Alien Pet Center

Welcome to the Alien Pet Center!

Friends in Cyberspace, please let us know what kinds of creatures you may find out there! If you know of an alien pet, please send a description and a picture. If you have either a description or a picture, maybe you can find a partner here to complete the entry. People who send in great pets will have moons named after them! We will post the names, homepage addresses, and e-mail addresses of contributors if desired. If you choose to copyright your pet, notice of your choice will be posted, but the author of this project cannot assume responsibility beyond that of posting this information.

Here are a couple of examples:

Huggers

Physical Description:
Huggers are small, soft, cuddly creatures covered with very dense, soft, mottled, brownish fur. They are appealing, with large eyes and soft voices that babble and coo in soothing tones. They are about two feet long and tend to be a little warmer than the surrounding environment. They weigh from three to eight pounds. They appear to be parthenogenic, producing adorable little huggers at infrequent intervals. The little huggers begin by hugging their mothers and then move on to permanent hosts when they are large enough.
Food and Required Living Conditions:
Huggers are parasites, tapping into their hosts' body fluids with fine soft probes. The probes release mildly addictive chemicals that produce a sense of wellbeing in their owners. These chemicals are very quickly tailored to the metabolism of the host. Although able to survive alone by hibernation, huggers are so cute that they are generally picked up quickly. Once their hosts become accustomed to having their huggers, they carry them everywhere, with the huggers' flexible 'arms' around the hosts' necks.

Planet of Origin:
Huggers evolved on the fringes of the jungles of Tarmish, and in some ways are similar to sloths on earth. As the climate of their planet cooled, they attached themselves to larger animals, providing some warmth for their hosts. They are very placid, and have little desire to move about. As pets they are clean (the small quantities of wastes are liquid and released slowly and harmlessly into their hosts' bodies), appealing, and comforting.
Reporting Scientist: Elizabeth Viau
Homepage:
e-mail: eviau@earthlink.net
Huggers may be copied freely for nonprofit purposes.

Paper Munchers

Physical Description:
Paper munchers are small, rubbery, tough-skinned, roughly hemispherical creatures ranging in size from about one to eight inches across. They are slow moving, creeping along horizontal or vertical surfaces on the small tube feet located on the undersides of their bodies. They do not seem to have front ends, but do have a border of damp cells around the edge of their undersides that may perform a function analogous to a sense of smell. Their bodies are covered with small dots and spots, some of which appear to be sensitive to differences in the intensity of light.

Food and Required Living Conditions:
Paper munchers eat paper. Their digestive systems allow them to evert their stomachs, so that they can crawl onto paper and saturate it with their acidic digestive juices. They then consume the slurry that results. Paper munchers are cold-blooded, and very efficient at water retention: they can live in a wide range of environments. They reproduce by leaving small hemispherical plaques in sheltered places: the embryo develops in the plaque, which becomes its first skin. They may reproduce both sexually and asexually, but further study is needed to establish this.
Planet of Origin:
Paper munchers evolved on the planet Egnosis. This planet is heavily forested, with many species of fast growing trees. The ancestors of paper munchers lived in the leaf litter of the forest floor, digesting the fallen plant material there. A sapient species, the Egnesti, evolved on this planet, and proceeded to create a system of bureaucracy so perfect that the primitive living conditions of the citizens were maintained without any changes for millenia. The bureaucratic system required the production and storage of vast quantities of paper, requirements which absorbed the surplus energy of the people. At some point a mutation occurred among the ancestors of the paper munchers, and the little foragers became able to digest paper. Within a few hundred years the paper munchers had destroyed all the paper on the planet, and the civilization of the Egnesti collapsed. (Importation of paper munchers is strictly forbidden on some planets.) Paper munchers are undemanding pets. They are quiet, make good door stops, and will definitely eliminate unsightly piles of magazines and newspapers in your home, neighborhood, and city.
Reporting Scientist: Elizabeth Viau
Homepage:
e-mail: eviau@earthlink.net
Huggers may be copied freely for nonprofit purposes.

Do you have a pet to share? If so, please send your file electronically to:

e-mail: eviau@earthlink.net

or snail mail to

Elizabeth Viau
Charter School of Education
California State University, Los Angeles,
5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8140

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© Elizabeth Anne Viau, 1997. This material may be used freely for instructional purposes but not sold for a price beyond the cost of reproduction. As a courtesy, please inform the author if you use it at eviau@earthlink.net Thank you!