Pernese Flora and Fauna

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Flora

Native
Fellis trees grow in the north and the south of Pern. A special juice can be made from fellis trees, which is used as a soporific drug.

Numbweed is a bush that grows in large clumps. The plant is used to make a gel that deadens the pain of small wounds completely, and dulls large wounds. The downside is that it takes three days to make numbweed, and this is a very smelly process.

Needlethorns are bushes that, as their name suggests, have sharp thorns. These thorns are used as needles in medicine. Needlethorns grow in lush, tropical rainforests.

Klah trees are an important part of the pernese lifestyle. The bark of the klah tree can be ground to make a drink, described by the EEC team as like coffee, with a faint flavour of cinnamon and with an aftertaste of chocolate.

The redfruit tree is a tree that has a delicious red fruit, which is good for quenching thirst.

Withies are an aquatic reed found in the rivers of the Northern Continent.

Dragon's tongue produces a gel similar to aloe.

Redwort is another herb used for healing. It has a tendency to stain the hands.

Introduced

Most of the plants introduced by Pernese colonists are providers of food, fiber or medicine. Most grains, vegetable crops, and fruit trees were imported to Pern, as were a wide variety of herbs and fiber plants such as flax and cotton. Notably, the Pernese lack cocoa and coffee plants.

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Fauna

Native
Tunnel snakes are reptilian vermin that infest Pern. Unlike Terran serpents tunnel snakes posess six limbs which some use to burrow and dig. Others are adapated to survive an amphibious life, with either webbed feet or paddles. Only a few species of tunnel snakes are edible, as the colonists learned early on. Some species also have a venomous bite, that could prove fatal if left untreated. They were renowned for vastly depleting supplies, and could eat practically anything.

Wherries are large avian creatures distantly related to the tunnel snake. Their middle set of limbs are large leathery wings. Unlike Terran birds the Wherry is covered in a soft fur like down. Wherries are used as food stock, and their fatty flesh will often be an indication of where it fed, picking up a fishy taste when it feeds by the sea, and a nutty taste when it has feed on grains from the plains. They were named for their resemblance to Wherries, a form of flat-bottomed barge used on Earth, by the EEC survey team. It is unclear in the books if there are different species of wherries.

A harmless flying insect, VTOLs were named by the survey party for their ability to perform vertical take off and landings.

Fire lizards were 4-legged and 2-winged reptiles, fire-lizards, wherries and tunnel snakes all share the same common ancestor. They are divided into five colours, as are the dragons: Gold, Bronze, Brown, Blue, and Green. The Golds (or Queens) possess greater intelligence than the other colours, and unlike the foolish greens, will lay their eggs safely above the tideline of the beaches where they tend to live. Fire lizards can, like dragons, be Impressed by humans at hatching, but unlike dragons, those that don't Impress stay wild and don't go between. Fire-lizards are telepathic and communicate with their owners, though only through images, unlike dragons, who can communicate verbally as well. Fire-lizards that were treated with the mentasynth enhancements by Bay Harkenon tended to be in general smarter and more capable of communicating with their owners.

Pern was also host to a vast variety of fish, including redfin, packtail, and bordo (the northern variety of packtail). It was theorised by the colonists that the lack of diversity of land creatures, and the massive variety of sea life, were both a direct effect of Thread. A number of fishholds were established to take advantage of this. Dolphins also feasted on the many species.

Crawlie - A native lizardlike creature similar to the Terran gecko; they have six legs with bulbous toes adapted for sticking to sheer walls and ceilings, and limited color- changing ability. They mainly eat insects, capturing them with sticky tongues. They live almost exclusively in tropical areas and can become pests if they grow too numerous, though generally they are kept in check by various breeds of tunnelsnakes and other predators.

Darters - Small wherries that feed on insects and crawlers, darters of one form or another are familiar to just about everyone on Pern as they are extremely common, often brightly colored animals that often live close to human settlements. Their numbers have been somewhat dented in recent Turns by the spread of firelizards, which consider darters to be the right size for hunting; they are also taken by cats and tunnelsnakes. Some species are valued for their intricate songs and are kept as cage pets.

Crawler - biting six-legged pests native to Pern; web builders.

Introduced
A catch all term used to discribe bovine, porcine, and sheep and goat stock, Herdbeasts are used for their meat, milk and hides much like they are on Earth and the other colonies.

Descended from horses, the Pernese Runnerbeast is as diverse in its breeding as its forefathers, ranging from fast sprinters to sturdy draft beasts used to haul trader wagons. They were used by the Runner Craft to carry messages from holders who did not have easy access to Drumheights or Weyrs.

Another catch all term for any beast that us used to pull a cart or other form of serious labor. Draybeast covers Oxen, mules, and possibly llamas.

25 Bottle-nosed Dolphins, who had been given mentasynth enhancements, volunteered to assist in the mapping of Pern's large oceans. They were capable of speaking in English to the Pernese. During the First and Ninth Passes they were accompanied by human companions, or Dolphineers.

Recommended reading: www.angelfire.com/planet/pernrpg/guides/Animals.html

Sources: wikipedia, pern.wikia.com, Kadanzer Weyr's fauna guide.