You can come across different kinds of animals on the worlds (mainly Planet Maria) of Planet Explorers. Most creatures are endemic; belonging to specific biomes, but might still cross over to other biomes by wandering around.
You can identify animals by looking at your map (since A 0.9) and hovering your mouse-cursor over the yellow dots indicating creatures. This will show you their names. Giant animals will be marked as large red dots on your map. In Story Mode often small picture-icons will be added to the names of creatures that questgivers will ask you to look for.
Animals in Planet Explorers are known for having "natural" behaviour-patterns like sleeping occasionally, trotting or running around in herds, hunting other creatures and/or player-characters, running away from fights and/or helping their own kind in "battle". Each creature-type also has their specific ways of defense and/or attack.
Animal Types[]
Hostile[]
Andhera - spidercrab-like creatures coming out at night, will show up in many biomes, usually hunts solitarily, but can be numerous in underground nests around giant Queens
Lepus Marihare - beige-colored carnivores with "rabbit legs", mainly found in grasslands hunting Cervidae Stags or being fought by Hoolock Gibbons
Coelodonta Wolfrinos - rather large saurus-like olive-brown creature with wolf-chaws and horns on their backs, roaming the grasslands as a solitary animal here or there
Ursus Firebear - a dangerous bear-bull-like dark brown grassland-animal that can spit fire. Additional to roaming the grasslands, it can also have nests with several specimen
Harpia Warbird - a colorful pink-blue bird-like creature that attacks from above
Lupus Devilwolf - a pale-colored predator, hunting in packs in the grassland. Jumpy!
Harpia Red Korona - a dangerous large red flying creature, can occur in groups
Coelodonta Uredklad - a large dangerous animal living solitarily in the grassland
Tappeto - a plant-covered camouflaged creature laying in wait in grasslands and forests
Dhalacav - brown carnivores, hunts herbivores in the forest
Umbrawolf - grey wolf-like predators hunting in packs in forests
Unaala - a large violet-colored flying predator that has it's home in canyons
Red Lancea - gliding creature, can attack from the air above canyons
Hongzui - a colorful lizard-like hopping predator hunting in small packs in the desert and in canyons
Dacolpi - a blue-green shimmering solitary creature that has a range-attack, living in canyons
Acanthondii flatmouth-Shark - aggressive large grey fish, mainly found in Oceans
Crocodylus Aricroc - aggressive dark fish with a long crocodile-like mouth, not only roams the Oceans, but also rivers
Sandworm - rarely encountered golden-colored desert-creature that hides in the sand and attacks by suddenly emerging from below
Giant[]
Blindatillo - aggressive solitary brown forest-giant with a long trunk
Testudo Mariturtle - neutral ankylosaurus-like creature with a hammerhead roaming the grasslands
Layerback - red-and-orange colored aggressive creature with claws, mainly living in forests; most often seen alone, but can also rarely have nests with several specimen
Caelum Rex - a large flying aggressive creature, can be found in canyons
Sand Tortoise - red-armored brethren of the Testudo Mariturtle living in the desert
Passive[]
Cervidae Stag - stegosaurus-like herbivores living in herds mainly in grasslands
Dipnoi Lungfish - small fish, can be found in small groups in Water, often in Oceans
Neutral[]
Hoolock Gibbon - primates walking on their hind legs, can be found in groups in different biomes, mainly grasslands
Coelodonta Greenback-Rhino - large armored herbivore with a single horn at it's snout, wandering in small to large herds, has spots on it's head that shine brightly in the night
Needlenose Giraffe - a peaceful long-necked herbivore living in grasslands
Peloso Gibbon - brethren of the Hoolock Gibbon, walking on their hind-legs and hunting Marisenhor in groups in the forests
Gold Dragon - lizard-like herbivores living in the forest, usually solitary
Marisenhor - large forest-herbivores with long legs and necks found in small herds having mask-like "faces"
Procorosso - a bulky rather large pink-colored fur-covered animal living in the forest, most often solitary
Yosei Lizard - small blue-green creature with large black eyes living solitarily in forests
Camelus - large brown creature with three humps living solitarily in the desert
Pufftail - solitary creatures with single horn-plates on their heads walking on their hind legs mainly in canyons
Marishu - brown mouse-like canyon-creatures living in herds with shimmering fur
Koraha Voile - colorful red and blue-green solitary creature walking on its longest hind legs, can be seen in canyons
Stonecrusher - a green large creature reminding of a spider with a hunch, living solitarily in the canyons
Veiderun - a solitary flesh-colored creature walking on its hind legs with a large trunk through canyon-biomes
Sagitta - a flying violet saurus-like creature, occasionally seen over canyons and/or deserts
Oskra - flying dark creatures with four skin-"wings" often spotted flying in small to large flocks over canyons and/or deserts, can fight larger flying predators
Harpa - very small harmless scorpion-like creatures often found in the desert
Kavacasaurus - has a tail shaped like a scorpion, lives in the desert
Vodilo - desert-creature reminding of a snake, carries a shimmering sphere
Unihorn Yak - furry brown herbivore, roams the desert here and there in small herds
Bucktooth Turtle - a solitary desert-creature wearing a shimmering hunch-like armor
Sorasi - creatures reminding of jellyfish hovering over the ground in mainly mountain-biomes in small herds
Looting[]
Since the release of V1.0.6, all animals now drop "loot orbs" that are dropped by NPC and Player kills within the render radius of the Player Character.
Hunting[]
The main way of obtaining resources from animals is hunting. Hunting animals allows resources such as meat, animal skin, and animal fat to be obtained, and also rarer and even unique materials (like those you will need for missions/quests).
For besting Giant animals like Testudo Mariturtle or even alien-robots the usage of Sentries is recommended, plus perhaps setting up walls for defensive measures. Traps can also be built - for example pitfalls. Deerstands will be attacked, and it can be difficult to aim at animals below, but it is still possible to use strategic structures like that.
Invasions[]
During some quests and after setting up colonies, invasions might occur. A set number of waves of randomly selected animals from the current biome will attack NPC-camps and/or colonies created by player-characters. Player-colonies will even be invaded regularily, during which attackers will usually try to reach and destroy the power core/s.
Livestock[]
It has been mentioned that livestock may be a future method of maintaining supplies for player-created villages/colonies. Livestock-mechanics have not yet been implemented though.