Animals of Dune

[Dunenewt]

No, this isn't the new title of a book, but I was just wondering about some of the species mentioned in Dune.  D Wolves and Las Tigers or something along those lines?  Anyway, were these animals natives of Old Terra, who had travelled with humans around the galaxies, or where they native species?  Obviously sandworms didn't from Earth, but many of the species mentioned in both the old and new Dune books sound so similar to Earth dwelling animals.

[arnoldo]

There a particular pack animal used by the fremen called the kulon.  IIRC, they even had a modified stillsuit for it.

[SandChigger]

WRONG, arnoldo. ::)

From the <i>Terminology</i>:

"KULON: wild ass of Terra's Asiatic steppes adapted for Arrakis."

From <i>Dune</i>:

The concern on Arrakis was not with water, but with moisture. Pets were almost unknown, stock animals rare. <b>Some <u>smugglers</u> employed the domesticated desert ass, the kulon, but the water price was high even when the beasts were fitted with modified stillsuits.</b>

Why would the Fremen saddle themselves down with the use of such a water-costly animal?

'Newt, other than the worms and Cholisters, I can't think of any non-Terran animal lifeforms. There seem to be lots of alien plant species, though. (Was there some kind of alien bat?)

Edit: Sorry, there's also this:

"SCHLAG: animal native to Tupile once hunted almost to extinction for its thin, tough hide."

[arnoldo]

WRONG, arnoldo. ::)

From the <i>Terminology</i>:

"KULON: wild ass of Terra's Asiatic steppes adapted for Arrakis."

From <i>Dune</i>:

Why would the Fremen saddle themselves down with the use of such a water-costly animal?

My bad, the smugglers used the Kulon, not the fremen.  Another animal mentioned in the dune books are the atreides house ferrets.  Apparently, European royalty used to have them as pets and the Atreides were keeping the tradition alive.

*Edit* However, in Spice Planet, a particular tribe of fremen is alleged to have raided smugglers camps to steal their water and Kulons which were later used ritually in their spice orgies.  :P

[Dunenewt]

'Newt, other than the worms and Cholisters, I can't think of any non-Terran animal lifeforms. There seem to be lots of alien plant species, though. (Was there some kind of alien bat?)

Wasn't the bat used to carry messages?

[MrFlibble]

I think it was called the cielago. As for distrans messages, any living organism could theoretically carry those, including humans, as mentioned in Messiah.

[SandChigger]

"CIELAGO: any modified Chiroptera of Arrakis adapted to carry distrans messages."

Chiroptera = Terran lifeform. :)

Knew that, but I was thinking there was something else. Probably a brainfart.

*Edit* However, in Spice Planet, a particular tribe of fremen is alleged to have raided smugglers camps to steal their water and Kulons which were later used ritually in their spice orgies.  :P

DIE a very long, slow death. Preferably on the receiving end of the amorous advances of a kulon.

[Dante]

Chairdogs.

Someone suffocate 'Newt.

[SandChigger]

Ah, quite. Good one.

Well, if we're doing genetically altered Terran critters: sligs.

Mmmm ... <b>mighty</b> good eatin' there!

And ... thorses! :D

[exatreide]

Titans.

[SandChigger]

NOT. ;)

[arnoldo]

Chairdogs.

Someone suffocate 'Newt.

Chairdogs must've been particular troublesome to own on Arrakis cuz of pests like the trombiculo arakensis which infested not only chairdogs but also the Kulons  ;)

[SandChigger]

Chairdogs must've been particular troublesome to own on Arrakis cuz of pests like the <b>trombiculo arakensis</b> which infested not only chairdogs but also the Kulons  ;)

It's trombi<b>CULA</b>, dolt.

Your little joke of changing it to -culo, to mean "ass" in Spanish, was OH SO HA HA HA HA funny when you first did it ... what, two or three years ago?

But still, I'm glad you're starting to show more of your true face here, for people who aren't familiar with you from DuneNovels. :)

[arnoldo]

And ... thorses! :D

Is it possible that thorses and kulons were capable of interbreeding?  And if so would their offspring be fertile or sterile?

[arnoldo]

In addition to chairdogs on Dune apparently there were also real dogs; which some rebel fremen wanted to breed to be the size of ponies.

[SandChigger]

By the time chairdogs appear, there are no more Fremen, rebel or otherwise.

(No mention before <i>Heretics</i>.)

Edit: Sorry, I see what you're saying now.

Although there could have been chairdogs on Rakis before it was destroyed, I don't believe there's any specific mention in the books. There were none on Dune because they didn't exist in the earlier period. (Same goes for sligs: no mention prior to <i>Heretics</i>.)

The dogs you mention all died, so it's a bit of stretch to say they were on the planet in the same sense as the Terran forms that had adapted.

[arnoldo]

What animal of dune is mentioned as providing the skins for the tambourines used by the fremen?

. . . tambourines, tympani made on spice-plastic drums with skins stretched taut across one end. No one asked what animal on this planet provided that much skin.

~CoD

[MrFlibble]

. . . tambourines, tympani made on spice-plastic drums with skins stretched taut across one end. No one asked what animal on this planet provided that much skin.

Isn't it pretty obvious it was human?

[Dante]

Many many muad'dibs died to make beautiful music...

Edit: Muad'dibs? I have a strong feeling that the plural should be Muad'dib.

*lights up the Nema-signal.*

[Mahdi]

Isn't it pretty obvious it was human?

I'm fairly certain it says explicitly either in the novel itself or the appendices that Fremen war drums are made out of the skin of slain enemies. 

[MrFlibble]

Edit: Muad'dibs? I have a strong feeling that the plural should be Muad'dib.

A brief look into my Arabic grammar compendium tells me that N. Pl. should be something like Muad'Dibūna. I don't know what the plural for the real Arabic word mu'addib might be though :)

[Mahdi]

Many many muad'dibs died to make beautiful music...

Edit: Muad'dibs? I have a strong feeling that the plural should be Muad'dib.

Mice.

[Dragoon Knight]

Mice.

Sorry, but that was awesome. :P

[Dante]

I don't buy it. Unless muad'dib was a title, almost like coyote in native american mythology. In which case it's not so much a name but an anthropomorphism. Anyway, whatever the fremen word for mice is, I doubt it's the same as the Galach word.

[atomicar]

:) ;) :D ;D

There was some animals on Arrakis  like

kit fox

kangaroo mouse

desert hare

sand terra pin

desert bat

PREDATORS ARE

desert hawk

dwarf owl

eagle

desert owl

lazo tigers   (from Salusa Secundus ,book3)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

INSECTS AS WELL

scorpion

centipede

trapdoor spider

biting wasp

worm fly

All the animals above (except Lazo Tigers) were introduced to Arrakis by Pardot Kynes, First Planetologist of Arrakis .

I got all the infomation from appendix 1 ,The Ecology of Dune (page 876).