Giant tauntaun

"And I thought they smelled bad on the outside."

- Han Solo

Giant tauntauns, also referred to as common tauntauns due to their abundance, were the largest of the tauntaun subspecies on Hoth. They could measure 15 feet long and nearly 8 1/2 feet tall. A healthy adult had no known predators, save the dreaded wampa. They were themselves omnivores, eating fungi such as floor lichen as well as ice scrabblers and Hoth hogs.

They were stubborn creatures, but made ideal patrol mounts for the Rebel Alliance's Echo Base in the absence of repulsorcraft, which were unreliable in Hoth's extremely cold climate. Personnel such as Corporal Vyn Rolado were responsible for taming the alpha female of a tauntaun pack, in turn allowing the Alliance to easily train the remainder of the pack.

Several of the creatures were taken to the pole of Coruscant for pleasure riding.

Behind the scenes
The creatures were represented on screen through a combination of puppetry and stop-motion animation. They are also used as mount in Star Wars Battlefront II but have a very broad head in the game.

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Hunger Pains
 * Ghosts of Hoth
 * Star Wars: Yoda Stories