Situated near the southern tropic line, /who/ has a largely temperate climate. Most of the flora and fauna to be found in the region reflect this, with non-domesticated animals living in the forests that speckle the country.
The following is a compilation of some of /who/'s more unique animals. Many of them are domesticated, though there are some that remain untamed.



Toehound (Canis Animol)

Arguably the most impressive trait of the toehound is its intelligence. Members of this species have learned to operate Hooman-made devices such as music boxes and understand specific and complex commands. This aspect of toehounds has led to them becoming a very popular pet in /who/.

Toehounds are typically adopted by aging or weak-bodied Hoojisan whose Hooties have entered the workforce after earning their first feather. They help to fill the void by both serving as a companion while the rest of the family is away and generally helping them around the house. Toehounds are quick learners and they are easily able to move chairs (wheeled or otherwise) and similar-sized furniture and be able to tell the difference between various kitchen utensils and fetch whichever one the Hoojisan asks for. Many Hooman households have doors whose knobs can be gripped and turned by a hound to make it easier for them to get around, but most of these do not give the restroom doors the same type of knob for the sake of privacy. External doors also refrain from this type of knob, this time for safety reasons.

You see, toehounds absolutely detest the smell of tar. The reason isn't entirely known, but tar specifically is hated by them to the point where being able to smell a boiling cauldron makes them go into a bit of a frenzy. It is for this reason that houses in /who/ almost always have spacious yards enclosed by fences too deep for the hounds to quickly dig beneath and too tall for them to jump or climb over. All Hoomans who own toehounds are legally expected to be aware of any execution notices so that they can put their hounds out in the yard when it happens to avoid needless harm to individuals or damage to furniture (if the house lacks such a yard, one of the owners is expected to take the toehound beyond the town's ordinance for the duration). The one exception to this practice is Canashi, a place that gets the critters in on the fun. In this town, a toehound gets locked in a fryer cell with the bound criminal so that the criminal will have some company while a cauldron of tar is heated to the boiling point just outside the window.

Toehounds' violent desperation to get away from boiling tar (and tar in general) is so well known that it's a bit of an urban legend that they got their name from one of them biting off a Femhooman's foot in a tar-induced fit of madness. Historians and animal experts both doubt the veracity of this tale and posit that the name came from their method of herding livestock.

Although seen by the urban population as pets who are very helpful around the house but need their walkies to avoid getting noisy and nippy, toehounds' original use is as shepherds. Though smaller than most sheepdogs, they prove themselves to be effective at herding cattle and other livestock by nipping at their heels and making loud barks. These barks also help alert ranchers of any predators or other intruders. Toehounds certainly can't fend off wolves or owlbears, but you can be certain they'll be able to let their owners on the other side of the ranch know something is horribly wrong. The farm environment is also very helpful in that it lets them blow off their energy. Toehounds are quite active beasts and ones kept as pets can get a bit restless if they don't get the chance to go on walks.

Non-Hoomans not familiar with their classification are likely curious as to whether toehounds are dogs or their own species. This was actually the topic of frequent debate during the days of the early and middle Owl Republic before an experiment to crossbreed them with dogs resulted in sterile litters. This practice is generally frowned upon as toehounds have engraved themselves in the public consciousness as the informal "national land mammal" of /who/.


Pegasus (Equus Pteryga)

Unlike other animals commonly found in /who/, pegasi were not endemic to the land. Originally inhabiting the rolling hills of the Holo Empire where they used wing-assisted incline running to run up the slopes and evade predation with minimal effort, pegasi were brought to what would become the Owl Republic by Hoomans in their migration alongside more mundane animals such as oxen and livestock to help settle and cultivate the land as well as providing a trustworthy food source in the days of Early Settlement before the safety of the local flora and fauna were fully known.

Unlike the other animals, pegasi were not brought for their use as draft animals or for their meat. Pegasi were a good deal leaner than their wingless cousins, making them poorly suited to driving plows or pulling wagons. In fact, they couldn't carry adult riders if they were to fly! Their large wings made keeping them around more bothersome, as they had to wear blankets that could be fastened or tied around their waists to keep them from flying away when left alone outside of any stables.

Instead, pegasi were used to send correspondence between burgeoning cities for the entirety of the first Age (E.S.) and a good portion of the second (O.R.), though the rise of ticker-lines to instantly send messages miles away rendered them obsolete in the increasing number of locations that had them. They were occasionally used to deliver small parcels, but this was always considered much more niche and never saw much use even among those who wanted to keep the pegasus delivery tradition alive. Some sought to weaponize this by having Hooties cling onto the backs of low-flying pegasi and drop or throw explosives down onto hostile armies. There were even claims that vials of pale-faced pufferfish toxin were dropped via this method in wars involving Hoomans as a way to spread chaos and infighting, but the Owl Republic has consistently responded to these allegations by asserting that it was against the law to add Pale-faced Pufferfish toxin to any food or drink without the consent of the one eating/drinking the dish in question.

Hoomans in the later years of the Owl Republic eventually found a use for pegasi in sports. Pegasus racing became a popular event that quite a few Hoomans bet on, even with the stigma against the latter practice. In these events, pegasi went through unhooted steeplechases of sorts, leaping across chasms and over hurdles and other obstacles across a track while harnessed or blanketed to prevent them from using their wings to aid them. There were concerns that pegasus races should be regulated in some way, but legislation never got too far past setting limits on what could be wagered. Though not as popular today due to the inert status of ticker-lines making the ages-old role of messenger pegasi relevant once more, some pegasus-heavy communities such as Satowlno keep the races going as a way to draw in Hoomans from other locales.

Currently, pegasi are very common in /who/ for their role as messengers with many towns having a herd dedicated to that purpose. There is a good deal of oversight in what gets sent, with most local government bodies making agreements that whatever is sent via messenger pegasus is documented and transcribed in exchange for subsidies or other forms of funding for pegasus breeders and trainers.


Heart spider (Choiropelma Cardia)

The pegasus wasn't the only unconventional species brought to /who/. It was, however, the only one initially brought there on purpose. The other atypical animal introduced, the heart spider, was a stowaway.

The first of these tarantulas inadvertently came along with a shipment of pigs from Haachama World. The Haatons love heart spiders, you see, and they couldn't bear to tear such close friends apart. It's said they're spawn of Taranchama herself! Their predominantly yellow coloration and affinity for pigs of all kinds are treated as signs of such.

As the Haatons hold Taranchama in much greater cultural esteem than Hoomans do, so too does heart spiders' reputation among the two peoples and their nations differ. From the Hooman perspective, heart spiders are viewed with mild ambivalence. The accidental introduction of them among /who/'s pig population has been linked to a sharp decline in dishes that include pork in any way, but the ranchers themselves have grown a soft spot for them. Initial attempts at exterminating the spiders via poison failed due to an impressive tolerance to it, and those with a pest control bent quickly learned to utilize this by keeping a few heart spiders of their own to unleash on nests of killer ants that stray a bit too close to civilization for comfort.

They almost as quickly learned that they had to provide time and opportunity for heart spiders to bond with pigs, as they seem to lose their appetite after being away from them for too long. A few tried to circumvent this by wearing pigskin masks but seeing as how this never caught on it seems safe to say that faking it doesn't work. This led to the curious development of pigs in /who/ being accepted as pets in their own right among a niche agrarian corner of the population. Just keep them away from toehounds.

Unlike other tarantulas, heart spiders do not make burrows. Any webbing they do make is on or near pigs. Hooman-led attempts to remove webbing from a pig are met with violence from the pig itself. It is rumored that Haatons have no such issue.

Likewise, heart spiders seemingly prefer to place their egg sacs somewhere on the body of a nearby pig, which then becomes very protective of the sac during the brooding process. Other aspects of a tarantula's reproductive process are largely the same, including the mother regularly turning over the sac to prevent the eggs from deforming. One behavior some have reported is that hatchlings leave their egg sacs early if the host pig dies and join other heart spiders in the act of partially devouring it.

Though at first only among a few herds, heart spiders have since spread across virtually all of /who/'s swine population to the point where they're an expected view when visiting a farm that has any amount of pigs. Likewise, their presence has led Hooman pig farmers to either diversify their animal selection or change their line of work to one more focused on extermination. So if you notice no place in /who/ seems like it offers any pork-based dishes, now you know why!


Killer ant (Sicarimermex Hiringu)

Sicarimermex Hiringu, known to Hoomans as killer ants, have a bit of a reputation in /who/.

They nest in trees and other wooden structures, much like termites. Unlike termites, these ants have stingers. Within these stingers is a toxin that elicits long-lasting, excruciating pain, followed by a paralytic numbness documented to last up to 10 consecutive days. And if that isn't enough, they possess the same eusocial order as all ants and they're very territorial. Anyhoot who happens to accidentally crush one ant or unknowingly chop open their nest when gathering resources to build something will inevitably face the collective wrath of the colony. Should this happen, it is advised that the poor soul be left to his or her fate to avoid would-be rescuers becoming victims themselves.

Killer ants were once considered a great danger, on par with the original native population and still-living predators. The details of the efforts taken to trivialize the threat they pose are a tale for another day, but suffice it to say that nowadays they are bothersome but nothing worth losing sleep over. Just remember to thank your local exterminator and refrain from observing any local ant colonies without proper protection!


Owlbear (Ursus Bubon)

The omnivorous animal has a thick brown fur with some stripes and patches around it of lighter color, their tails are small and brown. Adults will generally be around 200-350 centimeters tall and weights of 160-260 kg with males being slightly larger than the females. They are quite phisically able and agile, they can reach speeds of 65 km/h, powerful bites, and can crush trees easily.

In the wild they will hunt and protect their territories in small groups of 2-4 with each bear collaborating in switching patrols, the territories they range through are quite vast and as such the bears are known to not be rather relaxed in what they tolerate in their territories, multiple unrelated groups of bears can overlap on territory held with little to no issue. These groups of bears will sometimes get together with other groups around rivers during mating season, there the bears will choose partners for the next season, fights among the bears are uncommon as they are avoidant of each other.

If a couple mates and have offspring, the couple will separate from their groups and proceed to reduce their home range becoming highly territorial. The parents will proceed to care for the cub together, although the father has to be careful due to the mother being in a highly aggressive state. Once the cub reaches a year old the parents will abandon it so that it can fend for itself.

The bears will often eat whatever they find and prey on larger animals in addition to their opportunism, this sometimes causes the bears to enter Hooman towns and cities to scavenge food, tolerated by most of those living in the cities. Owlbears are surprisingly friendly and smart, they will not attack humans as long as they aren't offended first, and their small socialization tendencies indicate that maybe they could be tamed. There are stories about children and hunters going up to owlbears and hugging them, leaving unscathed, still, it is not recommended to get close to the bears regardless as they are highly respected animals and considered a symbol of the Republic.


Pale-faced pufferfish (Ochrocephalus Vrachnis) and v-fluke orca (Orcinus Leukos)

Information about these two species can be found here.

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Pub: 08 Dec 2025 01:20 UTC

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