There are a wide variety of animals on Gor, some which were originally transported from Earth to Gor, others which
are native to Gor.
Not all Earth animals exist on Gor. The horse and dog are not known on Gor, except in legend and myth. There are no
canine type animals, such as wolves or coyotes, known to be on Gor.
secret hopes this list will give you a greater understanding of the animals of Gor:
Anteater:
There are six varieties of anteaters in the rainforests near Schendi. One type that has been described in detail
is the Great
Spined Anteater: It grows to twenty feet long and has heavy clawed forefeet. These claws are generally used to break into termite
nests, and ants nests. 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.
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, milk, and cheese is available over much of Gor.
"It is a huge shambling animal,
with a thick, humped neck, and long, shaggy hair. It has wide head and tiny red eyes, a temper to match that of a sleen,
and two long, wicked horns that reach out from its head and suddenly curve forward to terminate in fearful points. Some of
these horns, on the the larger animals, measured from tip to tip, exceed the length of two spears."
~Nomads of Gor, pages 4-5~
"The bosk is said to be the Mother
of the Wagon Peoples, and they reverence it as such."
~Nomads of Gor, page 5~
Frevet:
These are small, quick, and friendly mammalian insectivores. They sometimes live in the cities and eat pests.
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.
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.
"In another case, somnolent and
swollen, I saw a rare golden hith, 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, page 191~
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.
"Her hair was blond and straight,
tied behind her with a ribbon of blue wool, from the bounding Hurt, dyed in the blood of the Vosk sorp."
~Marauders of Gor, pages 1-2~
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.
"The mount of the Wagon Peoples,
unknown in the northern hemispheres of Gor, is the terrifying but beautiful kaiila. It is a silken, carnivourous, lofty creature,
graceful, long-necked, smooth gaited. It is viviparous and undoubtedly mammalian, though there is no suckling of the young...The
kaiila is extremely agile...normally stands about tweny to twenty-two hands at the shoulder, can cover as much as six hundred
pasangs in a single day's riding. The head of the kaiila bears two large eyes, one on each side, but these eyes are triply
lidded probably an adaptation to the environment which occasionally is wracked by severe storms of wind and dust; the adaptation,
actually a transparent third lid, permits the animal to move as it wishes under conditions that force other prairie animals
to back into the wind, or like the sleen, to burrow into the ground."
~Nomads of Gor, pages 13-14~
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.
"The kailiauk in question, incidently,is
the kailiauk of the Barrens. 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. From kaiilaback, riding beside the stampeded animal, however, the skilled hunter can kill one with a single arrow.
He rides close to the animal,not a yard from its side, just outside the hooking range of the trident, to supplement the striking
power of his small bow. At this range the arrow can sink in to the feathers. Ideally it strikes into the intestinal cavity
behind the last rib, producing large scale internal hemorrhaging, or closely behind the left shoulder blade, thence piercing
the eight valved heart."
~Savages of Gor, page 40~
Kur/Kurii:
In Torvoldsland, the word Kur means beast. Kurii eat humans and are the enemies of Goreans. Cabot spends much of his
time in several of the books fighting Kurii.
"In the doorway, silhouetted against flames behind them, we saw
great, black, shaggy figures."
~Marauders of Gor, page 203~
"Its head was approximately the
width of the chest of a large man. It had a flat snout, with wide nostrils. Its ears were large, and pointed....The beast
was approximately nine feet in height; I conjectured its weight in the neighborhood of eight or nine hundred pounds. Interestingly,
Priest-Kings, who are not visually oriented organisms, find little difference between Kurii and men...One difference they
do remark between the human and the Kur,and that is that the human,commonly, has an inhibition against killing. This inhibition
the Kur lacks."
~Marauders of Gor, pages 169-170~
"The Kur has two rows of fangs.
Its mouth is large enough to take into it the head of a full grown man."
~Marauders of Gor, page 170~
"The prehensile paws, or hands,
of the Kurii are six-digited and multiple jointed. The legs are thick and short."
~Marauders of Gor, page 171~
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.
"The larl is a predator, clawed
and fanged, quite large, often standing seven feet at the shoulder. I think it would be fair to say that it is substantially
feline; at any rate its grace and sinuous power remind me of the smaller but similarily jungle cats of my old world....The
larl's head is broad, sometimes more than two feet across, and shaped roughly like a triangle, giving its skull something
of the cast of a viper's save that of course it is furred and the pupils of the eyes like the cat's...the pelt of the larl
is normally a tawney red or sable black. The black larl, which is predominately nocturnal, is maned, both male and female.
The red larl, which hunts whenever hungry, regardless of the hour, and is the more common variety, posesses no mane."
~Priest-Kings of Gor, page 18~
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.
Leem:
This is a small arctic rodent, five to ten ounces in weight. It hibernates in the winter and their summer coats are
brown.
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.
"One to be feared even more perhaps
was the tiny ost, a venomous, brilliantly orange reptile little more than a foot in length, whose bite spelled an excruciating
death within seconds."
~Outlaw of Gor, page 26~
"The banded ost is a variety of
ost, a small, customarily brilliantly orange Gorean reptile. The banded ost is yellowish orange and is marked with black rings.
~Assassin of Gor, page 335~
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.
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.
"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, page 141~
"...and these are often used for
hunting light game, such as the brush-maned, three-toed Qualae,..."
~Raiders of Gor, page 4~
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 lelts, they were, for their size, long-bodied, were capable
of long periods of domancy and posessed a slow metabolism, useful in an environment in which food is not plentiful. Unlike
the lelts, they had long stemlike legs....but the filaments, in the case of the salamanders, interestingly, are not vibration
receptors, but feather gills, an external gill system."
~Tribesmen of Gor, pages 247-248~
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.
"The vicious, six-legged sleen,
large-eyed, sinuous, mammalian but resembling a furred, serpentine lizard, was a reliable, indefatigable hunter. He could
follow a scent days old with ease, and then, perhaps hundreds of pasangs, and days, later, be unleashed for the sport of the
hunters, to tear his victim to pieces."
~Raiders of Gor, page 105~
"I caught a strange, unpleasant
scent, much like a common weasel or ferret, only stronger. In that instance every sense was alert...I thought I heard a slight
sniffling, a grunt, a small doglike whine...Most likely it was a sleen, hopefully a young one...Then I saw it, on its six
short legs, undulate across the road, like a furred lizard, its pointed, whiskered snout swaying from side to side testing
the wind...It was indeed a young sleen, not more than eight feet long..."
~Outlaw of Gor, pages 34-35~
"...I saw the sleen, this time
a full grown animal, some nineteen or twenty feet long, charging toward me, swiftly, noiselessly, its ears straight against
its pointed head, its fur slick with rain, its fangs bared, its wide nocturnal eyes bright with the lust of the kill."
~Outlaw of Gor, page 36~
"There are many varieties of sleen,
and most varieties can be, to one extent or another, domesticated. 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. In the north,
I am told the snow sleen has been domesticated. The sleen is a dangerous and fairly common animal on Gor, which has adapted
itself to a variety of environments. There is even an aquatic variety, called the sea sleen, which is one of the swiftest
and most dreaded beasts in the sea."
~Slave Girl of Gor, page 185~
"...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 winds..."
~Nomads of Gor, page 2~
Snakes:
Besides the ost and hith mentioned before, other snakes also exist on Gor. Some other snakes include the adder and marsh moccasin.
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.
"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 antelope-like
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 half inches in diameter, and better than
a yard in length. A charging tabuk, because of the swiftness of its reflexes, is quite a dangerous animal."
~Beasts
of Gor, page 152~
"Gripped in the talons of the tarn
was the dead body of an antelope, one of the one-horned, yellow antelopes called tabuks that frequent the bright Ka-la-na
thickets of Gor."
~Tarnsman
of Gor, page 145~
"At the end of the wall, Inmak
wept, seeing the strewn fields of slaughtered tabuk. The fur and hide of the tabuk provides the red hunters not only with
clothing, but it can also be used for blankets, sleeping bags and other articles...Too, they may be used for buckets and tents,
and for kayaks, the light narrow hunting canoes of skin from which sea mammals may be sought. Lashings, harpoon lines, cords
and threads can be fashioned from its sinews. Carved, the bone and horn of the animal can function as arrow points, needles,
thimbles, chisels, wedges, and knives. It's fat and bone marrow can be used as fuel. Too, almost all of the animal is edible."
~Beasts of Gor, pages 169-170~
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.
"I thought of the yellow Gorean
bread, baked in the shape of round, flat loaves, fresh and hot; my mouth watered for a tabuk steak or, perhaps, if I were
lucky, a slice of roast tarsk, the formidable six-tusked wild boar of Gor's temperate forests."
~Outlaw of Gor, page 76~
"I heard the squealing of a domestic
tarsk running nearby..."
~Raiders of Gor, page 16~
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 have 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.
" The high thalarions, unlike their
draft brethren, the slow-moving, four-footed broad thalarions, were carnivorous."
~Tarnsman of Gor, page 125~
"The ringing of the thalarions
shod claws on the rode grew louder...He rode the species of thalarion called the high thalarion, which ran on it's two back
feet in great bounding strides. Its cavernous mouth was lined with long, gleaming teeth. Its two small, ridiculously disproportionate
forelegs dangled absurdly in front of its body."
~Tarnsman of Gor, page 115~
"When the high thalarion moves
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 thalarion bounds, in great leaping movements that carry it twenty paces at
a time."
~Tarnsman of Gor, page 125~
"Behind them, stretching into the
distance, came a long line of broad thalarions, or the four-footed draft monsters of Gor. These beasts, yoked in braces, were
drawing mighty wagons, filled with merchandise protected under the lashings of its red rain-canvas."
~Tarnsman of Gor, page 118~
"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 thalarion, turning as it made
its swift strike..."
~Raiders of Gor, page 1~
"A huge thalarion, seeing the image
on the water, half rose from the marsh, jaws clashing, and then dropped back into the water."
~Raiders of Gor, page 92~
"A broad, low-sided barge began
to back toward the pier. It had two large steering oars, manned by bargemen. It was draw by two gigantic, web-footed river
thalarion....They were scaled, vast and long-necked. Yet in the water it seemed, for all their bulk, they moved delicately.
One dipped its head under the surface and, moments later, the head emerged, dripping, the eyes blinking, a silverish fish
struggling in the small, triangular-toothed jaws."
~Captive of Gor, pages 79-80~
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.
"It was a giant urt, fat,
sleek and 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, page 86~
"The urt is a loathsome, horned
Gorean rodent; some are quite large, the size of wolves or ponies, but most are very small, tiny enough to be held in the
palm of one hand."
~Nomads of Gor, page 125~
"I heard one of the giant canal
urts twist in the water somewhere beneath me."
~Raiders of Gor, page 119~
"The giant urts, silken and blazing-eyed,
living mostly on the garbage in the canals, are not stranger to bodies, both living and dead, found cast into their waters."
~Raiders of Gor, page 121~
"Over her shoulders she had two
small, furred animals, hideous forest urts, about the size of cats, and in her left hand she carried four small, green-and-yellow-plumaged
birds."
~Captive of Gor, page 237~
"Their catch, returned to the Tesephone,
in a cage, covered with canvas, carried on the back of Thurnus, had been six, rather large forest urts, about the size of
tiny dogs."
~Hunters of Gor, page 38~
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.
"...perhaps after the agile and
bellicose Gorean mountain goat, the long haired, spiral horned verr..."
~Tarnsman of Gor, page 147~
"The verr was a mountain goat indigenous
to the Voltai. It was a wild, agile, ill-tempered beast, long-haired 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, page 63~
"I passed fields that were burning,
and burning huts of peasants, the smoking shells of Sa-Tarna granaries, the shattered, slatted coops for vulos, the broken
walls of keeps for the small, long-haired domestic verr, less belligerent and sizable than the wild verr of the Voltai ranges."
~Nomads of Gor, page 10~
"Kaiila and verr are found at the
oases, but not in great numbers. The herds of these animals are found in the desert. They are kept by nomads, who move them
from one area of verr grass to another, or from one water hole to another..."
~Tribesmen of Gor, page 37~
"Behind them came another of their
caste, leading two milk verr which he had purchased."
~Beasts of Gor, page 47~
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.