Animals & Plants of Gor

Animals & Plants

Animals of Gor Bosk
A huge, shaggy, ox-like animal that provides, meat, milk and leather. It is a symbol of the Wagon Peoples.
"...or the ill-tempered, cumbersome bosk, a shaggy, long-haired wild ox of the Gorean plains." Outlaw of Gor, page 125 "It is a huge shambling animal, with a thick, humped neck, and long, shaggy hair. It has wide head and tiny red eyes, a temper to match that of a sleen, and two long, wicked horns that reach out from its head and suddenly curve forward to terminate in fearful points. Some of these horns, on the the larger animals, measured from tip to tip, exceed the length of two spears." Nomads of Gor, pages 4-5 "The bosk is said to be the Mother of the Wagon Peoples, and they reverence it as such." Nomads of Gor, page 5 "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 * Carp (Vosk Carp)
"...turning as it made a swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle." Raiders of Gor, page 1 * Cosian Wingfish
"...I heard the mating whistles of the tiny, lovely Cosian wingfish. This is a small, delicate fish; it has three of four slender spines in its dorsal fins, which are poisonous. It is called the wingfish because it can, on its stiff pectoral fins, for short distances, glide through the air, usually in an attempt to flee small sea thalarion, who are immune to the poisonous spines. It is also called a songfish, because, in their courtship rituals, males and females thrust their head from the water, uttering a kind of whistle." Raiders of Gor, page 139 " 'Now this,' Saphrar the merchant was telling me, 'is the braised liver of the blue, four-spired Cosian wingfish.'
This fish is a tiny, delicate fish, blue, about the size of a tarn disk when curled in one's hand; it has three or four slender spines in its dorsal fin, which are poisonous; it is capable of hurling itself from the water and, for brief distances, on its stiff pectoral fins, gliding through the air, usually to evade the smaller sea-tharlarions, which seem to be immune to the poison of the spines. This fish is also some times referred to as the songfish because, as a portion of its courtship rituals, the males and females thrust their heads from the water and utter a sort of whistling sound. The blue, four-spired wingfish is found only in the waters of Cos. Larger varieties are found farther out to sea. The small blue fish is regarded as a great delicacy, and its liver as the delicacy of delicacies." Nomads of Gor, pages 84-85 * Dock Eels
Black eels...roughly four feet in length, weighing 8 to 10 pounds. They are ferocious hunters and are attracted by blood. They can gouge ounces of flesh in one bite.
" When he stood in about a foot of water, among the pilings, near the next wharf, he struck down madly at his legs with his left hand, striking two dock eels from his calf." Rogue of Gor, page 154 "The dock eels, black, about four feet long, are tenacious creatures. They had not relinquished their hold on the flesh in their jaws when they had been forcibley struck away from the leg, back into the water." Rogue of Gor, pages 154-155 "Below me the water was swarming with eels. The blood from my back, I realized, running down the blade and dripping into the water, had attracted them." Rogue of Gor, page 129 "I was only dimly conscious of the wetness of my back. Then something wet and heavy, slithering; leapt upward out of the water, and splashed back. My leg felt stinging. It had not been able to fasten its jaws on me. I looked downward. Two more heads, tapering, menacing, solid, were emerged from the water, looking up at me. Then, streaking from under the water, suddenly breaking its surface, another body, some four feet in length, about eight or ten pounds in weight, leapt upward...I knew that the fastening of those jaws, in a fair bite, could gouge ounces of flesh from a man's body...." Rogue of Gor, page 130 * Gant
Jungle Gant:
Marsh Gant:
" I heard a bird some forty or fifty yards to my right; it sounded like a marsh gant, a small, horned, web-footed aquatic fowl, broad-billed and broad-winged. Marsh girls, the daughters of rence growers, sometimes hunt them with throwing sticks." Raiders of Gor, page 4 * Gim
Horned Gim:
"The migration of the forest hurlit and the horned gim do not take place until late in the spring." Nomads of Gor, page 138 "...the call of a tiny horned gim, the tiny purplish owllike bird." Captive of Gor, page 97 "I heard the throaty warbling, so loud for such a small bird, of the tiny horned gim." Hunters of Gor, page 106 * Golden Beetle
Found in the Nest of the Priest-Kings. It gives off an odor that acts as a narcotic to the Priest-Kings and hypnotizes them, luring them to their deaths.
" 'What does the Golden Beetle kill?' I asked. 'Priest-Kings,' said the second slave." Priest-Kings of Gor, page 105 "It was about the size of a rhinoceros and the first thing I noticed after the glowing eyes were two multiply hooked, tubular, hollow, pincerlike extension that met at the tips perhaps a yard beyond its body.They seemed clearly some aberrant mutation of its jaws. Its antennae, unlike those of the Priest-Kings, were very short. They curved and were tipped with a fluff of golden hair. Most strangely perhaps were several long, golden strands, almost a mane, which extended from the creatures head over its domed golden back and fell almost to the floor behind it. The back itself seemed divided into two thick casings which might once, ages before, have been horny wings, but now the tissues had, at the points of touching together, fused in such a way as to form what was for all practical purposes a thick, immobile golden shell." Priest-Kings of Gor, page 180 "The exudate which forms on the mane hairs of the Golden Beetle, which had overcome me in the close confines of the tunnel, apparently has a most intense and, to a human mind, almost incomprehensibly compelling effect on the unusually sensitive antennae of the Priest-Kings, luring them helplessly, almost as if hypnotized, to the jaws of the Beetle, who then penetrates their body with its hollow, pincerlike jaws and drains its body of fluid." Priest-Kings of Gor, page 257 * Grunt
Blue Grunt:
White Grunt:
A large game fish
"Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt." Fighting Slave of Gor, pages 275-276 "Three other men of the Forkbeard attended to fishing, two with a net, sweeping it along the side of the serpent, for parsit fish, and the third, near the stem, with a hook and line, baited with vulo liver, for the white-bellied grunt, a large game fish which haunts the plankton banks to feed on parsit fish." Marauders of Gor, page 59 * Gull (Vosk Gull)
" 'Those are Vosk gulls,' said Kamchak, 'In the spring, when the ice breaks in the Vosk, they fly north.' " Nomads of Gor, page 137 * Hith
The Gorean Python
"In another case, somnolent and swollen, I saw a rare golden hith, a Gorean python whose body, even when unfed, it would be difficult for a full-grown man to encircle with his arms." Priest-Kings of Gor, page 191 * Hurlit
"The migration of the forest hurlit and the horned gim do not take place until late in the spring." Nomads of Gor, page 138 * Hurt
Provides wool, thought to be kangaroo like?
"...wool from the bounding Hurt..." Tribesmen of Gor, page 37 "Two peasants walked by, in their rough tunics, knee-length, of the white wool of the Hurt." Tribesmen of Gor, page 47 "I wore a white robe, woven of the wool of the Hurt, imported from distant Ar,..." Hunters of Gor, page 7 "Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her with a ribbon of blue wool, from the bounding Hurt, dyed in the blood of the Vosk sorp." Marauders of Gor, pages 1-2 * Jards
Gorean vultures
"Fluttering jards, covering many of the carcasses like gigantic flies, stirred, swarming upward as Inmak passed them, and then returned to their feeding." Beasts of Gor, page 170 * Kaiila
A large reptile looking animal, used by the Wagon Peoples and in the Tahari as a mount. The Kaiila is well-suited for the harsh conditions of the Tahari and the Plains. Its viciousness makes it a formidable mount for a Warrior as well.
"The mount of the Wagon Peoples, unknown in the northern hemispheres of Gor, is the terrifying but beautiful kaiila. It is a silken, carnivourous, lofty creature, graceful, long-necked, smooth gaited. It is viviparous and undoubtedly mammalian, though there is no suckling of the young...The kaiila is extremely agile...normally stands about tweny to twenty-two hands at the shoulder, can cover as much as six hundred pasangs in a single day's riding. The head of the kaiila bears two large eyes, one on each side, but these eyes are triply lidded probably an adaptation to the environment which occasionally is wracked by severe storms of wind and dust; the adaptation, actually a transparent third lid, permits the animal to move as it wishes under conditions that force other prairie animals to back into the wind, or like the sleen, to burrow into the ground." Nomads of Gor, pages 13-14 "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 "My mount, a lofty black kaiila, silken and swift, shifted nervously beneath me." Blood Brothers of Gor, page 7 "I then saw the kaiila pass. It was lofty, stately, fanged and silken. I had heard of such beasts, 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 sheaths." Fighting Slave of Gor, page 178 * Kailiauk
Another plains bison-type animal. The descriptions make it seem related to the bosk, though with more horns. The kailiauk is a 'symbol' to the Red Savages much as the bosk is to the Wagon Peoples...perhaps the differences in the two are related more to the climates they inhabit?
"I looked beyond Hci to the beasts, some two to three pasangs away. The kailiauk is a large, lumbering, shaggy, trident-horned ruminant. It has four stomachs and an eight valved 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 "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 " 'Over there,' said Hci, to us, pointing east by southeast, 'there is a draw. In the draw there is a fallen bull, a Smooth Horns, no more than some six winters in age. Attend to it.'
'Yes,Hci,' said Cuwignakea, obediently. 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 fighteing 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 "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 64-65 "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, shes and young within the circle of tridents..." Nomads of Gor, page 2 "The kailiauk in question, incidently,is the kailiauk of the Barrens. It is a gigantic,dangerous beast, often standing from twenty to twenty five hands at the shoulder and weighing as much as four thousand pounds. it is almost never hunted on foot except in deep snow, in which it is almost helpless. From kaiilaback, riding beside the stampeded animal, however, the skilled hunter can kill one with a single arrow. He rides close to the animal,not a yard from its side, just outside the hooking range of the trident, to supplement the striking power of his small bow. At this range the arrow can sink in to the feathers. Ideally it strikes into the intestinal cavity behind the last rib, producing large scale internal hemorrhaging, or closely behind the left shoulder blade, thence piercing the eight valved heart." Savages of Gor, page 40 "To the oases, caravans bring various goods, for example, rep-cloth, embroidered cloths, silks, rugs, silver, gold, jewelries, mirrors, kailiauk tusks..." Tribesmen of Gor, page 37 * Kur
In Torvoldsland, the word Kur means beast. Kurii eat humans and are the enemies of Goreans. Cabot spends much of his time in several of the books fighting Kurii.
"In the doorway, silhouetted against flames behind them, we saw great, black, shaggy figures." Marauders of Gor, page 203 "Its head was approximately the width of the chest of a large man. It had a flat snout, with wide nostrils. Its ears were large, and pointed....The beast was approximately nine feet in height; I conjectured its weight in the neighborhood of eight or nine hundred pounds. Interestingly, Priest-Kings, who are not visually oriented organisms, find little difference between Kurii and men...One difference they do remark between the human and the Kur,and that is that the human,commonly, has an inhibition against killing. This inhibition the Kur lacks." Marauders of Gor, pages 169-170 "The Kur has two rows of fangs. Its mouth is large enough to take into it the head of a full grown man." Marauders of Gor, page 170 "The prehensile paws, or hands, of the Kurii are six-digited and multiple jointed. The legs are thick and short." Marauders of Gor, page 171 * Kite
" 'The first southern migrations of meadow kites,' he said, 'have already taken place.'" Nomads of Gor, page 138 * Larl
Resembles the large jungle felines of Earth...tigers, lions and the like. They cannot be tamed.
"The larl is a predator, clawed and fanged, quite large, often standing seven feet at the shoulder. I think it would be fair to say that it is substantially feline; at any rate its grace and sinuous power remind me of the smaller but similarily jungle cats of my old world....The larl's head is broad, sometimes more than two feet across, and shaped roughly like a triangle, giving its skull something of the cast of a viper's save that of course it is furred and the pupils of the eyes like the cat's...the pelt of the larl is normally a tawney red or sable black. The black larl, which is predominately nocturnal, is maned, both male and female. The red larl, which hunts whenever hungry, regardless of the hour, and is the more common variety, posesses no mane." Priest-Kings of Gor, page 18 "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, page 19 "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 * Lelt
A small, blind white fish which inhabits the brine pits at Klima.
"The lelt is commonly five to seven inches in length. It is white and long-finned." Tribesmen of Gor, page 247 "Lelts are often attracted to the salt rafts, largely by the vibrations in the water, picked up by their abnormally developed lateral-line protrusions, and their fernlike craneal vibration receptors, from the cones and poles. Too, though they are blind, I think either the light, or the heat, perhaps, from our lamps, draws them. The tiny eyeless heads will thrust from the water, and the fernlike filaments at the side of the head will open and lift, orienting themselves to one or the other of the lamps." Tribesmen of Gor, page 247 "It swims slowly and smoothly, its fins moving the water very little..." Tribesmen of Gor, page 247 * Mamba * Marsh Turtle
"...turning as it made a swift strike, probably a Vosk carp or marsh turtle." Raiders of Gor, page 1 * Ost
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 "The banded ost is a variety of ost, a small, customarily brilliantly orange Gorean reptile. The banded ost is yellowish orange and is marked with black rings. Assassin of Gor, page 335 * Parsit Fish
A small, silvery striped fish commonly used (cut up and raw) in the bond-maid gruel of Torvordsland. It is also salted or dried and sold to more southern cities.
"The main business of Kassau is trade, lumber and fishing. The slender striped parsit fish has vast plankton banks north of the town, and may there, particularly in the spring and the fall, be taken in great numbers." Marauders of Gor, page 27 "The men with the net drew it up. In it, twisting and flopping, silverish, striped with brown, squirmed more than a stone of parsit fish. They threw the net to the planking and, with knives, began to slice the heads and tails from the fish." Marauders of Gor, page 61 "The men of Torvoldsland are skilled with their hands. Trade to the south, of course is largely in furs acquired from Torvoldsland, and in barrels of smoked, dried parsit fish." Marauders of Gor, page 28 "The men who had fished with the net had now cleaned the catch of parsit fish, and chopped the cleaned, boned, silverish bodies into pieces, a quarter inch in width. Another of the bond-maids was then freed to mix the bond-maid gruel, mixing fresh water with Sa-Tarna meal, and then stirring in the raw fish." Marauders of Gor, pages 63-64 * Qualae
Three-toed, dun colored mammals with stiff brushy manes of black hair.
"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 * Rennels
Poisonous, crab-like desert insects.
"...that once an army of a thousand wagons turned aside because a swarm of rennels, poisonous, crablike desert insects, did not defend its broken nest..." Nomads of Gor, page 27 * Salamanders
Inhabiting the brine pits along with the lelts; the salamanders are also white and blind. Unlike the lelts, though, salmanders have legs and external gills.
"Among the lelts, too, were, here and there, tiny salamanders, they, too, white and blind. Like the lelts, they were, for their size, long-bodied, were capable of long periods of domancy and posessed a slow metabolism, useful in an environment in which food is not plentiful. Unlike the lelts, they had long stemlike legs....but the filaments, in the case of the salamanders, interestingly, are not vibration receptors, but feather gills, an external gill system." Tribesmen of Gor, pages 247-248 * Salt Leaches
"I flicked a salt leach from the side of my light rush craft with the corner of the tem-wood paddle." Raiders of Gor, page 5 * Sand Flies
"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, page 152 * Shark
There are several varieties of shark on Gor; the marsh and river sharks as well as the salt shark that inhabits the brine pits of Klima. The marsh shark is eel-like, long, and has nine gills. The river shark is black with triangular dorsal fins and lives in the fresh waters of Gor. The salt shark is white, blind, and also has a dorsal fin and is nine gilled.
"Beyond them would be the almost eel-like, long-bodied, nine-gilled Gorean marsh sharks." Raiders of Gor, page 58 "I saw a sudden movement in the water. Something, with a twist of its great spine had suddenly darted from the waters under the pier and entered the current of the Laurius. I saw the flash of a triangular, black dorsal fin.
I screamed.
Lana looked out, pointing after it. 'A river shark,' she cried, excitedly." Captive of Gor, page 79 "We saw the broad, blunt head, eyeless, white...On the whitish back, near the high dorsal fin, there was a long scar. Part of the dorsal fin itself was rent, and scarred. These were lance marks....At the top of the food chain in the pits, a descendant, dark-adapted, of the terrors of the ancient seas, stood the long-bodied, nine-gilled salt shark." Tribesmen of Gor, page 249 "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 * Sleen
Six-legged, furred mammal. Used to track, hunt, guard herd of bosk (and slave girls) and also to herd slave girls. There are forest and prairie sleen as well as the snow and sea sleen on Gor.
See a depiction of a sleen, drawn by slipper{MW}, here.

"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 hunter. He could follow a scent days old with ease, and then, perhaps hundreds of pasangs, and days, later, be unleashed for the sport of the hunters, to tear his victim to pieces." Raiders of Gor, page 105 "I caught a strange, unpleasant scent, much like a common weasel or ferret, only stronger. In that instance every sense was alert...I thought I heard a slight sniffling, a grunt, a small doglike whine...Most likely it was a sleen, hopefully a young one...Then I saw it, on its six short legs, undulate across the road, like a furred lizard, its pointed, whiskered snout swaying from side to side testing the wind...It was indeed a young sleen, not more than eight feet long..." Outlaw of Gor, pages 34-35 "The sleen is Gor's most perfect hunter." Hunters of Gor, page 156 "...I saw the sleen, this time a full grown animal, some nineteen or twenty feet long, charging toward me, swiftly, noiselessly, its ears straight against its pointed head, its fur slick with rain, its fangs bared, its wide nocturnal eyes bright with the lust of the kill." Outlaw of Gor, page 36 "There are many varieties of sleen, and most varieties can be, to one extent or another, domesticated. The two most common sorts of trained sleen are the smaller, tawny prairie sleen, and the large, brown or black forest sleen, sometimes attaining a length of twenty feet. In the north, I am told the snow sleen has been domesticated. The sleen is a dangerous and fairly common animal on Gor, which has adapted itself to a variety of environments. There is even an aquatic variety, called the sea sleen, which is one of the swiftest and most dreaded beasts in the sea." Slave Girl of Gor, page 185 "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, page 186 "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 "The hides can serve as harnesses for the snow sleen..." Beasts of Gor, page 169 "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 "She wore, over her shoulder, a cape of white fur of the northern sea sleen." Marauders of Gor, page 25 "...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 * Slime Worm
"We had not walked far when we passed a long, wormlike animal, eyeless, with a small red mouth, that inched its way along the corridor, hugging the angle between the wall and the floor....
'What do you call it?' I asked.
'Oh,' said one of the slaves, 'it is a Slime Worm.'...
'It scavenges on the kills of the Golden Beetle...' " Priest-Kings of Gor, pages 105-106 Sorp (Vosk Sorp)
A shellfish, oyster-like
"Ho-Hak looked at the man who wore the headband of pearls of the Vosk sorp." Raiders of Gor, page 21 "He sat upon a giant shell of the Vosk sorp, as on a sort of throne, which for these people, I gather it was." Raiders of Gor, page 14 "Her hair was blond and straight, tied behind her with a ribbon of blue wool, from the bounding Hurt, dyed in the blood of the Vosk sorp." Marauders of Gor, pages 1-2 * Swamp Spiders
Actually these are known as the Spider People. They are rational and speak to humans through the use of a translator device. They are large spiders that live in the swamps near Ar.
"Approaching me, stepping daintily for all its bulk, prancing over the strands, came one of the Swamp Spiders of Gor....and I caught sight of the mandibles, like curved knives...He then backed away from me on his eight legs...I saw then for the first time that strapped to his abdomen, was a translation device....They hunt us and leave only enough of us alive to spin the Cur-lon Fiber used in the mills of Ar." Tarnsman of Gor, pages 81-83 * Tabuk
Two varieties inhabit Gor; the smaller yellow tabuk of the plains, and the larger Northern Tabuk. Both are hunted for meat and hides.
"They were northern tabuk, massive, tawny and swift; many of them ten hands at the shoulder, a quite different animal from the small, yellow-pelted antelope-like quadruped of the south. On the other hand, they too were distinguished by the single horn of the tabuk. On these animals, however, that object, in swirling ivory, was often, at its base, some two and one half inches in diameter, and better than a yard in length. A charging tabuk, because of the swiftness of its reflexes, is quite a dangerous animal." Beasts of Gor, page 152 "Gripped in the talons of the tarn was the dead body of an antelope, one of the one-horned, yellow antelopes called tabuks that frequent the bright Ka-la-na thickets of Gor." Tarnsman of Gor, page 145 "At the end of the wall, Inmak wept, seeing the strewn fields of slaughtered tabuk. The fur and hide of the tabuk provides the red hunters not only with clothing, but it can also be used for blankets, sleeping bags and other articles...Too, they may be used for buckets and tents, and for kayaks, the light narrow hunting canoes of skin from which sea mammals may be sought. Lashings, harpoon lines, cords and threads can be fashioned from its sinews. Carved, the bone and horn of the animal can function as arrow points, needles, thimbles, chisels, wedges, and knives. It's fat and bone marrow can be used as fuel. Too, almost all of the animal is edible." Beasts of Gor, pages 169-170 * Tarn
The large, winged mounts of the Warrior Tarnsmen of Gor. The birds resemble hawks of Earth, only much much larger. The birds are vicious and fierce. They are carnivorous, and sometimes turn on their own riders. War tarns commonly have armored talons and are trained to serve not only as a mount, but as a weapon in their own right. Racing tarns are lighter and trained for the racing arena.
" Though the tarn, like most birds, is surprisingly light for its size, this primarily having to do with the comparative hollowness of the bones, it is an extremely powerful bird, powerful even beyond what one would expect from such a monster. Whereas large Earth birds, such as the eagle, must, when taking flight from the ground, begin with a running start, the tarn with its incredible musculature, aided undoubtedly by the somewhat lighter gravity of Gor, can with a spring and a sudden flurry of its giant wings lift both himself and hi rider into the air. In Gorean, these birds are sometimes spoken of as Brothers of the Wind.
The plumage of tarns is various, and they are bred for their colors as well as their strength and intelligence. Black tarns are used for night raids, white tarns in winter campaigns, and multicolored, resplendent tarns are bred for warriors who wish to ride proudly, regardless of the lack of camouflage. The most common tarn, however is greenish brown. Disregarding the disproportion in size, the Earth bird which the tarn most closely resembles is the hawk, with the exception that it has a crest somewhat of the nature of a jay's.
Tarns, who are vicious things are seldom more than half tamed and, like their diminutive earthly counterparts, the hawks, are carnivorous. It is not unknown for a tarn to attack and devour his own rider. They fear nothing but the tarn-goad.." Tarnsman of Gor, pages 51-52 "The platform drew closer, and the the wonder of the crowd I went to meet it. My heart was beating wildly. I scrutinized the tarn. Its lineaments were not unfamiliar. I examined the glistening, sable plumage; the monstrous yellow beak now cruelly belted together. I saw the great wings snap, smitting the air, the hurricane from their blow spilling slaves into the sand, tangling chains, as the great beast, lifting its head and smelling the open air, struck it with his wings. It would not attempt to fly while hooded; indeed, I doubted that the bird wouldattempt to fly while it dragged its bar of silver. If it was the bird I thought it to be it would not futilely contest the weight of the degrading hobble, would not provide a spectacle of its helplessness for its captors. I know this sounds strange, but I believe some animals have pride, and if any did, I knew that this monster was one of them." Outlaw of Gor, page 118 "The tarn is guided by virtue of a throat strap, to which are attached, normally, six leather
streamers, or reins, which are fixed in a metal ring on the forward portion of the saddle. The reins are of different colors, but one learns them by ring position and not color. Each of the reins attaches to a small ring on the throat strap, and the rings are spaced evenly. Accordingly, the mechanics are simple. One draws on the streamer, or rein, which is attached to the ring most nearly approximating the direction in which one wishes to go. For example, to land or lose altitude, one uses the four-strap which exerts pressure on the four-ring, which is located beneath the throat of the tarn. To rise into flight, or gain altitude, one draws on the one-strap, which exerts pressure on the one-ring, which is located on the back of the tarn's
neck. The throat-strap rings, corresponding to the position of the reins on the main saddle ring, are numbered in a clockwise fashion." Tarnsman of Gor, page 55 "During the day I freed my tarn to allow him to feed as he would. They are diurnal hunters and eat only what they catch themselves, usually one of the fleet Gorean antelopes or a wild bull, taken on the run and lifted in the monstrous talons to a high place, where it is torn to pieces and devoured." Tarnsman of Gor, page 73 "The tarns were, of course, racing tarns, a bird in many ways quite different from the common tarns of Gor, or the war tarns. The differences among these tarns are not simply in the training, which does differ, but in size, strength, build and tendencies of the bird. Some tarns are bred primarily for strength and are used in transporting wares by carrying basket. Usually these birds fly more slowly and are less vicious than the war tarns or racing tarns. The war tarns, of course, are bred for both strength and speed, but also for agility, swiftness of reflex, and combative instincts. War tarns, whose talons are shod with steel, tend to be extremely dangerous birds, even more so than other tarns, none of whom could be regarded as fully domesticated. The racing tarn, interestingly, is and extremely light bird; two men can lift one; even its beak is narrower and lighter than the common tarn or war tarn; its wings are commonly broader and shorter than those of other tarns, permitting a swifter take off..." Assassin of Gor, pages 143-144 * Tarsk
Resembles the Earth pig. It has six tusks and is wild (like the wild boar) although there are also domestic tarsks. Used primarily for meat.
"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 * Thalarion
A lizard like animal used in various ways. Thalarions inhabit many parts of Gor; there exist High Thalarions, used by Warriors, they are carnivorous; Broad Thalarions, used as draft animals are not carnivorous; River Thalarions, also used as draft animals to pull the barges on the rivers, though there is one type of river thalarion, called a Mamba, both of which are carnivorous; a predator;Rock Thalarions, a small reptile of the Tahari; and Water Thalarions, which inhabit the marshes, these, too, are carnivorous. Thalarion fat is rendered to make lamp oil.
" The high thalarions, unlike their draft brethren, the slow-moving, four-footed broad thalarions, were carnivorous." Tarnsman of Gor, page 125 "The ringing of the thalarions shod claws on the rode grew louder...He rode the species of thalarion called the high thalarion, which ran on it's two back feet in great bounding strides. Its cavernous mouth was lined with long, gleaming teeth. Its two small, ridiculously disproportionate forelegs dangled absurdly in front of its body." Tarnsman of Gor, page 115 "When the high thalarion moves slowly, its stride is best described as a proud, stalking movement, each great clawed foot striking the earth with a measured rhythm. When urged to speed, however, the high thalarion bounds, in great leaping movements that carry it twenty paces at a time." Tarnsman of Gor, page 125 "Behind them, stretching into the distance, came a long line of broad thalarions, or the four-footed draft monsters of Gor. These beasts, yoked in braces, were drawing mighty wagons, filled with merchandise protected under the lashings of its red rain-canvas." Tarnsman of Gor, page 118 "To my right, some two or three feet under the water, I saw the sudden, rolling yellowish flash of the slatted belly of a water thalarion, turning as it made its swift strike..." Raiders of Gor, page 1 "A huge thalarion, seeing the image on the water, half rose from the marsh, jaws clashing, and then dropped back into the water." Raiders of Gor, page 92 "A broad, low-sided barge began to back toward the pier. It had two large steering oars, manned by bargemen. It was draw by two gigantic, web-footed river thalarion....They were scaled, vast and long-necked. Yet in the water it seemed, for all their bulk, they moved delicately. One dipped its head under the surface and, moments later, the head emerged, dripping, the eyes blinking, a silverish fish struggling in the small, triangular-toothed jaws." Captive of Gor, pages 79-80 * Tumit
Large, flightless, carnivorous birds of the plains.
"...beyond them I saw one of the tumits, a large, flightless bird whose hooked beak, as long as my forearm, attested only too clearly to its gustatory habits; I lifted my shield and grasped the long spear, but it did not turn in my direction; it passed, unaware;..." Nomads of Gor, page 2 "I gathered that the best season for hunting tumits, the large, flightless carnivorous birds of the southern plains was at hand..." Nomads of Gor, page 331 * Ul
A predatory, winged thalarion, pterodactyl-like
"Only one creature in the marshes dares to outline itself against the sky, the predatory Ul, the winged thalarion." Raiders of Gor, page 1 "Also, at night, crossing the bright disks of Gor's three moon, might ocassionally 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, page 26 * Urt
A rodent/rat-like animal that can be quite large or small. Like mice and rats, it is able to live in just about any environment; such as sewers or forests alike.
"It was a giant urt, fat, sleek and white; it bared its three rows of needlelike white teeth at me and squealed in anger; two horns, tusks like flat crescents curved from its jaw; another two horns, similar to the first, modifications of the bony tissue forming the upper ridge of the eye socket, protruded over those gleaming eyes that seemed to feast themselves upon me..." Outlaw of Gor, page 86 "The urt is a loathsome, horned Gorean rodent; some are quite large, the size of wolves or ponies, but most are very small, tiny enough to be held in the palm of one hand." Nomads of Gor, page 125 "I heard one of the giant canal urts twist in the water somewhere beneath me." Raiders of Gor, page 119 "The giant urts, silken and blazing-eyed, living mostly on the garbage in the canals, are not stranger to bodies, both living and dead, found cast into their waters." Raiders of Gor, page 121 "Over her shoulders she had two small, furred animals, hideous forest urts, about the size of cats, and in her left hand she carried four small, green-and-yellow-plumaged birds." Captive of Gor, page 237 "Their catch, returned to the Tesephone, in a cage, covered with canvas, carried on the back of Thurnus, had been six, rather large forest urts, about the size of tiny dogs." Hunters of Gor, page 38 * Vart
A batlike flying rodent, often the size of a small dog. It is blind, and carnivorous.
"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...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
Mountain goat/goat like animal used for milk and meat. Some are domesticated.
"...perhaps after the agile and bellicose Gorean mountain goat, the long haired, spiral horned verr..." Tarnsman of Gor, page 147 "The verr was a mountain goat indigenous to the Voltai. It was a wild, agile, ill-tempered beast, long-haired and spiral-horned. Among the Voltai crags it would be worth one's life to come within twenty yards of one." Priest-Kings of Gor, page 63 "I passed fields that were burning, and burning huts of peasants, the smoking shells of Sa-Tarna granaries, the shattered, slatted coops for vulos, the broken walls of keeps for the small, long-haired domestic verr, less belligerent and sizable than the wild verr of the Voltai ranges." Nomads of Gor, page 10 "Kaiila and verr are found at the oases, but not in great numbers. The herds of these animals are found in the desert. They are kept by nomads, who move them from one area of verr grass to another, or from one water hole to another..." Tribesmen of Gor, page 37 "Behind them came another of their caste, leading two milk verr which he had purchased." Beasts of Gor, page 47 * Vulo
Domesticated pigeonns used for eggs and meat.
"She was a peasant, barefoot, her garment little more than coarse sacking. She had been carrying a wicker basket containing vulos, domesticated pigeons raised for eggs and meat." Nomads of Gor, page 1 "
"Soon, I smelled the frying of vulo eggs in a large, flat pan�" Slave Girl of Gor, page 73 "I smelled roast bosk cooking, and fried vulo...I held the leg of the fried vulo toward one of the girls..." Hunters of Gor, page 34 "...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 * Zadit
A bird of the Tahari. Feeds on the sand flies and other insects that infest the kaiila.
"The zadit is a small, tawny-feathered, sharp-billed bird. It feeds on insects. When sand flies and other insects, emergent after rains, infest kaiila, they frequently light on the animals, and remain for some hours, hunting insects. This relieves the kaiila of the insects but leaves it with numerous small wounds, which are unpleasant and irritating, where the bird had dug insects out of its hide." Tribesmen of Gor, page 152 * Zarlit Fly
Resembles a large dragonfly; and is harmless
"I did see a large, harmless zarlit fly, purple, about two feet long with four translucent wings, spanning about a yard, humming over the surface of the water, then alighting and, on its padlike feet, daintily picking its way across the surface." Raiders of Gor, page 5

Plants of Gor Brak Bush
Branches of this plant are nailed over doors during the Waiting Hand to discourage bad luck from entering the house in the New Year.
"Almost all doors, including that of the House of Cernus, had nailed to them some branches of the Brak Bush, the leaves of which, when chewed, have a purgative effect. It is thought that...the branches of the Brak Bush discourage entry of bad luck into the houses of the citizens." Assassin of Gor, page 211 * Dina
A small, multiple petaled flower resembling the rose; sometimes called the slave flower.
"...my own brand was the 'dina', the dina is a small, lovely, multiply petaled flower, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones of Gor, in its budding, though in few other ways, it resembles a rose; it is an exotic, alien flower; it is also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequently, as the slave flower..." Slave Girl of Gor, page 61 "But, perhaps the dina is spoken of as the slave flower merely because, in the north, it is, though delicate and beautiful, a reasonably common, unimportant flower; it is also easily plucked, being defenseless, and can easily be crushed, overwhelmed and, if one wishes, discarded." Slave Girl of Gor, page 62 * Flaminium
A flower; scarlet, with five petals.
"There was a shallow bowl of flowers, scarlet, large-budded, five-petaled flaminiums, on the small, low table between us." Hunters of Gor, page 154 * Flower Trees
"And so we sat with our backs against the flower tree in the House of Saphrar, merchant of Turia. I looked at the lovely, dangling loops of interwoven blossoms which hung from the curved branches of the tree. I knew that the clusters of flowers which; cluster upon cluster, graced those linear, hanging stems, would each be a bouquet in itself, for the trees are so bred that the clustered flowers emerge in subtle, delicate patterns of shades and hues." Nomads of Gor, page 217 * Ka-la-na Trees
Yellow trees that bear a red fruit from which wine is made. The wood is used in ship building and in making the long peasant bows.
"The Ka-la-na thicket was yellow in the distance..." Captive of Gor, page 250 "...a small bottle of Ka-la-na wine, in a wicker basket...I had never tasted so rich and delicate a wine on Earth, and yet here, on this world, it costs only a copper tarn disk and was so cheap, and plentiful, that it might be given even to a female slave...It was the first Gorean fermented beverage which I had tasted. It is said that Ka-la-na has an unusual effect on a female." Captive of Gor, page 114 "Ho-Hak reached down and unwrapped the leather from the yellow bow of supple Ka-la-na." Raiders of Gor, page 19 "Besides several of the flower trees there were also some Ka-la-na trees, or the yellow wine trees of Gor...." Nomads of Gor, page 217 * Kanda
"The roots of the kanda plant, which grows largely in desert regions on Gor, are extremely toxic, but, surprisingly, the rolled leaves of this plant, which are relatively innocuous, are formed into strings and, chewed or sucked, are much favored by many Goreans, particularly in the southern hemisphere, where leaf is more abundant." Nomads of Gor, page 43 * Katch
"...a foliated leaf vegetable called Katch..." Tribesmen of Gor, page 37 * Kes
One of the main ingredients in sullage.
"The principal ingredients of Sullage are the golden Sul, �the curled, red, ovate leaves of the Tur-Pah, a tree parasite, cultivated in host orchards of Tur trees and the salty, blue secondary roots of the Kes shrub, a small, deeply rooted plant which grows best in sandy soil." Priest Kings of Gor, page 45 * Leech Plant
Attaches fanglike hollow thorns into the victim in order to suck his blood, which nourishes the plant.
"Once i shouted in pain. Two fangs had struck into my calf. An, ost I thought! But the fangs held fast, and I heard the popping, sucking sound of the bladderlike seed pods of a leech plant, as they expanded and contracted like small ugly lungs....The leech plant strikes like a cobra and fastens two hollow thorns into its victim. The chemical responses of the bladderlike pods produce a mechanical pumping action, and the blood is sucked into the plant to nourish it." Outlaw of Gor, page 33 * Needle Tree
Evergreens from the northern forests, used in ship building
"...and the needle trees, the evergreens, for masts and spars, and cabin and deck plankings." Raiders of Gor, page 141 * Rence
Grown in the marshes. Used for food, fuel, wooden utensils, cloth, and paper.
"The plant has many uses besides serving as a raw product in the manufacture of rence paper�from the stem the rence growers can make reed boats, sails, mats, cords and a kind of fibrous cloth; further its pith is edible�" Raiders of Gor, page 7 "Then, from within the collar, he drew forth a thin, folded piece of paper, rence paper made from the fibers of the rence plant, a tall, long-stalked leafy plant which grows predominately in the delta of the Vosk." Nomads of Gor, page 49 "In the morning, before dawn, she had placed in my mouth a handful of rence paste." Raiders of Gor, page 28 "In a moment the woman had returned with a double handful of wet rence paste. When fried on flat stones it makes a kind of cake, often sprinkled with rence seeds." Raiders of Gor, page 25 "I had carried about bowls of cut, fried fish, and wooden trays of roasted tarsk meat, and roasted gants, threaded on sticks, and rence cakes and porridges, and gourd flagons, many times replenished, of rence beer." Raiders Gor, page 44 "Before the feast I had helped the women, cleaning fish and dressing marsh gants, and then, later, turning spits for the roasted tarsks, roasted over rence-root fires, kept on metal pans, elevated above the rence of the islands by metal racks, themselves resting on larger pans." Raiders of Gor, page 44 * Rep
A plant grown mainly for cloth. Seems to be cotton-like.
"...for example, rep-cloth....Some rep is grown, for cloth..." Tribesmen of Gor, page 37 "Rep is a whitish fibrous matter found in the seed pods of a small, reddish, woody bush, commercially grown in several areas, but particularly below Ar and above the equator; the cheap rep-cloth is woven in mills, commonly, in various cities; it takes dyes well and, being cheap and strong, is popular, particularly among the lower castes." Raiders of Gor, pages 10-11 * Sa-Tarna
The yellow grain, staple crop of Gor. Used in making the yellow Sa-Tarna bread and in the brewing of Pagar-Sa-Tarna (Paga)
"Economically, the base of the Gorean life was the free peasant, which was perhaps the lowest but undoubtedly the most fundamental caste, and the staple crop was a yellow grain called Sa-Tarna, or Life-Daughter." Tarnsman of Gor, page 43 "I thought of the yellow Gorean bread, baked in the shape of round, flat loaves, fresh and hot;�" Outlaw of Gor, page 76 * Talendar
The yellow Gorean flower associated with beauty and passion.
"...I saw of set of ridges, lofty and steep, rearing out of a broad, yellow meadow of talendars, a delicate, yellow-petaled flower, often woven into garlands by Gorean maidens. Outlaw of Gor, page 131 "The talendar is a flower which, in the Gorean mind, is associated with beauty and passion. Free Companions, on the Feast of their Free Companionship, commonly wear a garland of talendars. Sometimes slave girls, having been subdued, but fearing to speak, will fix talendars in their hair, that their master may know that they have at last surrendered themselves to him as helpless love slaves." Raiders of Gor, pages 216-217 * Tem-wood
A tree which produces a black wood, used in ship building.
"...Tem-wood for rudders and oars..." Raiders of Gor, page 141 "...there was also, at one side of the garden, against the far wall, a grove of tem-wood, linear, black, supple..." Nomads of Gor, page 217 * Tospit
A small, peachlike fruit, about the size of a plum, it is bitter, but edible.
"...I raced past a wooden wand fixed in the earth, on top of which was placed a dried tospit, a small, wrinkled, yellowish-white, peachlike fruit, about the size of a plum, which grows on the tospit bush, patches of which are indigenous to the drier valleys of the western Cartius. They are bitter but edible." Nomads of Gor, page 59

Tur
A tree, said to be the inspiration for the name of the city of Turia. Provides wood for ship building and the host of the parasite, Tur-Pah, one of the ingredients of sullage.
"...there was one large trunked, reddish Tur tree, about which curled it's assemblage of Tur-Pah, a vinelike tree parasite with curled scarlet, ovate leaves, rather lovely to look upon; the leaves of the Tur-Pah incidentally are edible and figure in certain Gorean dishes; such as sullage, a kind of soup; long ago, I had heard, a Tur tree was found on the prairie, near a spring, planted perhaps long before by someone who passed by; it was from that Tur tree that the city of Turia took its name;..."

Nomads of Gor, page 217 "Tur wood is used for galleys and frames, and beams and clamps and posts, and for hull planking..." Raiders of Gor, page 141 * Veminium
There are two types of vemimium; the bluish flower found on the Thentis range, and the purplish Desert Veminium.
"The atmosphere of the pool was further charged with the fragrance of Veminium, a kind of bluish wildflower commonly found on the lower slopes of the Thentis range;..." Assassin of Gor, page 163 "The petals of veminium, the 'Desert Veminium,' purplish, as opposed to the 'Thentis Veminium,' bluish, which flower grows at the edge of the Tahari, gathered in a shallow baskets and carried to a still, are boiled in water. The vapor which boils off is condensed into oil. This oil is used to perfume water. This water is not drunk but is used in middle and upper-class homes to rinse the eating hand, before and after the evening meal." Tribesmen of Gor, pages 50-51