Umbagollian Fauna. This alphabetical list of Umbagollian animals stretches over two pages. This is page one, which runs from A-K. For the second part of the list, go to page 2: M-Z The Barrel-Plated, Spiny-Tongued Snoog (a truly disgusting example). discovered and described by Piper Flutist. Occurrence Found in Gum Gooloo Gum Jublet(or perhaps this was just a rude coincidence), it was a horrible and frightening experience for my first visit. Appearance Takes on the appearance of a large, beautiful cho-co flower. However, when one bends to smell it, it leaps up onto the face and attaches itself to one's nose. It has a concave, ugly face, and a hole for a mouth. It has a long, wrinkled, spiny tongue in the color of what can only be described as diarrhea-brown. The spines have the sticking power of exceedingly sticky sap, and they sting too. Its exoskeleton is plated, and shimmers in a very faint pinkish-green manner. When in direct light, such as the sun or moons, it fades to a grayish-silver. It is the size of a medium-sized, fat chipmunk. I believe it is blind and searches by scent only, for it does not respond to gestures or movement. It's stench is misleading--spun sugar. As soon as it attaches itself to you, it begins to emit a grainy sort of slime, which can only be removed by vigorously rubbing sand on your face. Sound A shrill, exultant "CHIIR-UP?!!" that seems more like an inquiry than a cry of victory. When upset, it gurgles menacingly. Feeding Either sweat, blood, or flesh, I can't be quite sure. It seems to be lured by the scent of sugar or honey, both of which I had been eating previously. Mating Unknown, thought by residents to be similar to the cho-co flower(wet and live). The eggs appear to be flower seeds, ranging from pale blue to yellow. This particular type, however, was a mutate, and seemed to be looking for a nesting ground in MY NOSE! Furthermore Please exterminate this beastly addition! "They came, they sat, and they conquered. A 'gift' came from Jail, and what was thought to be flower seeds were furthermore planted in private gardens around the city. Apparently they were Snoog eggs. They have recently been contained to the most liberal area of the city, where they are trained as children's pets." (A Citizen, Gum Gooloo) I killed this one by blowing a long, flat note into its "ear", whereupon it exploded into a mass of plates, the same grainy goo, and a few forlorn pink petals. After the incident, I noticed that my nose seemed to be reacting in a bad way, and had to seek medical attention straightway. Apparently the natural cure is easy to find--IN THE BATHWATER OCEAN! And it cost me a great deal, plus a bundle for the magical vaccine(which I am quite grateful for). Now that I look NORMAL again, and am safely in another section of the city, I BEG OF YOU! Exterminate! The Brown Thumba (extract from GUANO junior guide to nature, chapter 4: the rivers. This extract was supplied by Lucius Ambulantis.) ….another shadow is emerging from the depths of the river. Is it a group of shadowcasters? Then a brown body jumps up out of the water, and emerges back into it. Did you see the brown colour, the square fin on its back and the long snout? This is a brown Thumba fish. Look, there is another one, and a third one, and even more! They like to swim in small groups of up to ten members. The largest can be up to a meter tall, from snout to tail. Why are they jumping out and in the water? They invite you to play with them. They like playing, just as children do. However, you better decline their invitation, unless you're a very good swimmer. Not because they want to eat you, oh no, they only eat fish. No, it's because they think everyone can swim as good as they do, and everyone can live underwater like a fish. So if you lack the ability to swim underwater for about an hour, you better not go and swim with them. They also like to play with boats. They bump onto the bottom, until the boat turns upside down. It is a game for them: how fast can we turn over a boat? When they succeed you can hear them laugh when you listen carefully: you can hear a very high ghee, ghee, ghee. Do you still have one of the fish you caught? Then throw one high into the river. You see? They jump out of the water and snatch it right out of the air. Most of the time they're friendly, although a little rough. But don't try to take one of their eggs from the sandy river bottom. They protect them with their life, so the whole group will attack you. Oh, now you've driven them away? "Driven them away?", you think, "I didn't do anything". Well, that's the reason. They got bored of a person just watching… Bushcat. described by Casandra Fireblade and Trevon Andarosel. Occurrence Bushcats live all over the temperate areas of Umbagollah. Appearance The bushcat is about as long as a ferret and has no tail. It has brown fur. It has ears like a cat and large black eyes. Its nose is black and so are its tiny paws. Its paws have tiny curved sickles for claws. Sound Hissing when angry; mewing, purring and squeaking at other times. Feeding Bushcats eat mainly small mammals, occasionally lizards, insects and spiders. They lurk in the bushes, and then jump upon their prey. They like to play, also with their food. They like to bite off one or more legs and let the victim crawl around for a while, before they eat it. This seems cruel to us, but to them it is quite normal. By disabling their prey, they can learn their kittens easily how to hunt. Mating Adult cats live in couples, each couple in their own territory. The couples stay their whole life together. The female gives birth to two-four kittens every two years. After a year, they have to live on thier own. The aldults softly bite them in their tails, until they get so annoyed that they leave. Young cats often stay together in small groups, until they have formed a couple and go their own way Furthermore Bushcats are very curious and rambunctious. They are extremely playful and friendly Carnivorous hippopotomus. Occurrence All areas of the Fly River Appearance A deep green hippopotomus-shaped creature. Sound None. These hippopotomi are mute. Feeding Eats any meat it can find. Prefers live food and will only eat carrion if desperate. Mating Violent and frequent, occurring most often when the weather is warm. A successful mating results in the birth of a single calf which is cared for by both parents for the duration of a year. The near-adult calf is then expected to swim away and establish its own feeding ground. Furthermore Carnivorous hippopotomi are among the most dangerous animals in Umbagollah. Diggle-Gazoomp. Occurrence The northernmost area of the Falling Hills. Appearance A small hairy creature with a naked tail. The diggle's flesh and skin has a glasslike translucency. It is usually spotted by someone who sees the tail glittering in the sun and mistakes it for a bottle or a dropped pair of spectacles. A true diggle has two amber rings around its tail. Sound A deep burp. Feeding Eats seeds, grass and beetles. Mating A mystery. Furthermore The diggle-gazoomp is very rare. There have only been two reported sightings in the past five years. The most recent came from Aurius Crift. It can be distinguished from its even rarer cousin, the diggle-gazoompf, by a quick look at its tail. A gazoompf will have three rings instead of the gazoomp's two. Eater of Pencils.(Encilpae Munchalotus) described by Talulah Cut-Glass. Occurence Throughout Umbagollah (but see 'Furthermore.) Appearance An itty bitty (an average of three inches tall, two inches long) elephant-like thing with a short, wide trunk. That's its mouth and nose. It has big green eyes, very cute, soft purple fur, a cat's tail, and extra big ears, with which it flies. Sound Says "gnarf" in 2.3 different languages. Feeding Munches pencils through its trunk. Mating Unknown. Furthermore: It's incredibly rare, and has so far only been spotted ten times throughout Umbagollah. Flitz. described by Naimah Seeress Myst. Occurence Kadmudia Gouache Appearance A brass-coloured bud speckled with coral. Sound An occasional "Sllllarp." or the sound of your grandmother going "tsk, tsk." Feeding Insects and the skin right off of a finger of anyone who's curious enough to approach. Mating They wiggle under the deep mud of the mudflats and how exactly they perform the mating process is unknown. However, a few days after a patch of bright topaz appears then they hatch into what is known as Flitz. Furthermore: Many people wonder exactly how the Flitz feeds. A slender, pink tongue slips out of the bud and slithers about until it finds something tasty. Other times, it waits for an intrigued child to poke at it and whips out its tongue to suck the skin right off their finger. Horrid, really, it is, but one must do what one must do to survive. The Flyish Shadowcaster. described by Trevon Andarosel. Occurrence Most of the year they live in the upstream part of the Fly River. Once a year they travel to the woody riverbanks of the downstream Fly, for mating (see mating). They also have been reported in the East Drosophila. Appearance The shadowcaster is a small, featureless, silvry fish which lives in the upstream part of the fly river. The fish is excellent food, not only for humans, so it has developed an unique means of survival: somehow it manages to cast a shadow, seeming much larger than itself, in the direction of the predator. Sometimes they can be seen alone, but mostly swim in small groups Sound An occasional "blub blub" Feeding Small insects and other small animals that live in the water or on its surface. Mating Once a year, they travel in groups to that part of the Fly that flows through the forest. On their journey they're trying to attract the attention of the other sex by casting as large a shadow as possible. It is not known yet how they can distinguish a male and a female congener. The Shadowcasters lay their eggs under the treetrunks in the shallow riverbanks, then they make their way upstream again. Furthermore When Shadowcasters swim in groups, they can mutually amplify their shadows. In this way, they can shape their shadows into almost everything. So when you see the shadow of a three-horned monster with sharp claws, it is most certainly a group of shadow casters, but be careful: it can be something else... Forgotten Cuniform Albatross. Occurrence These birds are usually found on the southern coastline and over the Sea of Hum. Appearance A broad-chested bird with a wingspan of approximately five feet. The bird's body is four feet long from head to tail. The belly and the underside of the wings are snow-white while the back is grey-blue. The beak is white and hooked slightly at the end. Sound A long low croak while on land, and a thin shriek while over the sea. Feeding These birds are meat-eaters. They will catch fish from the sea or pick it off the decks of fishing boats. Mating Every summer the Albatross community gathers on Aorist Island to make nests from pebbles and lay its eggs. Aorist is the birds' only nesting site. Furthermore The birds have a raised pattern winding around their legs and feet. These marks look very much like a form of writing. Fuzzie-Wuzzies. discovered and described by Naimah Seeress Myst. Occurrence Fuzzie Wuzzies live in The Wandering Forest. They like shady spots, but also enjoy the sun. Appearance Fuzzy wuzzies are pure white. They can only be other colors if painted, which they do not like. Each animal usually has the same color eyes as its mother. The females have blue or violet or sometimes even lavendar eyes, although this is very rare. Most of the males have brown or green or grey eyes. When they are first born they usually have silver eyes. Sound They mew and sometimes meow softly like kittens. Feeding They eat mostly leaves, roots and berries. Their favorites are rosemary leaves and strawberries with cherryblossom tree roots. Mating They mate secretly, they like privacy. They lay small eggs that range from pale blue, lavendar, silver and sometimes golden. The eggs are as small as pebbles and seem to shimmer slightly. Furthermore Fuzzie Wuzzies live in bushes, mostly berry bushes so they will have a good supply of food, usually near a small stream or brook. They like anyone they meet and only bite when treated badly. Glaring Ants. Occurrence The northern part of the North-West Flatlands. They are unknown on the eastern side of the Fly River. Appearance Upon first meeting a Glaring Ant, the average person will imagine that they have seen nothing more exciting than a common Small Black Ant. However, if the person waits for a few moments they will begin to feel a strange pressure on their consciousness as if someone is spying on them. This someone is the Glaring Ant. The origin of this powerful stare is a mystery; the Glaring Ant's eyes are no larger than, and ostensibly no different to, those of the Small Black Ant. We can only say that it happens, and that it is true. Sound None audible to our ears. Feeding Omnivorous foragers. Mating Every second full moon, the Glaring Ants enter into a mating frenzy. Copulation is indiscriminate and the young are born four weeks later. Furthermore "We have not discovered the psychological motivation behind their antish glare. I believe that they have a subconscious communal inferiority complex which can only be relieved by scaring the bejesus out of larger creatures." (From The psychology of everything smaller than a cat, by Dr. H. Hatstand.) The Umbagollian Gnawbird (extracted from the animals' section of Thundercloud's booklet of grey. Submitted by Lucius Ambulantis.) There aren't many animals that are truly grey. Right, some look grey, some live also in a grey environment, but most aren't grey from the inside, they don't think grey, they don't act grey. As I mentioned before, true greydom can't be achieved easily, and certainly not by animals. We have the Umbagollian gnawbird, for example. It looks grey, even twice as grey, since it contains two different shades of grey (this distinguishes from its foreign counterpart, so I have heard. The Foresian gnawbird contains three shades of grey). It lives in a grey environment, or at least an environment that gets most close to that: the forest of Ex. Its sound, does it sing grey? Some say that sound doesn't have a color. Don't listen to them, those people have a lack of dedication. There is a true grey sound, but it is not produced by the gnawbird. Experts say it sings the ancient songs of the trees, while gnawing on a piece of wood. How can that ever be grey? It is not known for sure what it eats. The most common opinion is that it eats the wood it is gnawing on. Grey wood, all right. But his lack of true greydom can be seen at its eggs. They are white, with black spickles. White, the colour that blinds everything, including the true gray, and the all-devouring black. And not just one of them, no four! Four of this white and black eggs! That really makes an animal ungrey. Gooloo-burra. described by Trevon Andarosel. Appearance This is a large black bird (somewhat smaller than a crow) with a blue spot on his head and a big red stripe on his tail. Occurrence The province of Gum Gooloo. They have never been seen in the north. Sound The sound is a long and very loud gooloo gooloo gooloo (that's why it's called the gooloo-burra). Feeding Worms, snails, bread and everything else that could probably be edible. Mating Gooloo-burras pair up for life. Every spring the female lays two to six eggs in a nest hidden inside the bole of a tree. Furthermore Gooloo-burras tend to avoid forests. Huggable Tortilla (Ortillatae Huggmuchus) described by Talulah Cut-Glass. Appearance A large, tortilla-colored thing shaped like a burrito. Occurrence Throughout the country. Sound Huggables can say "Hug me!" in several different languages. Feeding Feeds on termites and warm hugs. Mating Unknown, but Huggables breed at an incredibly slow rate Furthermore Huggables are very ... well, huggable, and they make nice pets. They gets along with all animals and have no natural enemies, because it's easier and nicer to hug them instead of eat them. They don't taste very good. They can get reasonably angry at you if you tell them they're not huggable, which is the ultimate insult to a Huggable Tortilla. this danger is easily erased by just hugging them and apologizing. (the idea was created by my little brother and his best friend, and he gave permission to use it.) oh yeah, and they hop because they haven't any legs. how it sees or eats is unknown, because it hasn't any apparent eyes or mouth. Long-leggity Beastie Beasties have their own page. Lunch-Curdling Floater Supplied by Beresford Griggs. The descriptive prose is from Herb Calderon-Bubblingham’s vade-mecum of Outlands Flora and Fauna: The Lunch-Curdling Floater (Corpsii Dilectus) is (quietly confides the author) an entirely different kettle-of-fish. Disgusting, grotesque, smelly, lethargic, yet driven by an insatiable appetite. To all intents and purposes the floater is a bloated, boggle-eyed, foetid corpse, lifelessly riding the swell just offshore, conveniently beyond reach of grappling poles. Lurking malevolently in its favored element, it awaits the propitious approach of careless prey – fish, birds, reptiles, humans, it doesn’t matter, anything will do - the curious, the happenstance carrion-feeder, the necrologically-inclined, the bumblingly-shortsighted – then, whipping into action, it snaps distensible intestines around its prey, however large, and injects a paralyzing digestive alkaloid into the victim. It then settles low and comfortable into the buoyant kelp to savor and enjoy its meal at leisure. Many unexplained disappearances are attributed to this grisly abomination of evolution, as are the many rotting fragments of animal anatomy often found littering rocks and pools behind the retreating tide. Fortunately, Corpsii Dilectus is undescriminatingly canibalistic too, so any tendency to increase is self-correcting. Go to Page 2.