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 groups of Humans, but they had a habit of eating anything that could fit in their mouths, which were quite large for an animal of its size. They were known as pests, due to their high reproduction rate and curiosity. They were also hardy, able to survive the rough environment of the forest moon of Dxun, and hold their own in large groups. Probably for this reason, a handful of cannok specimens were transported to Telos 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 of a dull yellow-green color that stood about half a meter high. The creatures stood on four, broad, tridactyl feet, which ended in tough spatulate claws, meant possibly for digging. They had short, stubby tails, and a thick, bony ridge traveling down their back, from which thin, fleshy spines protruded. Their head was rather fishlike, with an upward-facing jaw connected low on the skull and thin, sharp, needle teeth jutting from the lower jaw and over the upper lip. Their eyes stood on short stalks, a sheath of skin cupped the end of their eyes. The eyes moved independent of one another, giving them a wide range of sight, though their vision suffered. Their hide was bumpy and wrinkled, though not scaly, and was covered in a thin film of mucus.

History
Cannoks were originally found on Dxun, where they were one of the high rungs on the food chain, beneath both the maalraas, boma and the mighty zakkeg. Particularly tough cannoks could often scare away maalraas, but the zakkeg frequently dined on the abundant creatures. They survived the Mandalorian Wars and afterwards, caused headaches for the small Mandalorian Crusader camp located on the moon. The Mandalorians killed all they came across, though the numbers of the quickly-reproducing species never seemed to diminish. Though aggressive, the pests were fortunately easy to kill despite their slightly tough hide. However, this did not prevent a member of Vaklu's military being eaten by them when a dispatch was sent to the moon to capture the Jedi Exile, who had crash-landed there.



The carnivorous 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, such as when three of them devoured components of a phase-pulse converter that was being built 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 necessary components for the Mandalorians to earn favor with their Mandalore.

During the restoration of Telos, 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&mdash;around which their homeworld Dxun orbited&mdash;which was aiding in the restoration effort. However, the plan went awry, as the cannoks soon took over and ate all of the herbivores, leaving them hungry and easily agitated.

"Kark! What did we ever do to them?"'' ''"Sith's driving them on. Telling 'em we're tasty!"

- Deliah Blue and Cade Skywalker on being attack by Cannoks

In the year 137 ABY Cannoks could be found on the planet Vendaxa where Darth Talon used The Force to drive them to attack Marasiah Fel and her group of protectors.

Characteristics
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 unheard of. 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. When attacking, they usually bit their prey with their large, sharply-lined mouths or head-butted their victims, both probably in an effort to bring creatures larger then they were down to their level.

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 around in a wiggling motion that was described as comical. As a group, they were each assigned a small, roughly circular area to patrol, all within eye contact of one another. Cannoks emitted only a husky kind of grunt. Mandalorian warriors living on Dxun in 3,951 BBY 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.

Behind the scenes
The cannoks first appeared in the 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 game Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, appearing in both the Telos surface and the Dxun planet quests, where more information on the beasts was revealed.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars Legacy: Broken

Notes and references
Cannok