Most Athasians view these colorful reptiles as a sign of good fortune and welcome them into their homes. Critic lizards have a rudimentary precognitive ability that enables them to sense approaching danger, which they use to warn those that regularly feed them. Despite repeated attempts at domestication, critic lizards remain stubbornly feral and demonstrate a nasty independent streak; one refuses to help its owner if it is ever confined, mistreated, or underfed.

Floating polyps are the immature offspring of the jellyfish-like mantles that drift upon the coastal air currents near the Sea of Silt. Their mysterious ability to fly has intrigued sages for centuries, and enterprising scholars frequently attempt to capture one or more of them for further study. So far, no one has discovered how that ability works, and most attempts to do so have ended in disaster.

Hurrums are flightless beetles that constantly produce a captivating droning sound, which is a byproduct of their attempts to cool themselves by rapidly beating their vestigial wings. (If a hurrum is exposed to direct sunlight, it can overheat and die.) Listening to a hurrum’s music is a relaxing experience that can render listeners docile and amenable. As a result, wily merchants use caged hurrums to gain an edge during business negotiations.

These sleek, nocturnal burrowing mammals are social creatures that live in large, underground colonies in the desert. Some might consider them an ideal source of food and clothing for desert tribes, but most regard these creatures as being too ornery to hunt (except for foolhardy trappers who occasionally ensnare a few). However, successful trappers must make sure to build their nearby shelters over solid stone, lest a colony of vengeful janks burrow into it from below and kill them as they sleep.

Flocks of these territorial scavengers wheeling overhead are a common sight on Athas, where death is ubiquitous. Despite their cowardly nature, the keen senses of kes’trekels make them excellent watch animals. In fact, some tribes in the Ringing Mountains ritually devour the eyes of dead kes’trekels, believing that doing so can enhance their own senses. Prospective owners must raise them from hatchlings, since wild kes’trekels are impossible to domesticate. Necromancers and those interested in the power of the Gray seek them out, as do tieflings, who regard them as symbols of the dark pacts struck by their ancestors.

These felines are slightly larger than an average housecat and live on the edges of civilization, where they prey on vermin attracted to growing crops. Kivits excrete a mild toxin from glands in their cheeks, which spreads through their fur as they groom themselves. This poison makes them unappealing to predators, but it is not fatal to humans. Druids sometimes extract poison from living kivits so that farmers can use it as a natural pesticide.