Woodoo

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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Woodoo were massive reptavian indigenous to the desert world of Tatooine. There was a cantina on Tatooine called "The Woodoo Dunes" with a sign that had a picture of a woodoo, followed by two hatchlings. The sign was incorrect in the fact that woodoos rarely traveled with young, as that would endanger them and take them away from the safety of the nest.

Biology and appearance[]

Woodoo2-woswfg — Woodoos fending off anoobas from a ronto carcass.

While its 640-kilogram weight rendered it flightless, the absurd-looking woodoo's tiny wings helped the creature with interspecies communication and regulation of body heat. An abnormally large blue head was attached by a stubby neck to its equally odd egg-shaped body. A thin reddish throat flap hung off their neck. Males could stretch these flaps as a symbol of strength to attract mates or intimidate other males. The flap could also vent heat to cool down its body. Woodoo also had a small red crest on the top of their heads. The larger the crest, the older the woodoo. However, the crest on females was significantly smaller and grows slower. The woodoo's body was covered with small glands that secreted a clear, lustrous oil. The oil was somewhat like sweat, draining heat from the woodoo's feathers and then evaporating.

The woodoo was slow but extremely strong, with a powerful set of digging claws on the foot of each thick leg. It used these shovel-like claws to dig up dewback eggs and to bully local anooba packs away from their kills. They could also be used to fend off krayt dragons, as they were too slow to outrun them. However, the krayt dragons were usually victorious, being too nimble to pin down with a heavy stomp.

Woodoo skin could be made into leather and was worn by Ezjenk the Jawa, Tusken Raiders and other various sentient species. Woodoo hide was also valuable as a means of shining metals, due to its slightly rough texture. Darth Vader's helmet was polished by DD-13/HK, a DD-13 medical assistant droid, under 2-1B/DRX's orders; the motivation being an attempt to distract Emperor Palpatine from a large amount of shortcuts that the medical droids took in the procedures of reconstructing Darth Vader.

They were also tamed (with difficulty) and kept as pets. A Wookiee member of the New Republic Senate had a pet woodoo. An unidentified New Republic diplomat on Coruscant also rode a 14-year-old woodoo.

Woodoo were popular game for big game hunters, as their meat was rather tasty and their bones sold well as jewelry. Woodoo eggs also made good eating, and poachers regularly supply restaurants with the eggs. Dexter Jettster makes a popular dish known as "Woodoo Surprise", and woodoo eggs are also served at the Mos Eisley Cantina. However, woodoo were fiercely protective of their young, and hunters, Jawas, and Tusken Raiders have been stomped on after wandering too close to their nests.

The hatchlings looked very like their parents, though their body and legs were relatively scrawny compared to what they would grow to be. The hatchlings could scurry around fairly fast to avoid predators, though they would lose this speed as they matured.

Woodoos lived for around 20 years, reaching maturity at 8. They typically parted ways with their parent around 7 years of age, though there have been records of woodoo hatchlings being left in the desert at the age of 4. Woodoos left at this stage rarely survive, usually being picked off by krayt dragons or Tusken Raiders.

Behavior and intelligence[]

Woodoos were fairly social creatures, sticking with their mates for a long time. They would take roles – one looked for food while the other guarded the nest and the young. Woodoos preferred to scavenge, as they were too slow to do any real hunting. They generally waited for another creature, such as an anooba pack, to make a kill. They then arrived, chased them off, then dragged the carcass (if small enough) to the nest. If the carcass was too large, they would use their huge digging claws to bury the corpse in the sand. They would return later to eat.

Woodoos, as mentioned earlier, were very territorial and protective of their nests. They marked their territory with feces that were, to say politely, unpleasantly fragrant. They could emit a loud shriek to intimidate predators or to signal their mate that something was wrong. Between territorial disputes or a fight over a mate, the scuffle was ritualized and almost never fatal. It involved forceful head butts, pecking, and sometimes a charge in an effort to knock the opponent over. If defeated, the woodoo backed away. However, in an encounter with a predator, the woodoo would stretch its throat flap, extend its comically small wings straight out, and attempt to place a potentially lethal stomp on the offender. But if the predator was trying to get to the nest and puts the young in danger, the woodoo would do almost anything to try and chase off the predator. The woodoo would stomp, peck, charge, headbutt, and use any means possible to deter the predator or kill it.

If a mate or hatchling died, the woodoo would appear to grieve. The woodoo would lie by the body, fending off any scavengers foolish enough to approach. After an average of three days, they would bury the body under the sand, where it would usually mummify under the heat and dryness. If the woodoo came across the place again, it would stay there for some time, then leave.

Once a woodoo mated, the female would generally build a nest and lay the eggs. The nests were made out of scavenged scrap metal, stones, hardened droppings, and desert brush, lined with the woodoo's own shed feathers. Woodoo eggs usually hatched after 3 months. After hatching, the hatchlings were blind, scrawny, wet, and vulnerable to sand and predators. The female stayed at the nest to take care of the young, depending on the male to bring in food. The hatchlings opened their eyes at around 3 days of age. They were curious little critters, and if the parents died, they wouldn't hesitate to waddle up to a sentient creature (such as a Jawa) in hopes of getting a new home. Once the hatchlings could stand and run, the female and male started to switch roles of hunting and caring for the young. When the woodoo reached the age of eight, they left the nest and started their own lives as young adults.