<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 2em;"><strong>Ecology</strong></span><br/><br/>===========================================================================<br/><br/>Indigenous Species<br/><br/>Flora<br/>The plants best-known to humans residing on Pern are those that are useful. There are several types of plants which are edible to humans, including the redfruit tree, which produces a red, plum-like fruit, and the klah tree, whose bark is infused like coffee into a stimulant beverage reminiscent of chocolate, coffee and cinnamon. Native medicinal plants include dragon's tongue, which produces a gel similar to aloe; the Needlethorn, whose hollow thorns can be used as hypodermic needles; Numbweed, a strong analgesic plant that is made into a cream after boiling it in large pots for 3 days that numbs small wounds completely, and dulls larger wounds; and Fellis, which produces a juice used as a soporific drug.<br/><br/>Fauna<br/>Pern is host to a number of invertebrate species, including the insect-like trundlebugs, rollers (analogous to a woodlouse), VTOLS (a kind of fly), springs (a kind of parasite), and spider-like creatures called spinners. There is also a type of worm or millipede called a grub, which was genetically engineered by the settlers to consume Thread. It serves the important purpose of protecting fields and crops by tunneling underground, eating any Thread that has reached the ground and burrowed. However it has only flourished in the Southern Continent and its existence was forgotten by most of the inhabitants of the North for many years. The only people who knew about the grubs had been eradicating them whenever they appeared in the North; an error in records interpretation led them to believe they were parasitical instead of beneficial. After the error was corrected, the grubs were encouraged to flourish—indeed it was noted that areas sown with the grubs prospered better due to the grubs aerating the soil and preventing Thread from destroying the crops or potential infestations forcing the burning of the field.<br/><br/>Native Pernese vertebrates have a body-structure with six limbs. Flying creatures, such as the fire-lizards and wherries (carnivorous creatures not dissimilar to large birds), have two wings and four legs. Ground-bound creatures like most tunnelsnakes have six legs, which may include specialized digging feet or hunting claws. Some tunnelsnakes are aquatic or semi-aquatic, and have one or more set of fins or flippers in place of legs. Wherries are edible, and have been domesticated for food; some tunnelsnakes are edible, but they are primarily considered a pest animal in Weyrs and Holds.<br/><br/>The native dragonet was genetically engineered using advanced high-tech Eridani techniques, such as a metasynth enhancement, by settlers into the much larger and more intelligent dragons. Other experiments resulted in the enhanced fire-lizards and the watch-wher, a stunted, photophobic cousin of the dragon. Fire-lizards proved compatible with the original dragonets, but of dominant genetics, and dragonets eventually bred out of existence. Whers are used in mining and as guards of Holds, and were long thought to be a mistake made by Wind Blossom, the Eridani geneticist who was credited with (or blamed for) developing them.<br/><br/>It should be noted that in our timeline whers do NOT fly and Thread doesn't fall at night. There may be a late evening Threadfall on occasion but no night Falls. Also noted that the whers are more intelligent than most Pernese give them credit for. For more information concerning Iayla's view of whers see "Whers on Iayla" in our D.R.o.P. forum. which should be up... sometime.<br/><br/>A wide variety of fish-like creatures dwell in Pernese seas, many of which are edible to humans, including the oily-fleshed packtail, the prized redfin, and the easily-preserved whitefish.<br/><br/>Introduced species<br/><br/>Flora<br/>Most of the plants introduced by Pernese colonists are providers of food, fiber or medicine. Most grains, vegetable crops, and fruit trees were imported to Pern, as were a wide variety of herbs and fiber plants such as flax. Notably, the Pernese lack cocoa and coffee plants as they could not handle the transfer to Pernese soil.<br/><br/>Fauna<br/>The original Pernese settlers brought a wide variety of animals (transported in coldsleep or as ovum and sperm to be bred in the revived birthing stock) and plants with them when they originally settled the planet. However, due to both the disastrous threadfall and the natural Pernese landscape, some animals never adapted at all. Deer and other forest-dwelling animals did not fare well in Pern's warm, tropical climate. Other animals required "genetic adaptation" but survived in some form or another. One type of genetic adaptation needed was the altering of the digestive processes of animals like cows to allow them to digest the boron-heavy grass successfully and without ill-effects.<br/><br/>The Pernese circa the Ninth Pass of the Red Star tend to categorize animals by use more than by species. Herdbeasts are animals kept in large numbers for meat or leather, and include bovines, ovines and caprines (which became the standard Pernese terms for cows, sheep and goats). Milchbeasts are the same species as herdbeasts, but kept for milk. Draybeasts are donkeys, oxen or draft horses. Runners are a particular breed of horse developed by the Pernese, a riding/racing beast vaguely analogous to the Anglo-Arabian. Burdenbeasts may be donkeys or llamas.<br/><br/>Cats and dogs, called felines and canines, are kept for pest control or, in the case of dogs, as herd or guard animals. The felines and canines have adapted to fit the colder climates of Pern, having developed thicker, shaggier coats. A variety of large felines were engineered by a renegade settler for the purpose of being an intelligent helper, but they turned on the settler and went wild on the Southern Continent.<br/><br/>A genetically altered breed of dolphins, sometimes called shipfish, accompanied humans to Pern. These dolphins had greatly increased intelligence, including a degree of telepathic ability, and had developed means of verbally communicating with humans because of the genetic metasynth enhancement. Unlike many of the other animals that accompanied humans, dolphins took to their new home well. They were trained to come to the sound of Dolphin Bells and help troubled sailors in the oceans. Unfortunately, contact between dolphins and humans soon deteriorated, and for much of Pernese history they were not known to the human population.<br/></div>