Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/June 14, 2011

The Laboi were a species of sentient, fur-covered, serpentine mammals. They ranged from two to ten meters long, but despite their size, a lack of limbs limited them to manipulating only simple technology that depended on grasping basic tools with the tail or mouth. Some female Laboi had natural telekinetic powers that augmented their ability to interact with their surroundings. The Laboi hailed from the planet Laboi II, a world that took 4,040 hours to rotate on its axis. Although this long day resulted in blistering heat in the daytime and biting cold in the night, the Laboi were well adapted to both extremes. Their fur changed color; it turned white in the day to reflect heat and turned bright primary colors at night as camouflage against Laboi II's mineral forests.

Laboi were entirely carnivorous, as their sharp teeth revealed. Their preferred prey was the ovolyan, a bantha-sized, reptilian quadruped. The creature also ate Laboi when it could, which made ovolyan hunts treacherous at best. Laboi society revolved around the hunt, an event during which the largest male served as pack leader. Since Laboi continued to grow throughout life, the rulers were also the oldest and most experienced hunters. Despite their lack of modern galactic technology, the Laboi were knowledgeable and refined, with many advanced philosophers and theorists. One of their most impressive art forms was the creation of crystal gardens, which they tended at night with stir-sticks, or with telekinesis for subtle and intricate effects. Some Laboi were found off Laboi II, where they attained intellect-based employment as scholars and executives. During the regime of the Galactic Empire, some Laboi became crime lords, a position that put them in competition with the Hutts, a species notorious for its criminal dealings. Laboi did not enjoy a particularly good reputation with non-Laboi, who often worried that the serpentine creatures saw them as food. The impression was sometimes correct, since Laboi were aggressive predators by nature, and some held non-Laboi life to have little or no value.