hungry and has no mane. Females 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 red larl, which hunts whenever it is hungry, regardless of the hour, and is the more common variety, possesses no mane. (Priest Kings of Gor, pg. 18)

• 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.

  "I was struck with wonder, though I was careful to keep beyond the range of their chains, for I had never seen white larls before. They were gigantic beasts, superb specimens, perhaps eight feet at the shoulder. (Priest Kings of Gor, pg. 22)

   

• Snow Larl

  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

  "A small 4-legged mammal, about 10 inches high, weighing between 8 and 5 pounds. The snow larl has two stomachs and hunts in summer, filling the second stomach in the fall to last the animal through winter. It's pelt is snowy white and thick. It is considered valuable, selling in Ar for half a silver tarsk. They are found in the Polar North." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 74)

• There are also larls in the jungles near Schendi.

  "On the jungle floor, as well, are found jungle larls and jungle panthers, of diverse kinds, and many smaller catlike predators. (Explorer or Gor, pg. 312)

• 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.   Return to Top

Monkey

Several varieties of monkeys lives in the rainforest such as the Guernon monkeys, tarsiers and the nocturnal jit monkeys.

"Found in the jungle along the Ua river; recognized by their chattering sound.” (Explorers of Gor, pg. 307) Return to Top

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.

"On the jungle floor, as well, are found jungle larls and jungle panthers, of diverse kinds, and many smaller catlike predators." (Explorers of Gor, pg.35) Return to Top

Porcupine

A long-tailed variety lives in the rainforests.

"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 311) Return to Top

Prairie Simian

No real description

"In spite of the shortness of the legs the Kur can, when it wishes, by utilizing its upper appendages, in the manner of a prairie simian, like the baboon, move with great rapidity." (Marauders of Gor, pg. 171) Return to Top

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.

"Near one of the green stretches I saw what I first thought was a shadow, but as the tarn passed, it scattered into a scampering flock of tiny creatures, probably the small, three-toed mammals called qualae, dun-colored and with a stiff brushy mane of black hair." (Tarnsman of Gor, pg. 141) Return to Top

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 sleen," he said, "and especially the gray sleen, is Gor's finest tracker. It is a relentless, tenacious tracker. It can follow a scent that is weeks old, for a thousand pasangs. (Dancer of Gor, pg.161);

• The forest sleen is large, and commonly either brown or black.

  to one side I saw a pair of prairie sleen, smaller than the forest sleen but quite as unpredictable and vicious, each about seven feet in length, furred, six-legged, mammalian, moving in their undulating gait with their viper's heads moving from side to side, continually testing the wind; (Nomads of Gor)

  "On the floor itself are also found several varieties of animal life, in particular marsupials, such as the armored gatch, and rodents, such as sleens and ground urts. Several varieties of tarsk, large and small, also inhabit this zone. More than six varieties of anteater are also found here, and more than twenty kinds of small, fleet, single-horned tabuk.” (13:32:312)

• 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.

  The two most common sorts of trained sleen are the smaller, tawny prairie sleen, and the large, brown or black forest sleen, sometimes attaining a length of twenty feet. (Slave Girl of Gor)

• 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.

  Once he thrust away one of the white sharks of the northern waters, The second of the sea sleen it had been which, with its sharp teeth, making a strike, but falling short, had torn away her green velvet gown on the right side from the hip to the hemline; a long strip of it, like a ribbon, was in its teeth as it darted away. (Marauders of Gor)

• There is a white snow sleen in the north as well.

  I thought a snow sleen, one of those long, vicious animals, would surely be puzzled to find itself attached to a sled where there was no snow. " (Beasts of Gor, pg. 215)

  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.

  "I thought, seeing it, holding itself closely to the ground, but yet free of the ground, that it might be a long-bodied lizard. Then, as moonlight fell through the tree branches in a pattern across its snout and neck, I saw not scales, but rippled fur, long and thick. Its eyes caught the light and flashed like burning copper. It snarled. I gasped. It had six legs. It was perhaps twenty feet in length, perhaps eleven hundred pounds in weight. It approached sinuously, hissing. (Slave Girl of Gor, pg, 39-40) Return to Top

Sloth

No description found in the books

"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 311) Return to Top

Squirrel, Black

No description found in the books

"In the lower branches of the "ground zone" may be found, also, small animals, such as tarsiers, nocturnal jit monkeys, black squirrels, four-toed leaf urts, jungle varts and the prowling, solitary giani, tiny, cat-sized panthers, not dangerous to man." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 312) Return to Top

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. It has 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 tabuk is the most common Gorean antelope, a small graceful animal, one-horned and yellow, that haunts the Ka-la-na thickets of the planet and occasionally ventures daintily into its meadows in search of berries and salt. It is also one of the favorite kills of a tarn." (Outlaw of Gor, pg. 56)

• 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. It has 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.

  "They were northern tabuk, massive, tawny and swift, many of them ten hands at the shoulder, a quite different animal from the small, yellow-pelted, antelopelike quadruped of the south. On the other hand, they, too, were distinguished by the single horn of the tabuk. On these animals, however, that object, in swirling ivory, was often, at its base, some two and one-hall inches in diameter and better than a yard in length.” (12:9:152)

• 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.

  Return to Top

Tarsiers

No description found in the books

"In the lower branches of the "ground zone" may be found, also, small animals, such as tarsiers, nocturnal jit monkeys, black squirrels, four-toed leaf urts, jungle varts and the prowling, solitary giani, tiny, cat-sized panthers, not dangerous to man. (Explorers of Gor, pg. 312) Return to Top

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.

"The tarsk, a small one, no more than forty pounds, tasked, snorting, bits of leaf scattering behind it, charged. Such animals are best hunted from the back of kaiila with lances, in the open. They are cunning, persistent and swift. The giant tarsk, which can stand ten hands at the shoulder, is even hunted with lances from tarnback." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 345) Return to Top

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.

  "In the lower branches of the "ground zone" may be found, also, small animals, such as tarsiers, nocturnal jit monkeys, black squirrels, four-toed leaf urts, jungle varts and the prowling, solitary giani, tiny, cat-sized panthers, not dangerous to man." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 312);

• 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.

  "It was a giant urt, fat, sleek & white; it bared its three rows of needlelike white teeth at me and squealed in anger two horns, tusks like flat crescents curved from its jaw; another two horns, similar to the first, modifications of the bony tissue forming the upper ridge of the eye socket protruded over those gleaming eyes that seemed to feast themselves upon me." (Outlaw of Gor, pg. 86) Return to Top

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.

"Perhaps most I dreaded those nights filled with the shrieks of the vart pack, a blind, batlike swarm of flying rodents, each the size of a small dog." (Outlaw of Gor, pg. 26) Return to Top

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.

"The verr was a mountain goat indigenous to the Voltai. It was a wild, agile, ill-tempered beast, longhaired and spiral-horned. Among the Voltai crags it would be worth one's life to come within twenty yards of one." (Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 63) Return to Top

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.

"There is, however, a sleenlike animal, though much smaller, about two feet in length and some eight to ten pounds in weight, the zeder, which requents the Ua and her tributaries. It knifes through the water by day and, at night, returns to its nest, built from sticks and mud in the branches of a tree overlooking the water." (Explorers of Gor, page 35) Return to Top

Bugs and Reptiles of Gor

Adder

No description found in the book, similar to Earth

"Another was slain when an adder forced into his mouth tore its way free through the side of his face" (Marauders of Gor, pg. 26) Return to Top

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 knowledgeable individual could guide the marchers on a specific path. The bite of these ants is extremely painful but not poisonous.

"I watched the black, segmented bodies of some fifteen or twenty ants, some two hundred yards in advance of the column, approach the meat. Their antennae were lifted. They had seemed tense, excited. They were some two inches in length. Their bite, and that of their fellows, is vicious and extremely painful, but it is not poisonous." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 401) Return to Top

Arthropod

A large, perhaps eight feet long and a yard high, multilegged, segmented arthropod scuttled near, its eyes weaving on stalks

I did not know at the time but Gur is a product originally secreted by large, grey, domesticated, hemispheric arthropods which are, in the morning, taken out to pasture where they feed on special Sim plants, extensive, rambling, tangled vine-like plants with huge, rolling leaves raised under square energy lamps fixed in the ceilings of the broad pasture chambers, and at night are returned to their stable cells where they are milked by Muls. The special Gur used on the Feast of Tola is, in the ancient fashion, kept for weeks in the social stomachs of specially chosen Priest-Kings to mellow and reach the exact flavour and consistency desired, which Priest-Kings are then spoken of as retaining Gur.(Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 158) Return to Top

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.

I saw small fruit trees, and hives, where honey bees were raised; and there were small sheds, here and there, with sloping roofs of boards; in some such sheds might craftsmen work; in others fish might be dried or butter made. (Marauders of Gor ) Return to Top

Beetle

One variety of beetle known to exist on Gor is the marsh beetle.

"The Golden Beetle was not nearly as tall as a Priest-King, but it was probably considerably heavier. It was about the size of a rhinoceros and the first thing I noticed after the glowing eyes were two multiply hooked, tubular, hollow, pincerlike extensions that met at the tips perhaps a yard beyond its body. They seemed clearly some aberrant mutation of its jaws. Its antennae, unlike those of Priest-Kings, were very short. They curved and were tipped with a fluff of golden hair. (Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 180) Return to Top

Centipede

Similar to earth

Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 311) Return to Top

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.

"Following such rains great clouds of sand flies appear wakened from dormancy. These feast on kaiila and men." (Tribesmen of Gor, pg. 152) Return to Top

Gitches

These are insects that cause a painful bite. Some can grow quite large.

"That is a roach," he said. "They are harmless, not like the gitches whose bites are rather painful. Some of them are big fellows, too. But there aren't many around. The frevets see to it. Achiates prides himself on a clean house." (Mercenaries of Gor, pg. 277) Return to Top

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.

'It is dying now,' said Misk. 'One by one we succumb to the Pleasures of the Golden Beetle. We grow old and there is little left for us. (Priest Kings of Gor) Return to Top

Grasshopper

In the rainforests, there is a red grasshopper that weighs about four ounces in weight.

"A grasshopper, red, the size of a horned gym, a small, owl like bird, some four ounces in weight, common in the northern latitudes, had leaped near the fire, and disappeared into the brush." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 293) Return to Top

Hinti

These are small, flea like insects though they are not parasites.

“ 'Hale' is Kaiila for the Gorean hint, which are small active insects. They resemble fleas but are not parasitic.” (Blood Brothers of Gor, pg. 220) Return to Top

Hith

This is the huge, many banded python of Gor. The great banded, horned hath is the most feared constrictor but is only native to certain areas of the Great Forests. The golden hath is a rare snake. Its body would be difficult for a grown man to encircle with his arms.

"In another cage, somnolent and swollen, I saw a rare golden hath, a Gorean python whose body, even when unfed, it would be difficult for a full-grown man to encircle with his arms." (Priest-Kings of Gor, pg. 191) Return to Top

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.

"Described as rubbery about 4 inches long; it attaches itself to plants in the marsh or float free in the water, waiting for warm blooded animals. They fasten themselves to their victim to suck blood until, satiated, they detach. They can be removed with fire or salt. They are edible." (Vagabonds of Gor, pg. 96-97, 99-100, 102 and 236) Return to Top

Leem

This is a small arctic rodent, five to ten ounces in weight. It hibernates in the winter and their summer coats are brown.

"...leem, a small arctic rodent, some five to ten ounces in weight, which hibernates during the winter." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 74) Return to Top

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.

"I withdrew some of the lice, the size of marbles, which tend to infest wild tarns, and slapped them roughly into the mouth of the tarn, wiping them off on his tongue." (Tarnsman of Gor, pg.42) Return to Top

Marsh Moccasin

poisonous snake

"Narrow dark, poisonous snake about five feet long with a small triangular head. It inhabits the waters of the Vosk Delta.” (Vagabonds of Gor, pg. 267)" Return to Top

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.

"Vancius laughed. "As I have great respect for the banded ost," said he. I smiled. The banded ost is a variety of ost, a small, customarily brilliantly orange Gorean reptile. It is exceedingly poisonous. The banded ost is yellowish orange and is marked with black rings." (Assassin of Gor, pg.335); "The ost is usually an orange snake, but these were Ushindi osts, which are red with black stripes. Anatomically, and with respect to toxin, I am told they are almost identical to the common ost." (Beasts of Gor, pg. 239) Return to Top

Rennels

These are crablike desert insects with a poisonous bite though it is not too lethal. They leave little red bites.

“I was told by Kamchak that once an army of a thousand wagons turned aside because a swarm of rennels, poisonous, crablike desert insects, did not defend its broken nest, crushed by the wheel of the lead wagon." (Nomads of Gor, pg. 27) Return to Top

Roach

This is commonly an oblong, flat-bodied black creature about half a hort long. It has long feelers and is basically harmless.

"We watched a large, oblong, flat-bodied black object, about a half hort in length, with long feelers, hurry toward a crack at the base of the wall. "That is a roach," he said. "They are harmless, not like the gitches whose bites are rather painful.” (Mercenaries of Gor, pg. 276) Return to Top

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.

"Among the lelts, too, were, here and there, tiny salamanders, they, too, white and blind. Like the lefts, They were, for their size, long-bodied, were capable of long periods of dormancy and possessed a slow metabolism; they had long, stemlike legs." (Tribesman of Gor, pg. 247) Return to Top

Scorpions

Similar to Earth

"Here, too, may be found snakes and monkeys, gliding urts, leaf urts, squirrels, climbing, long-tailed porcupines, lizards, sloths, and the usual varieties of insects, ants, centipedes, scorpions, beetles and flies, and so on." (Explorers of Gor, page 311) Return to Top

Silk Worms 

Similar to Earth

“Originally, doubtless beans were brought from Earth,” I said, “much as certain other seeds, and silk worms and such, but I doubt very much that the ship I saw last night had in its cargo anything as trivial as the beans for black wine.” (Assassins of Gor) Return to Top

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.

I told myself, she, like the Slime Worm, would have been forced to scavenge on the previous kills of the Beetle but I found this hard to believe, for the condition of her body did not suggest an ugly, protracted, degrading battle with the worms of starvation. (Priest Kings of Gor) Return to Top

Snails

Similar to Earth

"Once the Forkbeard went to her and taught her to check the scoop, with her left hand, for snails, that they not be thrown overboard. Returning to me he held one of the snails, whose shell he crushed between his fingers, and sucked out the animal, chewing and swallowing it. He then threw the shell fragments overboard. "They are edible," he said. "And we use them for fish bait." (Marauders of Gor, pg. 62) Return to Top

Snakes

Besides the ost and hith mentioned before, other snakes also exist on Gor. Some other snakes include the adder and marsh moccasin. Return to Top

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.

"They are called rock spiders because of their habit of holding their legs folded beneath them. This habit, and their size and coloration, usually brown and black, suggests a rock, and hence the name. It is a very nice piece of natural camouflage. A thing line runs from the web to the spider. When something strikes the web the tremor is transmitted by means of this line to the spider." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 294) Return to Top

Termites

They are also called white ants. Return to Top

Tharlarion

There are numerous varieties of this reptile. Tharlarions have been bred for a thousand generations before the first tarn was tamed

• 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.

• 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.

  "The high tharlarions, unlike their draught brethren, the slow-moving, four-footed broad tharlarion, were carnivorous. However, their metabolism was slower than that of a tarn, whose mind never seemed far from food and, if it was available, could consume half its weight in a single day. Moreover, they needed far less water than tarns. To me, the most puzzling thing about the domesticated tharlarions, and the way in which they differed most obviously from wild tharlarions and the lizards of my native planet, was their stamina, their capacity for sustained movement. When moving slowly, its stride is best described as a proud, stalking movement, each great clawed foot striking the earth with a measured rhythm. When urged to speed, however, the high tharlarion bounds in great leaping movements that carry it twenty paces a time." (Tarnnsman of Gor, pg. 125)

• 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.

  "Those approaching were drawn by land tharlarion, plodding on log roads along the edges of the river. The land tharlarion can swim barges across the river, but he is not as efficient as the vast river tharlarion." (Captive of Gor, pg. 81)

• Rock tharlarion are the small lizards of the Tahari.

  I looked at the tiny lamp on the shelf near the door. It smoked, and burned oil, probably from tiny rock tharlarions, abundant south of Tor in the spring. " (Tribesmen of Gor, pg. 222)

• 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.

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. 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. Return to Top

Vints

These are tiny, sand-colored insects.

"I detected the odor of kort rinds, matted, drying, on the stones, where they had been scattered from my supper the evening before. Vints, insects, tiny, sand-colored, covered them: On the same rinds, taking and eating vints, were two small cell spiders. " (Tribesmen of Gor, pg. 115) Return to Top

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.

"I did see a large, harmless zarlit fly, purple, about two feet long with four translucent wings, spanning about a yard, humming over the surface of the water, then alighting and, on its padlike feet, daintily picking its way across the surface." (Raiders of Gor, pg. 5) Return to Top

Water Animals of Gor

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.

"Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 267) Return to Top

Carp (Vosk Carp)

No description in the books

"To my right, some two or three feet under the water, I saw the sudden, rolling yellowish flash of the slatted belly of a water tharlarion, turning as it made its swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle." (Raiders of Gor, pg, 1) Return to Top

Clam (Tamber Clam)

Their polished shells are generally used in making cheap jewelry though certain shells can be quite valuable.

"I said, "amber droplets, the pearls of the Vosk sorp, the polished shell of the Tamber clam, glass colored and cut in Ar for trade with ignorant southern Peoples." (Nomads of Gor, pg. 20) Return to Top

Crayfish

White crayfish

These, in turn, become food for various flatworms and numerous tiny-segmented creatures, such as isopods, which, in turn, serve as food for small, blind, white crayfish, felts and salamanders. These latter, however, do not stand at the top of the food chain. Sometimes one picks up the lelts and salamanders in the cones. It was not these that had excited the interest of the men. (Tribesmen of Gor) Return to Top

Cuttlefish

No description given

and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale, the result of the inadequate digestion of cuttlefish. Return to Top

Eels

There are several varieties of eels

• The dock eel is a black freshwater fish, commonly 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.

  "I looked downward. Two or more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, striking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward. I felt the jaws snap and scratch against the shearing blade. Then it fell twisting back in the water. It was the blood which excited them." (Guardsman of Gor, pg. 130) 

• River eels

  "Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive." (Magicians of Gor, pg. 428)

• Black eels

  "Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive." (Magicians of Gor, pg. 428)

• spotted eels

  "Many estates, particularly country estates, have pools in which fish are kept. Some of these pools contain voracious eels, of various sorts, river eels, black eels, the spotted eel, and such, which are Gorean delicacies. Needless to say a bound slave, cast into such a pool, will be eaten alive." (Magicians of Gor, pg. 428)

• Carnivorous eels

  Not only must they fear the marsh sharks and the carnivorous eels which frequent the lower delta, not to mention the various species of aggressive water tharlarion and the winged, monstrous, hissing, predatory Ul, but they must fear, perhaps most of all, men, and of these, most of all, the men of Port Kar. (Raiders of Gor) Return to Top

Fisher (Ushindi Fisher)

A tufted water bird of the rainforests near Schendi. It has long white feathers and long legs.

"Along the river, of course, many other species of birds may be found, such as jungle gants, tufted fishers and ring-necked and yellow-legged waders. Also in the ground zone are varieties of snake, such as the ost and hith, and numerous species of insects." (Explorer of Gor, pg, 311); "His head was surmounted by an elaborate headdress, formed largely from the long, white, curling feathers of the Ushindi fisher, a long-legged, wading bird. (Explorer of Gor, pg, 236) Return to Top

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.

  "They were bulbous eyed and about six inches long, with tiny flipperlike lateral fins. They had both lungs and gills. Their capacity to leave the water, in certain small streams, during dry seasons, enables them to seek other streams, still flowing, or pools." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 299)

• 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

  "The creature which had surfaced near us, perhaps ten feet in length, and a thousand pounds in weight, was scaled and had large, bulging eyes. It had gills, but it, too, gulped air, as it had regarded us It was similar to the tiny lung fish I had seen earlier on the river, those little creatures clinging to the half-submerged roots of shore trees, and, as often as not, sunning themselves on the backs of tharlarion, those tiny fish called gints. Its pectoral fins were large and fleshy." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 384) Return to Top

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.

  "I saw a great speckled grunt, four-gilled." (Slave Girl of Gor, pg. 360)

• 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.

  "Such blood might attract the bind, a fanged, carnivorous marsh eel, or the predatory, voracious blue grunt, a small, fresh-water variety of the much larger and familiar salt-water grunt of Thassa. The blue grunt is particularly dangerous during the daylight hours preceding its mating periods, when it schools. Its mating periods are synchronized with the phases of Gor's major moon, the full moon reflecting on the surface of the water somehow triggering the mating instinct. During the daylight hours preceding such a moon, as the restless grunts school, they will tear anything edible to pieces which crosses their path." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 267)

• The white-bellied grunt is a large game fish which feeds on parsit fish.

  "Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and, in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt." (Fighting Slave of Gor, pg. 276) Return to Top

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 shark.

"Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water, picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike craneal vibration receptors, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them." (Tribesmen of Gor, pg. 247) Return to Top

Lizard (Water Lizard)

no description given

"Idly, with repulsion, I watched the body of the tharlarion in the swamp. As the water lizards fed, the carcus, lightened, had shifted, rolling in the water. Now, in a matter of moments, the skeleton was visible, picked almost clean, the bones glistening, except where small lizards skittered about on them, seeking the last particles of flesh." (Tarnsman of Gor, pg. 86) Return to Top

Lung

no description given

"Also called gints; small fish found near half-submerged roots of shore trees or sunning on the back of tharlarion." (Explorers of Gor, pg. 384) Return to Top

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.

The word ‘Mamba’ in most of the river dialects does not refer to a venomous reptile as might be expected, given its meaning in English, but, interestingly, is applied rather generally to most types of predatory river tharlarion. The Mamba people were, so to speak, the Tharlarion people. The Mamba people ate human flesh. So, too, does the tharlarion. It Is thus, doubtless, that the people obtained their name. (Explorer of Gor) Return to Top

Mollusks

no description given

I could hear the cry of sea birds, broad winged gulls, and the small, stick-legged tibits, pecking in the sand for tiny mollusks." (Hunters of Gor, pg. 247) Return to Top

Oysters

no description given

"Other girls had prepared the repast, which, for the war camp, was sumptuous indeed, containing even oysters from the delta of the Vosk, a portion of the plunder of a tarn caravan of Ar, such delicacies having been intended for the very table of Marlenus, the Ubar of that great city itself." (Captive of Gor, pg. 301) Return to Top

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.

"A silvery fish having brown stripes, they follow the 'parsit current' in the polar basin. In Torvaldsland, it is smoked and dried, stored in barrels, and used in trade to the south." (Marauders of Gor, pages 28, 56, and 63-64) Return to Top

Pike

This is a carnivorous fish about fifteen inches long. Return to Top

Marine Saurian

no description given

"I had seen, yesterday, the long neck of a marine saurian lift from the waters of gleaming Thassa. It had a small head, and rows of small teeth. Its appendages are like broad paddles. Then it had lowered its head and disappeared. Such beasts, in spite of their frightening appearance, are apparently harmless to men. They can take only bits of garbage and small fish. (Slave Girl of Gor, pg. 360) Return to Top

Sea Sleen

no description given

"The sea sleen, vicious, fanged aquatic mammals, apparently related to the land forms of sleen, are the swiftest predators to be found in Thassa; further, they are generally conceded to be the most dangerous; they tend, however, to frequent northern waters. Occasionally they have been found as far south, however, as the shores of Cos and the deep inlets of Tyros." (Slave Girl of Gor, pg. 360) Return to Top

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.

  "We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white. Then it submerged, with a twist of the long spine and tail. The waters were still. At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied nine-gilled salt shark. (Tribesmen of Gor, pg. 251)

• River sharks

  "Something, with a twist of its great spine, had suddenly darted from the waters under the pier and entered the current of the Laurius. I saw the flash of a triangular, black dorsal fin. I screamed. Lana looked out, pointing after it. "A river shark," she cried, excitedly." (Captive of Gor, pg. 79

• Salt shark

  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. (Raiders of Gor)

• Marsh shark

  "Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks." (Raiders of Gor, page 58)

• White sharks of the north

  "There is also, however, some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl off the oar." (Marauders of Gor, pg. 66) Return to Top

Sorp (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.

"There were poorly webbed, small tapestries; amulets and talismans; knotted prayer strings; papers containing praises of Priest-Kings which might be carried on one's person; numerous ornaments of glass and cheap metal; the strung pearls of the Vosk sorp..." (Assassin of Gor, pg, 156) Return to Top

Toos

This is a crablike creature, covered with overlapping plating, that resides in the Sardar. It lives on discarded fungus spores.

“I swung the transportation disk in a graceful arc to one side of the tunnel to avoid running into a crablike organ- ism covered with overlapping plating and then swung the disk back in another sweeping arc to avoid slicing into a stalking Priest-King who lifted his antennae quizzically as we shot past." (Priest Kings of Gor, pg. 142) Return to Top

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.

"Indeed, it was unlikely that my body would reach the delta at all. It was far more likely that one of the water lizards of the Vosk or one of the great hook-beaked turtles of the river would seize my body and drag it and the frame under the water, destroying me in the mud below." (Tarnsman of Gor, pg. 138) Return to Top

Whales

There are several varieties of whales on Gor

• Karl whale

  Sometimes they managed to secure the northern shark, sometimes even the toothed Hunjer whale or the less common Karl whale, which was a four-fluked, baleen whale. But their life, at best, was a precarious one. Little was known of them. (Beasts of Gor)

• Baleen whale

  Sometimes they managed to secure the northern shark, sometimes even the toothed Hunjer whale or the less common Karl whale, which was a four-fluked, baleen whale. But their life, at best, was a precarious one. Little was known of them. (Beasts of Gor)

• Hunjer Long Whale, a rare toothed black whale which eats cuttlefish.

  "That scent, I knew, a distillation of a hundred flowers, nurtured like a priceless wine, was a secret guarded by the perfumers of Ar. It contained as well the separated oil of the Thentis needle tree; an extract from the glands of the Cartius river urt; and a preparation formed from a disease calculus scraped from the intestines of the rare Hunjer Long Whale, (Marauders of Gor, pg. 114) Return to Top

Wingfish (Cosian Wingfish)

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.

"Now this," Saphrar the merchant was telling me, "is the braised liver of the blue, four-spined Cosian wingfish." This fish is a tiny, delicate fish, blue, about the size of a tarn disk when curled in one's hand; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous; it is capable of hurling itself from the water and for brief distances, on it stiff pectoral fins, gliding through the air, usually to evade smaller sea-tharlarians, which seem to be immune to the poison of the spines. This fish is also at times referred to as the songfish because as a portion of it's courtship rituals, the males and females thrust their heads from the water and utter a short whistling sound. The blue, four spined wingfish is found only in the waters of Cos. Larger varieties are found further out to sea. The samll blue is regarded a great delicacy, and it's liver a delicacy of delicacies." (Nomads of Gor, pg. 84-85) Return to Top

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 in ground 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.

We came together to the brink of the Yellow Pool of Turia. At its marbled edge, hissing and quivering with rage, throwing their heads now and again upward and howling in frustrated fury were the two, tawny hunting sleen, their maddened round eyes blazing on the pathetic figure of Saphrar of Turia, (Nomads of Gor) Return to Top

Send mail to:
 owner@the-gorean.com
with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Hayal`Seyyal
Last modified: December 22, 2010