Bosk~~similar in build to the Yak of earth; huge, shambling with thick-humped neck and long shaggy fur; wide head with two tiny red eyes; temper of a sleen; much resemblance to the heavier form of the buffalo of earth; provides food, leather and many of the needs of the people of Gor; meat may be roasted or broiled, dried, stewed or served in a myriad of ways; mother of the Wagon Peoples; hides cover the dome-like wagons; skins are tanned and sewn for clothing; shield is made using the leather of the hump; thread made of the sinew and bones and horns; hooves are used to make glue and the oils are used to grease the bodies of the Wagon People to protect against cold~~

QUOTE: "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 larger animals, measured from tip to tip, exceed the length of two spears." Nomads of Gor pages 4-5.

"...or the ill-tempered, cumbersome bosk, a shaggy, long-haired wild ox of the Gorean plains." Outlaw of Gor page 125

"The bosk is a large, horned, shambling ruminant of the Gorean plains. It is herded below the Gorean equator by the Wagon Peoples, but there are Bosk herds on ranches in the north as well, and peasants often keep some of the animals." Raiders of Gor page 26.

"The bosk is said to be the Mother of the Wagon Peoples, and they reverence it as such. The man who kills one foolishly is strangled in thongs or suffocated in the hide of the animal he slew; if, for any reason, the man should kill a bosk cow with unborn young he is staked out, alive, in the path of the herd, and the march of the Wagon Peoples takes its way over him." Nomads of Gor page 5.

Hith~~huge python-like snake

QUOTE: "In another case, somnolent and swollen, I saw a rare golden hith, a Gorean python those 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~~kangaroo-like animal whose wool is used for cloth~~

QUOTE: "Two peasants walked by, in their rough tunics, knee-length, of the white wool of the Hurt." Tribesmen of Gor page 47.

"Cernus of Ar wore a coarse black robe, woven probably from the wool of the bounding, two legged Hurt, a domesticated marsupial raised in large numbers in the environs of several of Gor's Northern Cities. The Hurt, raised on large, fenced ranches, herded by domesticated sleens and sheered by chained slaves, replaces its wool four times a year." Assassin of Gor page 39.

"Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her with a ribbon of red wool, from the bounding Hurt, dyed in the blood of the Vosk sorp." Marauders of Gor pages 1-2.

"I wore a white robe, woven of the wool of the Hurt, imported from distant Ar,..." Hunters of Gor page 7

Kaiila~~a velociraptor standing 20-22 hands high, covered with a silken fur; vicious from birth, deadly, sleek and carnivorous and fast; capable of covering 600 pasangs (7/10 of a mile=1 pasang) in a day; eyes are triple lidded against the sand storms of the desert regions~~

QUOTE: "The mount of the Wagon Peoples, unknown in the northern hemispheres of Gor, is the terrifying but beautiful kaiila. It is a silken, carnivorous, lofty creature, graceful, long-necked, smooth gaited. It is viviparous and undoubtedly mammalian. . . normally, stands about twenty 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 theses 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 13-4.

"My mount, a lofty black kailla, silken and swift, shifted nervously beneath me." Blood Brothers of Gor page 7.

"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

"I then saw the kaiila pass. It was lofty, stately, fanged and silken. I had heard of such breasts, but this was the first time I had seen. It was yellow, with flowing hair. Its rider was mounted in a high, purple saddle, with knives in the saddle sheathes." Fighting Slave of Gor page 178.

"The kaiila and its master fight in battle as one unit, seemingly a single savage animal, armed with teeth and lance." Nomads of Gor page 170.

Kailiauk~~stocky ruminant, tawny with red and brown markings on haunches, having 3 horns; stands c. 20-25 hands at the shoulder; mother of the Red Savages~~

QUOTE: "I looked beyond Hci to the beasts, some two or three pasangs away. The kailiauk is a large, lumbering, shaggy, trident-horned ruminant. It has four stomachs and an eight-valve heart. It is dangerous, gregarious, small eyed, and short tempered. Adult males can stand as high as twenty or twenty five hands at the shoulder and weigh as much as four thousand pounds." Blood Brothers of Gor page 10.

"A Smooth Horns is a young, prime bull. Its horns are not yet cracked from fighting and age. The smoothness of the horns, incidentally, is not a purely natural phenomenon. The bulls polish, them, themselves, rubbing them against sloping banks and trees. Sometimes they will even paw down earth from the upper tides of washouts and then use the harder, exposed material beneath, dust scattering about, as a polishing surface. This polishing apparently has the functions of both cleaning and sharpening the horns, two processes useful in intraspecific aggression, the latter process improving their capacity as fighting instruments, in slashing and goring, and the former process tending to reduce the amount of infection in a herd resulting from such combats. Polishing behavior in males thus appears to be selected for. It has consequences, at any rate, which seem to be in the best interests of the kailiauk as a species." Blood Brothers of Gor page 63.

"The kailiauk in question, incidentally, 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.

"Even past me 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, she's and young within the circle of tridents . . . " Nomads of Gor page 2.

"It is difficult to make clear to those who are not intimately acquainted with such things the meaning of the Pte, or Kailiauk, to the red savages. It is regarded by them with reverence and affection. It is a central phenomenon in their life, and much of their life revolves around it. The mere thought of the kailiauk can inspire awe in them, and pleasure and excitement. More to them than meat for the stomach and clothes for the back is the kailiauk to them; too, it is mystery and meaning for them; it is heavy with medicine; it is a danger; it is a sport; it is a challenge; and at dawn, with a lance or bow in one's hand, and a swift, eager kaiila between one's knees, it is a joy to the heart...." Blood Brothers of Gor page 8

"Almost at the same time, suddenly, about a bend in the draw, turning, lurching, its shoulder striking the side of the draw, its feet almost slippping out from under it, in its turn, in the soft footing, covered with dust, its eyes wild and red, foam at its nostrils and mouth, some twenty five hundred pounds or better in weight, snorting, kicking dust behind it hurtled a kailiauk bull. As my beast scrambled up, regaining its feet, I mounted it, and turned it away down the draw. Cuwingnaka and I, then not more than a few yards ahead of the animals, which in a body, buffeting and storming, tridents down, their heads low, as the kailiauk runs, came streaming, flooding, bellowing, torrentlike, about that bend in the draw, racing to safety..." Blood Brothers of Gor pages 64-5

Kur~~eat humans and are the enemies of Goreans~~

QUOTE: "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 page 169-70

"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~~large (7 ft. at shoulder) feline, tawny red or black in color, having a black mane; carnivorous; similar to a lion; clawed and fanged predator; jungle larls are less dangerous and inhabitant rainforests~~

QUOTE: "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 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 a 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 tawny 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, possess no mane . . . None of the men below the mountains, the mortals, had ever succeeded in taming a larl. Even larl cubs when found and raised by men would, on reaching their majority, on some night, in a sudden burst of atavistic fury slay their masters and under the three hurtling moons of Gor, lope from the dwellings of men, driven by what instincts I know not, to seek the mountains where they were born." Priest-Kings of Gor pages 18-9.

"The larl, a tawny leapardlike beast indigenous to the Voltai and several of Gor's ranges, standing an incredible seven feet high at the shoulder and feared for its occasional hunger-driven visitations to the civilized plains below." Tarnsman of Gor page 147

"Then as sleen hunters do for luck, I cut through the fur of the sleen and ate the heart. It is said that only the heart of the mountain larl brings more luckthen that of the vicious, cunning sleen." Outlaw of Gor page 37

"I once asked a Gorean hunter whom I met in Ar why the larl was hunted at all. I have never forgotten his reply. 'Because it is beautiful,' he said, 'and dangerous, and because we are Goreans.' " Priest Kings of Gor page 20

Leem~~small arctic rodent; 5 - 10 oz in weight, hibernates in winter~~

QUOTE: "The hunter drew forth from the bundle of the furs two tiny pelts of the leem." Beasts of Gor pages 74-5

Ost~~tiny snake or asp; about 12" long; bright orange in color; venom causes extremely painful death within seconds; the ost of the rainforests inland of Schendi are red with black stripes

QUOTE: "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 a yellowish orange and is marked with black rings." Assassin of Gor page 335.

Panther~~those of the jungle are less dangerous to man than the northern variety; inhabitant of the rainforest of Ushindi; wild feline~~

QUOTE: "He had worn at his loins the pelts of the yellow panther." Explorers of Gor page 136.

Quala~~small, dun-colored, 3-toed mammal with a stiff, brushy mane of black hair; pl. qualae

Quote: "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

Scorpions~~Explorers of Gor page 313~~

Sleen~~deadly hunting dog of Gor; a cross between a weasel and a Komodo dragon furred, with fangs that drip a deadly poison; 6 legged and tenacious they can track a trail days old as if it were fresh; rending and killing the object of the hunt; pack animals and cared for only by their Masters so that they are not befriended by slaves who may try to escape; domesticated by wagon People; used as sentinels and shepherds; 7 feet long; released after dark to prowl and protect their territory; respond only to the Master until he dies and the sleen is killed and eaten~~

QUOTE: "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, 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 . . . Sleen are used for a multitude of purposes on Gor, but most commonly they are used for herding, tracking, guarding and patrolling. The verr and the bosk are the most common animals herded; tabuk and slave girls are the most common animals tracked; the uses to which the sleen is put to guarding and patrolling are innumerable; it is used to secure borders, to prowl walls and protect camps; it may run loose in the streets after curfews." Slave Girl of Gor pages 185-6.

"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 34-5 "I saw its belly lower itself to the ground, the head still lifted, watching me. Its tail lashed, its eyes blazed. It inched forward. It had two rows of fangs." Slave Girl of Gor page 184

"A recalcitrant girl may be kept on the oar for hours. There is also, however some danger in this, for sea sleen and the white sharks of the north occasionally attempt to tear such a girl from the oar." Marauders of Gor page 66

"...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

"The hides can serve as harnesses for the snow sleen..." Beasts of Gor page 169

"...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

"The sleen is Gor's most perfect hunter." Hunters of Gor page 156

"It is at night that the sleen hunts, that six-legged, long-bodied mammalian carnivore, almost as much a snake as an animal." Outlaw of Gor page 26

"The vicious, six-legged sleen, large-eyed, sinuous, mammalian but resembling a furred, serpentine lizard, was a reliable, indefatigable hunger. 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 hungers, to tear his victim to pieces." Raiders of Gor page 105.

"She wore, over her shoulder, a cape of white fur of the northern sea sleen." Marauders of Gor page 25.

Snow Lart~~10" high, weight 10 - 12 lbs., mammalian, 4 legs, dual stomached, hunts in sun, feeds on bird eggs and preys on the leem; Beasts of Gor page 74~~

Tabuk~~swift gazelle like animals known for their sweet meat and speed; generally served roasted; small, fleet tabuk have one horn; more than 20 varieties are found in the rainforest~~

QUOTE: "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 a 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 hungers 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 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. Its fat and bone marrow can be used as fuel. Too, almost all of the animal is edible." Beasts of Gor pages 169-170.

Tarsk~~similar to the earth pig in form and ecological niche, they are not a favored food, being carrion eaters, but, are a staple among the rence growers; also the giant tarsk which stands at 10 hands high on the shoulder~~

QUOTE: "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~~heavy, but swift; range nearly 40 hands in height; warm blooded reptiles; used in battle as shock troops, and a smaller bred cousin as draft animals on Gor; The Marsh Thalarion is not domesticated, but a vicious and voracious hunter; five types - marsh, broad, high, river and rock; broad is herbivorous, sluggish and used as a draft animal; high is agile, similar to T. REX with short, almost useless forelegs, carnivorous and used as a mount for riding; river is extremely large, herbivores, web-footed used by bargemen of the Cartius River to pull barges; rock is a small reptile of the Tahari~~

QUOTE: "The high thalarions, unlike their draft brethren, the slow-moving, four-footed broad thalarions, were carnivorous." Tribesman 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 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 page 115.

"Behind the, 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.

"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.

Urts~~reptilian rat; size of a terrier urt; small, silken-furred rodent akin to the Earth rat; three rows of teeth, two tusks, and two horns; three kinds - ground, leaf, and tree; inhabit the rainforest of Schendi~~

QUOTE: "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

"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

"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.

"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

"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 138

Vart~~blind, bat-like flying rodent; about the size of a small dog; carnivorous; also the jungle vart, live in the rainforests inland of Schendi~~

QUOTE: "Perhaps most I dreaded those nights filled with the shrieks of the vart pack, a blind, bat-likeswarm of flying rodents, each the size of a small dog. They could strip a carcass in a matter of minutes....Moreover, some vart packs were rabid." Outlaw of Gor page 26.

"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." Priest-Kings of Gor page 191.

"Tyros is a rugged island, with mountains. She is famed for her vart caves, and indeed, on that island, trained varts, batlike creatures, some the size of small dogs, are used as weapons." Raiders of Gor page 139

Verr~~domesticated mountain goat; herded for milk and meat~~

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

"...perhaps after the agile and bellicose Gorean mountain goat, the long haired, spiral horned verr..." Tarnsman of Gor page 147

"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



This page was last modified on the 31st of January 2002