FINCH, Whistling: Flighted bird found at the ground level of the rainforest; it is insectivorous.  

FLEER: Large hook-billed bird that hunts at night.

FLEER, Long-Billed: A bird that inhabits the emergent level of the rainforests of Schendi.

FLEER, Prairie: Yellow bird with long wings and a sharp bill; sometimes called the 'maize bird' or 'corn bird' from the belief that it is usually the first bird to find food.

Fruit Tindel: A bird that inhabits the canopy zone of the rainforests of the Schendi area.

Gant, Arctic: Migratory bird that nests on cliffs in the Hrimgar Mountains, the southern border of the polar north. When frozen, their eggs are eaten like apples.

Gant, Jungle: A bird related to the marsh gant that inhabits the river in rainforests inland of Schendi.

Gant, Marsh: A small long-legged horned bird; broad-billed and broad-winged; hunted by marsh girls its cry is imitated by the rence people as a surreptitious means of communication.

GIM, Horned: A small purplish owl-like bird with tufts over eyes c. 4 oz. in weight which inhabits the forests of northern Gor.

GIM, Lang: A bird that inhabits the ground level of rainforests inland of Schendi.

“In the ground zone, and on the ground itself, are certain birds, some flighted, like the hook-billed gort, which preys largely on rodents, such as ground urts, and the insectivorous whistling finch, and some unflighted, like the grub borer and lang gim”. Explorers of Gor, page 311

GIM, Yellow: A bird related to the horned gim that inhabits the second level of rainforests inland of Schendi.

Grub Borer: An insectivorous bird that inhabits the ground level of rainforests inland of Schendi.

GULL, Coasting: Found in Torvaldsland is this broad winged bird with black tips on its wings and tail feathers, similar to the Vosk gull. Its feathers are used on the war arrows of Torvaldsland.

GULL, Schendi: Inhabiting the area around Schendi on the Thassa, they nest on land at night.

GULL, Vosk: A gull of the Vosk Delta and Vosk River. Its feathers are used on sheaf arrows. It winters on the prairies of the Wagon Peoples and flies north in the spring, when the ice breaks up.

HERLIT: A large broad-winged bird of the Barrens. It is carnivorous and has yellow feathers tipped with black. Also called 'Sun-Striker' or 'out-of-the-sun-it-strikes' for its habit of striking with the sun above and behind it.

HERMIT, Yellow-Breasted: a bird of the Northern Forest, it beats with a sharp beak against trees to hunt for larvae.

Hook-Billed Gort: a carnivorous hunting bird of the rainforests inland of Schendi; preys on ground urts.

JARD: a small scavenger bird that flies in large flocks. A flock can strip the meat from a tabuk in seconds. Found near Lydius.

 LIT, Common: a bird found in the second level of rainforests in the Schendi area.

LIT, Crested: a brightly plumaged bird found in the second level of rainforests in the Schendi area.

 LIT, Needle-Tailed: a bird found in the emergent (highest level) of rainforests in the Schendi area.

MINDAR: a short-winged yellow and red bird of the rainforests inland of Schendi. It has a sharp bill that it uses to drill into the bark of flower trees for larvae and grubs.

PARROT: A bird found in the emergent level of the rainforest some varieties are also found in the level of the canopies of the rainforest.

TARN: crested hawk-like bird large enough to be saddled and flown, it is used in battle and in racing and is bred for swiftness and aggressiveness.

TARN, Jungle:

"To the crowd's astonishment, but not to mine, he wheeled his tarn, a rare, gloriously plumaged jungle tarn from the tropical reaches of the Cartius, to black the first of the right center rings." -  Assassins of Gor, pg. 368

TARN, Racing: A tarn that is lighter and smaller than normal tarns. Used for racing, its wings are shorter and broader than other tarns and its beak lighter and narrower.

TIBIT: a small, thin-legged bird that lives on tiny mollusks found on the shores of Thassa.

Tufted Fisher: a water bird that inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi.

TUMIT: large flightless bird about the size of an ostrich having a long hooked beak; carnivorous.

Umbrella Bird: bird that lives in the lower canopies of rainforest near Schendi.

Ushindi Fisher: long-legged, wading bird near the Schendi; long, white, curling feathers used for headdresses.

Veminium Bird: a bird with a beautiful song not otherwise described.

Vulo: a tawny-colored poultry bird similar to a pigeon that also exists in the wild; used for meat and eggs.

Wader, Ring-Necked: a variety of water birds that inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi.

Wader, Yellow-Legged: a variety of water birds that inhabits the rivers of the rainforests inland of Schendi.

Woodpecker, Ivory-Billed: bird found in the lower canopies of the rainforests near Schendi

ZAD: a large broad-winged black and white bird with a long, narrow, yellowish, hooked beak found in the Tahari; they scavenge on carrion.

ZAD, Jungle: a less aggressive cousin of the Tahari zad; small, yellow-winged, scavenging birds with long, yellowish, slightly curved beaks; found in the rainforest inland of Schendi.

Zadit: a small, tawny-feathered, sharp- billed bird of the Tahari. It is insectivorous, feeding on sand flies and other similar insects. They often land on kaiila and spend long periods hunting the sand flies that infest the host animal.

“The column of marchers was something like a yard wide. I did not know how long it might be. It extended ahead through the jungle and behind through the jungle farther than I could see in either direction. Such columns can be pasangs in length. It is difficult to conjecture the numbers that constitute such a march. Conservatively some dozens of millions might be involved. The column widens only when food is found; then it may spread as widely as five hundred feet in width”. - Explorers of Gor, pages, 399-403

ARTHROPOD:  a creature found in the tunnels of the Nest of the Priest-Kings. It is 8 feet long and a yard high with a multi-segmented body and 8 legs. Its eyes are on long stalks.

...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, 32:311

Fly, Arctic

At certain times in the summer even insects will appear, black, long-winged flies, in great swarms, coating the sides of tents and the faces of men. --Beasts of Gor, 12:196

Fly, Needle (also known as Sting Fly)
 

"Listen," said a man.
"I hear it," said another.
I myself had never heard the sound before, but I had heard of it.
"Such vast clouds, so black," said a man.
"They cover the entire horizon," said another, wonderingly.
"The sound comes from the clouds," said a man. "I am sure of it."
"I do not understand," said a man.
At such a time, which occurs every summer in the delta, the rencers withdraw to their huts, taking inside with them food and water, and then, with rence, weave shut the openings to the huts. Two or three days later they emerge from the huts.
"Ai!" cried a fellow, suddenly, in pain.
"It is a needle fly," said a fellow.
"There is another," said a man.
"And another," said another.
Most sting flies or needle flies, as the men of the South call them, originate in the delta, and similar places, estuaries and such, as their eggs are laid on the stems of rence plants. As a result of the regularity of breeding and incubation times there tends, also, to be peak times for hatching. These peak times are also in part, it is thought, a function of a combination of natural factors, having to do with conditions in the delta, such as temperature and humidity. and, in particular, the relative stability of such conditions. Such hatching times, as might be supposed, are carefully monitored by rencers. Once outside the delta the sting flies, which spend most of their adult lives as solitary insects, tend to disperse. Of the millions of sting flies hatched in the delta each summer, usually over a period of four or five days, a few return each fall, to begin the cycle again.
"Ai!" cried another fellow, stung.
Then I heard others cry out in pain, and begin to strike about them.
"The clouds come closer!" cried a fellow.
There could now be no mistaking the steadily increasing volume of sound approaching from the west. It seemed to fill the delta. It is produced by the movement of wings, the intense, almost unimaginably rapid beating of millions upon millions of small wings.
"Needle flies are about!" cried a man. "Beware!"
"The clouds approach more closely!" cried a man.
"But what are the clouds?" cried a fellow.
"They are needle flies!" cried a man.
I heard shrieks of pain. I pulled my head back, even in the hood. I felt a small body strike against my face, even through the leather of the hood.
I recoiled, suddenly, uttering a small noise of pain, it stifled by the gag. I had been stung on the shoulder. I lowered my body, so that only my head, hooded, was raised above the water. I heard men leaping into the water. The buzzing was now deafening.
"My eyes!" screamed a man. "My eyes!"
The flies tend to be attracted to the eyes, as to moist, bright objects.
I felt the raft pitch in the water as men left it.
The sting of the sting fly is painful, extremely so, but it is usually not, unless inflicted in great numbers, dangerous. Several stings, however, and even a few, depending on the individual, can induce nausea. Men have died from the stings of the flies, but usually in such cases they have been inflicted in great numbers. A common reaction to the venom of the fly incidentally is painful swelling in the area of the sting. A few such stings about the face can render a person unrecognizable. The swelling subsides, usually, in a few Ahn. ---Vagabonds of Gor, 17:160-162

Fly, Sand

...Following such rains, great clouds of sand flies appear, wakened from dormancy. These feast on kaiila and men. Normally, flying insects are found only in the vicinity of the oases....  - Tribesmen of Gor, 10:152
 

GITCH:  biting insect; description is vague, although it is used near mention of roaches

GOLDEN BEETLE:  an insect roughly the size of a rhinoceros which lives in the caverns below the Nest of the Priest-Kings in the Sardar Mountains; its prey is the Priest-Kings themselves. It releases an aroma that is so compelling to a Priest-King that to die by that method is referred to as succumbing to the 'Pleasures of the Golden Beetle'

GRASSHOPPER, Red: beyond color, this insect is described as weighing around 4 ounces.

LICE: Mentions of lice are numerous, more particularly the large, marble-sized variety said to be found on Tarn. Other mentions are found pertaining to a more 'common' type, including the fact that they are, like on Earth, responsible for the spread of epidemic types of illnesses.

...The hair of the below-deck girls, mercifully, is shaved off; indeed, our body hair, too, was shaved off, completely. These precautions prevent, to a great extent, the nesting of ship lice.... -Slave Girl of Gor, 16:321

Lice, Tarn: 

RENNEL:  a crablike poisonous desert insect.

"We watched a large, oblong, flat bodied black object, about half a 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, 22:276-277

ROCK SPIDER:  an inhabitant of the rainforests lower level this brown or black spider camouflages itself by tucking legs under its body to look like a rock hence its name; it will catch small rodents or birds in its web.

SCORPION:  found in the canopy level of the rainforest.

SLIME WORM: a long slow blind worm that inhabits the caverns below the Nest in the Sardar; scavenges the remains of the Golden Beetles kills

TOOS:  a crab-like organism with overlapping plating; inhabits the Nest and scavenges on discarded fungus spores.

VINT:  tiny, sand-colored insects found in the Tahari Desert.

ZARLIT FLY: large, harmless, purple insect about two feet long with 4 long, translucent wings, with a span of about a yard. It is able to walk on top of water because of its padlike feet and feeds on small insects.

ANTEATER:  There are six varieties of anteaters in the rainforests near Schendi.  One type is the great spined anteater.  It is about twenty feet long and has heavy clawed forefeet.  These claws are generally used to break into termite nests, its primary prey.  They are also strong enough to eviscerate a larl.  The anteater's four-foot long tongue is coated with an adhesive saliva that it uses to collect them.  It also commonly makes a whistling sound.

ARMORED GATCH:  This is a marsupial that lives in the rainforests near Schendi

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

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. 

GIANI: tiny cat-sized panther of solitary habits that inhabits the low branches of ground level in rainforests inland of Schendi.

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.

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 kaiila of these men were as tawny as the brown grass of the prairie, save for that of the man who faced me, whose mount was a silken, sable black"”--Nomads of Gor, page 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.

 “short-trunked, stocky, awkward ruminant of the plains. Their color is tawny with haunches marked in red and brown bars. Their wide heads bear a trident horn. They instinctively circle when resting, their females and young protected within. Even past me there thundered a lumbering herd of startled, short-trunked kailiauk, a stocky, awkward ruminant of the plains, tawny, wild, heavy, their haunches marked in red and brown bars, their wide heads bristling with a trident of horns; they had not stood and formed their circle, shes and young within the circle of tridents.” - Nomads of Gor, pg 2

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. 

“a large (7 ft. at shoulder) feline with a broad viper shaped head and cat-like silted pupils; carnivorous; the females of the species tend to be smaller than the males. 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 similarly fearsome jungle cats of my old world. The resemblance is, I suppose, due to the mechanics of convergent evolution, both animals having been shaped by the exigencies of the chase, the stealth of the approach and the sudden charge, and by the requirement of the swift and devastating kill. If there is an optimum configuration for a land predator, I suppose on my old world the palm must go to the Bengal tiger; but on Gor the prize belongs indisputably to the mountain larl; and I cannot but believe that the structural similarities between the two animals, though of different worlds, are more than a matter of accident. 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 and unlike the viper's, can range from knifelike slits in the broad daylight to dark, inquisitive moons in the night.” - Priest Kings of Gor, page 18

“predominately nocturnal larl which is sable coated and manned both male and female. The black larl, which is predominantly nocturnal, is manned, both male and female. The red larl, which hunts whenever it is hungry, regardless of the hour, and is the more common variety, possesses no mane. Females of both varieties tend generally to be slightly smaller than the males, but are quite as aggressive and sometimes even more dangerous, particularly in the late fall and winter of the year when they are likely to be hunting for their cubs.” - Priest Kings of Gor, page 18  

"On the jungle floor, as well, are found jungle larls and jungle panthers, of diverse kinds, and many smaller catlike predators. These, on the whole, however, avoid men. They are less dangerous in the rain forest, generally, than in the northern latitudes. I do not know why this should be the case. Perhaps it is because in the rain forest food is usually plentiful for them, and, thus, there is little temptation for them to transgress the boundaries of their customary prey categories. They will, however, upon occasion, particularly if provoked or challenged, attack with dispatch..." - Explorers of Gor, 32:312

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

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

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. 

"As I ran through the darkness I suddenly saw, before me, some fifty or sixty yards away, four pairs of blazing eyes, a pride of forest panthers. I pretended not to see them and, heart pounding, turned to one side, walking through the trees. At this time, at night, I knew they would be hunting. Our eyes had not met. I had the strange feeling that they had seen me, and knew that I had seen them, as I had seen them, and sensed that they had seen me. But our eyes had not directly met. We had not, so to speak, signaled to one another that we were aware of one another. The forest panther is a proud beast, but, too, he does not care to be distracted in his hunting...."- Captive of Gor, 8:181

"... in others there raged the dreadful, tawny, barred panthers of the northern forests."--Captive of Gor, 12:210

"...He had worn at his loins the pelts of the yellow panther..."--Explorers of Gor, 18:236

"...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, 32:311

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.

"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... On the floor itself are also found several varieties of animal life, in particular marsupials, such as the armored gatch, and rodents, such as slees and ground urts." - Explorers of Gor, 32:313

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.

 “It was indeed a young sleen, not more than eight feet long, and it lacked the patience of an older animal. Its attack, if it should detect my presence, would be noisy, a whistling rush, a clumsy squealing charge. It glided away into the darkness, perhaps not fully convinced that it was not alone, a young animal ready to neglect and overlook those slight traces that can spell the difference between death and survival in Gor’s brutal and predatory world.” --Outlaw of Gor page 34 -35

  “long sleek mammal with flippers and six legs and double fanged jaws can weigh as much as 1000 pounds.. and as much as 20 feet in length hunted by the Red Hunters for food and pelt.” Beasts of Gor, page 285

 “one of the 4 main types of sea sleen found in the polar north.” - Beasts of Gor, page 38

 “rare broader headed more dangerous variety of sea sleen found in the Polar North.” - Beasts of Gor, page 283

 “the hunting sleen is a hunter of men. It is 20 feet in length and weighs eleven hundred pounds. This domesticated forest sleen is double fanged and six-footed. It's tail tends to switch back and forth, getting rigid, as it hunts, it's ears flatten against it's head just prior to it's final 'charge' attack on it's prey.”- Beasts of Gor, pages 12-13

Sleen, Forest
Usually brown or black in color, and measure up to 20 feet in length. They are seen used as 'hunting sleen' for the tracking of game or men.

I crouched down. The animal had been released. Its head was now fully through the door. Its head was wide and triangular. Suddenly the eyes took the light of the lamp and blazed. And then, the head moving, its eyes no longer reflected The light. It no longer faced the light. Rather it was watching me.
The animal was some twenty feet in length, some eleven hundred pounds in weight, a forest sleen, domesticated. It was double fanged and six-legged. It crouched down and inched forward. Its belly fur must have touched the tiles. It wore a leather sleen collar but there was no leash on the leash loop.
I had thought it was trained to hunt tabuk with archers, but it clearly was not tabuk it hunted now.
I knew the look of a hunting sleen. It was a hunter of men....
... The beast watched me closely. For the first time it snarled, menacingly.
Then the tail stopped lashing, and became almost rigid. Then the ears lay back against its head.
It charged, scratching and scrambling, slipping suddenly, on the tiles. The girl screamed. The cast fur, capelike, shielding me, enveloped the leaping animal. I leaped to the couch, and rolled over it, and bounded to my feet. I heard the beast snarling and squealing, casting aside the fur with an angry shaking of its body and head. Then it stood, enraged, the fur torn beneath its paws, snarling and hissing. It looked up at me. I stood now upon the couch, the ax of Torvaldsland in my hand.
I laughed, the laugh of a warrior.
"Come my friend," I called to it. "let us engage."
It was a truly brave and noble beast. Those who scorn the sleen I think do not know him. Kurii respect the sleen, and that says much for the sleen, for its courage, its ferocity and its indomitable tenacity. ---Beasts of Gor, 1:12-13

Sleen, Grey
Said to be the best tracker on Gor, it is described as 14-15 feet long and as its name indicates, grey in color.

"Keep your legs apart," he said. "It is a gray sleen. I raised it from a whelp. Ah, greetings, Borko! How are you, old fellow!"
I would have screamed and reared up, but I was thrust back, helpless, half strangled, scarcely able to utter a sound, to the step. So our masters can control us by our collars. To my terror, then, pushing over my body, to thrust its great jaws and head, so large I could scarcely have put my arms around them, into the hands and arms of my master, was an incredible beast. It had an extremely agile, active, sinuous body, as thick as a drum, and perhaps fourteen or fifteen feet long. It might have weighed a thousand pounds. Its broad head was triangular, almost viperlike, but it was furred. This thing was a mammal, or mammalian. Its eyes now had pupils like slits, like those of a cat in sunlight. So quickly then might its adaptive mechanisms have functioned. About its muzzle were gray hairs, grayer than the silvered gray of its fur. It had six legs.
"Good lad!" said my master, roughly fondling that great, fierce head.
"We have been through much together, Borko and I," said my master. "He has even, twice, saved my life. Once when I was struck, unexpectedly, by one foolishly thought to be a friend, the origin of this scar," he said, indicating good-humoredly the hideous, jagged tissue at the left side of his face, "I told Borko to hunt. The fellow did not escape. Borko brought part of him back to me, in his jaws."

... "Borko," he said, "is a seasoned hunting sleen. Even to strangers he would bring a hundred times what you would bring in the market."

... "Learn slave," he said. "Learn slave."
I then began to whimper. "Hold still," said my master.
The beast then began to push its nose and muzzle about me, thrusting it here and there, about me. I now understood why I had been spread as I had, on the steps.
"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."
I whimpered, the beast's snout thrust between my thighs, sniffing.
"Please, Master," I whimpered.
I felt it nuzzling then at my waist and breasts. It was learning me.
"Do you know what the sleen hunts?" he asked.
"No, Master," I whimpered.
"In the wild it commonly hunts tabuk and wild tarsk," he said, "but it is an intelligent beast, and it can be trained to hunt anything."
"Yes, Master," I whimpered.
He held back my right arm, further, exposing more the armpit.
"Do you know what Borko is trained to hunt?" he asked.
"No, Master," I said.
I felt the snout of the beast then poking about my throat and under my chin, to the side, and then at the side of my neck. My maser then held my left arm further, exposing the armpit to the beast.
"It is trained to hunt men, and slaves," he said. ---Dancer of Gor, 10:160-161

Sleen, Miniature
A miniature version of the sleen, domesticated and said to be sometimes kept as a pet. It is also mentioned as used in the control of urt infestation of Sa-Tarna sheds.

..."Don't you really think so? What self-respecting rapist or slaver would be abroad at this hour? What would he expect to find? A miniature domestic sleen among the garbage cans?..." ---Mercenaries of Gor, 26:407

...To be sure, at that time, I did not know about the miniature, silken sleen that are sometimes kept as sinuous pets.... ---Dancer of Gor, 11:167

Sleen, Prairie
The somewhat smaller cousin of the forest sleen, tawny colored, domesticated by the Wagon People to herd cattle and guard camp.

"... farther 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, 1:2

"If I were found on the plains near the camps or the bosk herds I knew I would be scented out and slain by the domesticated, nocturnal herd sleen, used as shepherds and sentinels by the Wagon Peoples, released from their cages with the falling of darkness. These animals, trained prairie sleen, move rapidly and silently, attacking upon no other provocation than trespass on what they have decided is their territory. They respond only to the voice of their master, and when he is killed or dies, his animals are slain and eaten." ---Nomads of Gor, 1:9

Sleen, Snow
White furred sleen of the Northern areas.

 "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, 32:311

"...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, 32:312

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. As many as 20 small kinds of tabuk are said to be found in the Jungles of Schendi.

"...On the floor itself are also found several varieties of animal life, in particular marsupials, such as the armored gatch, and rodents, such as slees 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..." ---Explorers of Gor, 32:312

“"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

  “a kind of antelope, yellow in color with a single horn found in many areas’s of Gor. It travels in fleet footed herds and haunts the ka-la-na thickets of the planet. Men use its meat as food. It is a favorite prey of Tarns. 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, page 126

 “massive, tawny and swift is much larger than its smaller southern variety; standing ten hands at the shoulders. They have a single spiraling ivory horn, which at its base can be 2 1/2 inches in diameter and over a yard in length. The Red Hunters are tied to the tabuk for sustenance and the devices of daily living much like the Wagon Peoples and the bosk, and the Red Savages and the kailiauk.” - Beasts of Gor page 152

 “described as tawny and gazelle-like with a single horn, it responds to threat by scurrying away or lying down. Presumably this response is useful because of the high grass of the Barrens as most predators depend on vision to detect and locate its prey.” - Blood Brothers of Gor, page 316

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

 “fat, grunting, shaggy-maned, hoofed, flat-snorted, rooting, short-legged quadruped, having a bristly mane which runs down its spine to the base of the tail. In the wild, it is viciously aggressive. A common source of meat, and is often roasted whole. Market of Semris is famed for it's tarsk markets. Still later that afternoon some groups of small, fat, fronting, bristly, bridled, shaggy-maned, hoofed, flat-snouted, rooting animals had been herded in, also with pointed sticks, and they, too, had been guided into identical cages. We had looked out of our cage, our fingers hooked in the mesh, to the other cages, some of them with girls in them, some with the fat, flat-snouted, grunting, short-legged, bridled quadrupeds. "Those are tarsks," said one of the Gorean girls.” - Dancer of Gor, page 108

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 it 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 eyes socket, protruded over those gleaming eyes that seemed to feast themselves upon me, as it waiting the permission of the keeper to hurl itself on its feeding trough. Its fat body trembled with anticipation. The whip cracked again, and another command was uttered, and the animal; its long hairless tail lashing in frustration, slunk into another tunnel.”  ---Outlaw of Gor. page85-86

 “rapid moving water mammal living along canals; abundant in Port Kar, where they are hunted to decrease the population. Behind the man, in the stern, lay the bloody, white-furred bodies of two canal urts. One would have weight about sixty pounds, and the other, I speculate, about seventy-five or eighty pounds.” - Savages of Gor, page 67

“fat, sleek, and white, it has 3 rows of needle-like white teeth and 4 horns. Large enough to drag a man in its jaws. It was a giant urt, fat, sleek and white; it bared its three rows of needlelike white teeth at me and sealed in anger; two horns, tusks like flat crescents curved from its jaw; another two horns, similar to the first, modifications of the body tissue forming the upper ridge of the eye socket, protruded over those gleaming eyes that seemed to feast themselves upon me, as if waiting the permission of the keeper to hurl itself on its feeding trough. Its fat body trembled with anticipation. The whip cracked again, and another command was uttered, and the animal, its long hairless tail lashing in frustration, slunk into another tunnel.” - Outlaw of Gor, page 86

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, They could strip a carcass in a matter of minutes, each carrying back some fluttering ribbon of flesh to the recesses of whatever dark cave the swarm had chosen for its home. Moreover, some vart packs were rabid.” - Outlaw of Gor, page 26

“carnivorous animals that rest clinging upside down on branches. I could, however, recognize a row of brown varts, clinging upside down like large matted fists of teeth and fur and leather on the heavy, bare, scarred branch in their case. I saw bones, perhaps human bones, in the bottom of their case.” - Priest Kings of Gor, page 191 

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. 

 “"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

 “a mountain goat indigenous to the Voltai Mountains; wild, agile, ill-tempered with long hair and spiraling horns; source of a form of wool; its milk is potable as well as being used for cheese. Its meat is sometimes eaten by men. 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 

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

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.

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.

 “A small, venomous snake whose bite will cause a painful death within seconds. Commonly they are bright orange, but the banded ost is yellowish orange with black rings. Both are poisonous. "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

 “One to be feared even more perhaps was the tiny ost, a venemous, brilliantly orange reptile little more than a foot in length, whose bite spelled an excruciating death within seconds.” -Outlaw of Gor, pg. 26

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

 “We saw a narrow, dark shape, about five feet long, like a slowly undulating whip, glide past. A small triangular head was almost level with the water surface. I did not think there had been much danger, but there was some possibility that the movements of her legs in the water might have attracted its attention. "That is a marsh moccasin," I said. "Are they poisonous," she asked. "Yes," I said. "I never saw one before," she said. "They are not common," I said, "even in the delta."” ---Vagabonds of Gor, 26:267

...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, 32:3122

THARLARION: Residents in one form or another of most areas of Gor; a number of varieties of these reptiles are domesticated and even bred. The term tharlarion would seem to refer to a species rather than a specific animal, as demonstrated by the numerous mentions of various forms of tharlarions. High tharlarions, which are carnivorous, are used as mounts by cavalry warriors, while others, some even herbivorous, like the broad tharlarion, the land tharlarion and the river tharlarion, are used as draft beasts. In the wild, tharlarion are described as shiny-eyed and fearsome.

"Scarcely had she broken into the clearing, splashing through the shallow greenish waters near us, than the fearsome head of a wild tharlarion poked through the reeds, its round, shining eyes gleaming with excitement, its vast arc of a mouth swung open..." ---Tarnsman of Gor, 6:84

Broad Tharlarion
A large, slow moving, herbivorous draft animal reminiscent of many of Earth's Mesozoic era saurians. The description of the broad tharlarion at times makes it sound like an armorless ankylosaurus.

"...Behind them, stretching into the distance, came a long line of broad tharlarions, 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, 9:118

"Their more dormant relatives, the broad tharlarions, barely lifted their snouts from the feed troughs. Shielded by the placid, heavy bodies, some as large as a bus, I worked my way toward the interior side of the corral."--Tarnsman of Gor, 15:166

"...Through the trees I could see tent canvas, a tharlarion wagon, the strap-masters unharnessing a brace of low tharlarions, the huge herbivorous draft lizards of Gor..."---Outlaw of Gor, 21:185

High Tharlarion
The bipedalian, agile variety of tharlarion used as saddle lizards by cavalry warriors among others. They are described much as a cross between the ferocious velociraptor and the leaping gallimimus.

"...The tarn is one of the two most common mounts of a Gorean warrior; the other is the high tharlarion, a species of saddle-lizard, used mostly by clans who have never mastered tarns...."---Tarnsman of Gor, 3:52

"...He rode the species of tharlarion called the high tharlarion, which ran on its 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, 9:115

"The high tharlarions, unlike their draft brethren, the slow-moving, four-footed broad tharlarions, were carnivorous.... "---Tarnsman of Gor, 10:125

" We were astride rented tharlarion, high tharlarion, bipedalian tharlarion. Although our mounts were such, they are not to be confused with the high tharlarion commonly used by Gorean shock cavalry, swift, enormous beasts the charge of which can be so devastating to unformed infantry. If one may use terminology reminiscent of the sea, these were medium-class tharlarion, comparatively light beasts, at least compared to their brethren of the contact cavalries, such cavalries being opposed to the sorts commonly employed in missions such as foraging, scouting, skirmishing and screening troop movements. Rather our mounts were typical of the breeds from which are extracted racing tharlarion, of the sort used, for example, in the Vennan races. To be sure, it is only select varieties of such breeds, such as the Venetzia, Torarii and Thalonian, which are commonly used for the racers. As one might suppose, the blood lines of the racers are carefully kept and registered, as are, incidentally, those of many other sorts of expensive bred animals, such as tarsks, sleen and verr. This remark also holds for a certain variety of expensive bred slaves, the prize crops of the slave farms..."---Magicians of Gor, 19:290

Land Tharlarion
A type of broad tharlarion which is sometimes used as a draft beast by bargemen. It is said to be less effective in this task than the river tharlarion.

"There were other barges on the river, some moving across the river, others coming toward Laura, others departing. Those departing used only the current. 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, 8:81

Marsh Tharlarion
Thise variety of tharlarion inhabits the marshes of the delta of the Vosk, as well as the wetland areas of Schendi. It is described as long and low, and would seem to be related somewhat to Earth crocodiles.

"..."Either you will be thrown alive to the marsh tharlarion or, if you wish, we will kill you first."... --Raiders of Gor, 3:22

"My leg slipped from the island into the water and suddenly a tiny tharlarion struck it, seizing his bit of flesh and backing, tail whipping, away. My leg was out of the water, but now the water seemed yellow with the flashing bodies of tiny tharlarion, and beyond them, I heard the hoarse grunting of the great marsh tharlarion, some of which grow to be more than thirty feet in length, weighing more than half a hundred men..."
---Raiders of Gor, 6:58

...I screamed. In the pool, clambering over one another, lifting their jaws upward were crocodiles, beasts like river tharlarion but differently hided and plated.
I nodded. The marsh tharlarion, and river tharlarion, of Gor are, I suspect, genetically different from the alligators, caymens and crocodiles of Earth. I suspect this to be the case because these Earth reptiles are so well adapted to their environments that they have changed very little in tens of millions of years. The marsh and river tharlarion, accordingly, if descended from such beasts, brought long ago to Gor on Voyages of Acquisition by Priest-Kings, would presumably resemble them more closely. On the other hand, of course, I may be mistaken in this matter. It remains my speculation, however, that the resemblance between these forms of beasts, which are considerable, particularly in bodily configuration and disposition, may be accounted for by convergent evolution; this process, alert to the exigencies of survival, has, I suspect, in the context of similar environments, similarly shaped these oviparous predators of two worlds..."---Explorers of Gor, 32:326

River Tharlarion
A broad type of tharlarion said to have long necks, webbed feet and scales, used as draft beasts by bargemen.

"A broad, low-sided barge began to back toward the pier. It had two large steering oars, manned by bargemen. It was drawn by two gigantic, web-footed river tharlarion. These were the first tharlarion that I had ever seen. They frightened me. 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. It engorged the fish, and turned its small head, eyes now unblinking, to regard us. They were harnessed to the broad barge. They were controlled by a bargeman, with a long whipping stick, who was ensconced in a leather basket, part of the harness, slung between the two animals...
"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."---Explorers of Gor, 44:393

Rock Tharlarion
A lizard found in the Tahari and in southern Torvaldsland, described as tiny and six-toed.

... the tiny, six-toed rock tharlarion of southern Torvaldsland, favored for their legs and tails, which are speared by children.... ---Marauders of Gor, 10:152

...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, 14:222

Sea Tharlarion
Marine forms of the tharlarion species are mentioned in various sizes, from the smaller type which swarms in voracious packs, to the large crocodilian beast whose jaws could hold an entire galley.

...It would probably be a sea-tharlarion, or perhaps several such; sometimes the smaller sea-tharlarion, seemingly not much more than teeth and tail, fluttering in packs beneath the waves, are even more to be feared than their larger brethren, some of whom in whose jaws an entire galley can be raised from the surface of the sea and snapped in two like a handful of dried reeds of the rence plant....---Nomads of Gor, 17:204

...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, 8:80

Water Tharlarion
A tiny (about 6 inches long) voracious type of tharlarion that is often found in marsh areas.

"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. Immediately following I saw the water seem to glitter for a moment, a rain of yellowish streaks beneath the surface, in the wake of the water tharlarion, doubtless its swarm of scavengers, tiny water tharlarion, about six inches long, little more than teeth and tail."---Raiders of Gor, 1:1

Winged Tharlarion (Ul)
The predatory ul, or winged tharlarion of the marsh areas of Gor, would likely make dino-lovers instantly recall a late Triassic to Jurassic era pterosaurus (flying lizard) known as Rhamphorhynchus (the word means beak snout). The similarities in description can hardly be coincidental, right down to the spatula shaped tail. Let us see what we know of this flying lizard of Triassic and Jurassic Earth:

"Also, at night, crossing the bright disks of Gor's three moons, might occasionally be seen the silent, predatory shadow of the ul, a giant pterodactyl ranging far from its native swamps in the delta of the Vosk. "---Outlaw of Gor, 3:26

"I had then heard a repetition of that piteous, lengthy scream. I had also seen then, as I had come closer, the small head of the creature, small considering the size of its body, and the span of its wings, lift up, above the rence, with its long narrow, toothed jaws, like a long snout or bill, with that long, narrow extension of skin and bone in the back, balancing the weight of the long, narrow jaws, contributing, too, given the creature's weight and general ungainliness in structure, to stability in flight, particularly in soaring.
It had emerged from the rence.
The creature had turned to regard me.
It had opened its wings, suddenly. Their span must have been twenty-five to thirty foot Gorean. Then it closed them, folding them back, against its body.
I was quite impressed with it. Never had I been so close to such a thing before.
It uttered a hissing, grunting sound, expelling air from its lungs. It had a long, snakelike tail, terminating with a flat, spadelike structure. This tail lashed, the spadelike structure dashing sand about. This tail, with its termination, too, I think, had its role to play in flight, primarily one of increasing stability.

... Again it opened its wings. These are of skin and stretch from the jointed, hind legs, clawed, of the creature to an extremely long, fourth digit on its clawed hand...."
---Vagabonds of Gor, 19:179-182
 

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. 

 “"turning as it made a swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle."”--Raiders of Gor, page 1