Cannok

"That's the problem with cannoks&hellip; if you turn your back on the pests, they'll eat anything they can get in their mouth."

- Zuka

Cannoks were small, aggressive predators native to the moon of Dxun. They were relatively harmless to Humans, but they had a habit of eating anything that could fit in their mouths. They were known as pests, due to their high reproduction rate and curiosity, as well as hardy, able to survive the rough environment of the jungle moon of Dxun while holding their own in large groups. A handful of cannok specimens were transported to Telos IV by the Ithorians of Citadel Station during the years following the Jedi Civil War to assist in the Telosian Restoration Project.

Biology and appearance
Cannoks were squat, bloated creatures with normally dull yellow-green hides that were characteristically bumpy and wrinkled. The creatures stood on four, broad, tridactyl feet, which ended in tough spatulate claws. They had short, stubby tails and a thick, bony ridge traveling down their back, from which thin, fleshy spines protruded. Their heads had an upward-facing jaw, connected low on the skull, and thin, sharp, needle-like teeth jutting from the lower jaw which protuded over their upper lip. Their eyes stood on short stalks and moved independently of one another.

Behavior
Cannoks were ornery creatures who commonly formed packs or groups to hunt together; these packs were usually formed of three or more cannoks, though single antagonists were not uncommon. The creatures were not easily frightened, and were unafraid of fire. They would not disturb large parties or settlements, though smaller groups were frequently attacked and it was not unheard of for able-bodied men to be killed by the beasts. When on the offensive, they usually bit their prey with their large, sharply-lined mouths or head-butted their victims.

When undisturbed, cannoks tended to react along a set pattern. While walking in their slightly high-stepped gait, they commonly stopped and looked around by moving their eyestalks in a wiggling motion. Cannoks emitted only a husky kind of grunt.

History
Cannoks, in existence since before 4,000 BBY, were originally found on Dxun&mdash;the jungle moon of Onderon&mdash;where they were one of the high rungs on the food chain, beneath both the maalraas, boma and the zakkeg. Particularly tough cannoks could often scare away maalraas, but the zakkeg easily dined on the abundant creatures.

They survived the Mandalorian Wars, and afterward, caused headaches for the Mandalorian outpost located on the moon. The Mandalorians killed all they came across, though the numbers of the quickly-reproducing species never seemed to diminish. This group thought of the creatures as "vermin" and unworthy of being killed by such skilled soldiers; being assigned to clear out a herd of the beasts was seen as being the equivalent of punishment duty due to their minor difficulty.

The omnivorous creatures also caused trouble by frequently eating anything and everything they could fit into their large mouths when no one was looking. This tendency was the most frustrating aspect of their behavior to most sentients&mdash;such as when three of them devoured components of a phase-pulse converter under construction by Zuka, a tech specialist. When the Jedi Exile arrived on the jungle moon in 3,951 BBY, she slew and gutted many cannoks' oversized stomachs in the vicinity of the encampment and recovered the converter's components for the Mandalorians, earning favor with their Mandalore.

During the restoration of Telos IV, several cannoks were brought to the surface of Telos to balance the ecosystem, keeping the herbivore numbers in check so they did not destroy all of the remaining plant life. Cannoks were chosen for this task because of their ability to adapt, and because of their connections with Onderon, which was aiding in the restoration effort. However, the plan went awry, as the cannok population grew exponentially. They soon took over the ecosystem, consuming the herbivores and extingushing many native species permanently. This created a food shortage for them, and their still increasing population only worsened the issue, leaving them hungry as well as easily agitated.

Behind the scenes
The cannoks first appeared in the first issue of Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic comics, but had only a minor place in the storyline. Ten years later, the cannoks returned in the computer video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, appearing on both the surface of Telos and the moon of Dxun, where more information on the beasts was revealed.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi 1: Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic