Animals of Pern

[Bloody]

Animals of Pern

Avians

- Wild Fowl: A small edible avian resembling its ancestor the Terran ring-neck quail.
- Geese: A long necked, domestic avian known to be bad tempered, but quite tasty if cooked properly. They are not common, due to the difficulty in raising them.
- Chickens: Small domestic avians used for both meat and eggs. Not common due to difficulty in raising them, but can be found in places like Southern Boll Hold.
- Duck: Domestic water fowl that are not common due to difficulty in raising them.
- Wild wherries: Large predatory avians. They have four legs and two wings, but instead of feathers, they are covered in thick proto-feathers, multiple tufts like a Terran Marabou stork. They are twice the size of a Terran turkey and turn cannibal when one of their number is wounded or killed.
- Domestic-wherries: Either wild wherries with their wings clipped to prevent flight or flightless descendents of wherries captured and breed by the original colonists much like wild turkeys were domesticated by Terrans.


Mammals

- Domestic Mustelid (Ferret): Small, flexible, long bodied mammals used to hunt tunnelsnakes. Curious and fearless. Also called tunnelcats.
- Domestic Feline: Descendants of the Terran tabby-cat, but about twice as big. Useful in controlling the numbers of tunnelsnakes.
- Domestic Canine: Descendants of the Terran dog. Used to guard homes, herd livestock, turn spits or even as small pack animals. They also help keep vermin like tunnelsnakes out of holds and homes.
- Runnerbeast: The descendant of the Terran horse. Used as transportation and as pack animals mostly. See 'news runners' for more. Also called a runner.
- Draftbeast: Descendants of the Shire Draft horse. Big heavy beasts with mild temperaments.
- Draybeast: Descendants of the Terran donkey.
- Burdenbeast: Descendants of the Terran llama. Used for both pack animals and for wool production.
- Bovine: A type of herdbeast descended from Terran cattle. There are both milk and beef cattle.
- Ovine: A type of herdbeast descended from Terran sheep. Used for meat, wool and milk.
- Caprine: A type of herdbeast descended from Terran dairy and meat goats. Used these days for milk, meat and wool...as well as for keeping brush down in areas where brushfires are a problem. Called caprines or goats. Males are called bucks and females does.
- Porcine: A type of small herdbeast descended from Terran swine. Not as common as other types of herdbeasts, so the meat is considered a treat.
- Wild Canines: Huge wild descendants of feral canines left behind when the colonists moved to the northern continent. Found only on the southern continent.
- Southern Spotted Wild Feline: Found only on the southern continent, these large wild felines and extremly dangerous and untamable. They are descendants of Terran cheetahs that were given Mentasynth to make them more empathic, but the affects of Mentasynth on felines made them a danger to human and animal alike. CANNOT be tamed or kept as pets. Can sometimes carry dangerous diseases that can be transmitted to humans.


Insects

- Crawlers: A sort of small, six-legged, gecko looking creature that crawls along walls and even ceilings with their sticky little feet.
- Sandworms: The sandworm of Igen. Ugly, grub-like creatures known for the fact that they eat thread. It is believed that grubs were bred from them by some.
- Grubs: Lumpy, furry little grubs that have spread throughout the southern continent. They are known both for their eating of Thread and their beneficial affect on the plants around them.
- Fly-by: A small flying insect much like a gnat.
- Leeches: A blood sucking worm found in slow moving water.
- Flies: Small insects much like the housefly, but built differently. Tend to bite like biting flies though.
- Wrigglers: Native worms much like earthworms.
- Trundlebugs: A useful insect that eats parasites, turns the soil and acts as a pollinator. They have the most elaborate color camouflage of all the insects found on Pern and come in many colors.
- Fireflies: A small winged beetle whose abdomen glows with a luminescent light. Looks a bit like Terran fireflies, but tend to glow in different colors.
- VTOLS: A sort of furry insect with double pairs of wings. The discoverers of these insects named them VTOLS (for 'Vertical Take-Off and Landing').
- Bedbugs: A small wingless, biting insect that infests bedding, etc.
- Crawlies: See crawlers.
- Rollers: A type of wood louse.
- Springs: Insects that hang in spiral loops until they find someone or something to cling to. They have an irritating, prickly bite.
- Millipedes: A wormlike insect with many little legs. Trundlebugs are a species of Pernese millipede.
- Spinners: Native species of Pernese spiders. There are also imported species descended from ones brought by the colonists whose silk can be gathered and spun like silkworm silk, though not quite as fine. Called gossamer spinners.


Aquatics

- Shipfish/Dolphin: Playful, intelligent water-dwelling mammals with a beaklike snout. Fisherman consider them good luck and always let them go if caught in their nets. (descendants of the Terran dolphin).
- Shellfish: Aquatic animals with shells. Such as clams, muscles, etc.
- Fingertails: Small, long bodied, carp-like fish with a whippy tail and multiple fins giving them a furry look.
- Rockmites: Tiny little water-dwelling beetles often found hiding in the cracks of rocks. (interpreted description)
- Packtail: A tasty, but dangerously barbed fish. (Resembling the Terran monkfish)
- Spiderclaws: Small crablike creatures with many pairs of jointed legs.
- Speckler: A large tasty fish. (Much like the Terran bass--Interpreted description.)
- Flatfish: Bottom dwelling fish. (Much like the Terran halibut or flounder--Interpreted description)
- Yellowtail: A large edible fish. (Much like the Terran tuna--Interpreted description).
- Watersnakes: A water-dwelling variety of tunnelsnake with fins instead of legs.
- Fingerfish: See fingertails.
- Sea eels: A long, slippery, snakelike fish with three pairs of tiny fins. Believed to have been the ancestor of the tunnelsnake.


Other

- Dragonet: Not to be confused with young dragons, thanks. The name for the pre-mentasynth enhanced firelizards. They have pincer-like forefeet with a tridactyl claw and their bodies heavier and heads longer than modern firelizards. About 10% of firelizards are of this type. The enhanced type however is dominant when bred.
- Firelizard: The name for modern firelizards descended from the mentasynth enhanced dragonets that were bioengineered by Kitti Ping before she went on the engineer the dragons. They have pentadactyl claws and are leaner and have flatter noses then the old dragonets.
NOTE: Dragonets/Firelizards return to the wild when their humans die. They do not suicide like dragons do as they were not genetically engineered to do so. Kitti Ping only saw that dragons followed their riders in death.
- Watch Wher: Impressable creatures bioengineered by Wind Blossom Ping in an attempt to emprove on Kitti Ping's design of the dragons, resulting in ugly, malformed, photophobic, flightless dragons. They grow to about the size of a low slung runner (horse) and can move with surprising speed. Used by Holds and Weyrs as guard animals. Also useful in exploring tunnels with their superior night vision. They do not die when their masters die and often stay loyal to the family that owns them. The live about 60 - 100 turns though. Intelligence is low, about that of a 2 year old child at best. They do not name themselves like dragons do when hatchlings. They do not speak as dragons do, and are NOT good pets. You won't find them in the wild, as their breeding is strictly controlled.
- Tunnelsnake: A snakelike creature with a turtle-like face and six limbs. Most are poisonous and live in caves and stony outcroppings. Most average 2-4 feet in length. Some have scales, some have skin, but most have six stubby limbs for creeping along tunnels. There are even water dwelling species.
- Whersport: A creature resembling a large dragonet, but only in that it has wings and four limbs. More like a small, hairless/featherless wherry. Far more common in the south than the north. (Interpreted Description) Uncommonly good eating when cooked properly.

- Credit to Dawnwings