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| 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. Lart, snow: This is a four-legged mammal whose winter fur is snowy white. It has two stomachs and the food in its second stomach can be held almost indefinitely. It hunts in the sun, eating bird's eggs and leems. It is about ten inches high and weighs eight to twelve pounds. A good pelt could sell in Ar for maybe half a silver tarsk. Leem: This is a small arctic rodent, five to ten ounces in weight. It hibernates in the winter and their summer coats are brown. Monkeys: Several varieties of monkeys lives in the rainforest such as the Guernon monkeys , tarsiers and the nocturnal jit monkeys. Panther: There are several varieties of these cats. They include jungle panthers, yellow panthers, and forest panthers. The forest panther is a proud beast that does not care to be distracted when it is hunting. They hunt largely at night but are not invariably nocturnal. They will hunt when hungry or irritable. Panthers will usually only attack men if they are provoked or if no other prey is available. Panthers are able to climb but they normally take a hunting scent from the ground. Porcupine: A long-tailed variety lives in the rainforests. Quala: This is a small, three-toed mammal. It is dun colored with a stiff brushy mane of black hair. It travels in a scampering flock. The plural form for them is qualae. Slee: This is a rodent of the rainforests. Sleen: There are several varieties of this six-legged, long bodied carnivorous mammal. It is almost like a snake. Some can get as big as twenty feet long and up to twelve to fourteen hundred pounds. They have two rows of teeth in a wide and triangular head. Their paws have six claws. They smell like a weasel or ferret but only stronger. Sleens are very dirty animals. It is an efficient, tireless, almost infallible hunter. It is capable of pursuing a scent, days old, for hundreds of pasangs. Sleens in the wild are burrowing and nocturnal. They do not climb. Their preferred prey is the tabuk. They mate once a year in the spring. Their mating ritual is interesting. If a female has never mated before, she will flee and fight a male sleen. The male must finally take her by the throat and, belly to belly, mate with her. After mating once, a female never needs to be forced again. The mating season is usually confined to the spring. Their gestation period is six months and there are usually four young born. The young are commonly white furred and darken by the next spring. Young sleen are about eight feet long and adults are nineteen to twenty feet long. A young sleen's attack is noisy, a whistling rush, a clumsy squealing charge. An adult sleen sometimes makes kills swiftly and silently. There is also a hunting frenzy underwent by some sleen that is a function in part of the secretions of certain glands. Most domestic sleen are bred as it is hard to tame a wild one and a wild sleen could revert. If young sleen are taken from their mother within the first two months of their life, there is a good chance they can be tamed. It may still revert though, especially in the spring, during the mating period. The specific verbal signals between a master and his trained sleen are private. Verbality is important as a sleen on the hunt may not look at his master. Sleen are used for herding verr and bosk, tracking tabuk and slaves, guarding and patrolling, and many other activities. In Thentis, sleen sniff out the smuggling of black wine beans. Assassins even sometimes use them. The Gray sleen is the best tracker. The forest sleen is large, and commonly either brown or black. Prairie sleen are smaller than forest sleen, usually only seven feet in length. They are domesticated as herd sleen and used as shepherds and sentries by the Wagon People. Aquatic sleen, or sea sleens, are common in the north. There are four varieties of sea sleen in the north including the black sleen, brown sleen, tusked sleen, and flat-nosed sleen. Many migrate though some remain largely dormant in the winter. Their principal prey are parsits and they follow their migrations. A medium-sized adult sea sleen is about eight feet long and weighs 300 to 400 pounds. There is a white snow sleen in the north as well. Sleen hunters, for luck when they kill one, eat its heart. The heart of the mountain larl brings the most luck. There are no sleen in the rainforests. The sleen is considered Gor's most perfect hunter. |