Life Forms of the Twelve Colonies

This article discusses an aspect of the Re-imagined Series version of the Twelve Colonies. For information on the Original Series version, see The Twelve Colonies (TOS).

Part of the series on The Twelve Colonies of Kobol (Re-imagined Series)

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This article is a list of fictional and actual animals and plants mentioned in the Re-imagined Series as existing on the Twelve Colonies. For the most part, the Colonies appear to have the same organisms as present-day earth, with some exceptions.

In keeping with the naturalistic science fiction concepts that Ron D. Moore used to model the series, it is unlikely that we may see any life forms outside of those found on any of the Earth-like planets of the Twelve Colonies.

Ron D. Moore initially chose to avoid addressing the issue of the types of live animals planned to appear. In the commentary for the Miniseries, Moore elaborates:

..."David and I, we had discussed, at an early point; well, do they have dogs and cats and things like that? And we said, "No, no, no", let's not go there, 'cause that locks us into a whole Terrestrial-kind of like thing. We'll just avoid any mention of it. Nobody will even, like, register that we had "Chicken pie" the whole time, and in retrospect "Oh, I guess there are chickens"."

Over the course of the series, however, not only have the terrestrial names of flora and fauna been used extensively, but a live dog and cat have also appeared relatively prominently. Rats and bats can briefly be seen in "Bastille Day" and "Litmus" respectively.

Fictional

Plants

• Chamalla

Roslin: "I would like to explore alternative treatment. [...] Have you ever heard of Chamalla extract?" (TRS: "Act of Contrition")

Resembles (somewhat) herbal cannabinoids and opioids in its pain-killing and hallucinogenic effects, which are found in the plant cannabis and the opium poppy, respectively.

• Fumarella leaf

Baltar: "A parting gift: hand-rolled from some of the finest Fumarella leaf on Caprica. It's also one of the last left in the universe." (TRS: "Water")

An homage to the original series, in which Starbuck's cigars are referred to as "fumarellos". This plant may be similar or identical to tobacco.

Real

Animals

Mammals

• Bat

Seen flying out of an abandoned warehouse in "Litmus".

• Bovinae

Given the presence of meat in the fleet, it is likely that the Colonials get meat from such animals.

Romo Lampkin's cat, Lance.

• Camel

Baltar has a statuette of a camel on his desk while president (TRS: "Precipice").

• Cat
  • Adama: "...then grab your gun and bring in the cat." (TRS: Miniseries)
  • Romo Lampkin carries a cat around with him (TRS: "The Son Also Rises").
• Dog
  • Cally: "She said the engine power-up sequence began by squeezing something that looks like a red ligament with blue veins on the right side coming out of a sack of gooey fluid, shaped like a... dog." (TRS: "Six Degrees of Separation")

Jake on New Caprica.

• • Baltar: "I will be the President, all right, but without the military support, I might as well be an anointed dog catcher." (TRS: "Epiphanies")
  • Roslin: "I need you to send my ID code on the exact same frequency: D, as in dog [...]" (TRS: Miniseries)
  • Cain: "Madam President, you look like I just shot your dog." (TRS: "Pegasus", Quote of the day)
  • Billy: "...dog takes 20 pills a day." - Roslin: "I didn't know you had a dog-" - Billy: "yeah, big shaggy thing - Jake" (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I", deleted scene)
  • A dog named Jake appears on New Caprica, whose water bowl is flipped by Felix Gaeta to notify Galen Tyrol of an intelligence drop (TRS: "Precipice"). Jake, a Landseer Newfoundland, is the first live animal to play a significant role in the series, with a cat to follow in a later season 3 episode.
  • Daniel Novacek's callsign "Bulldog" implies the possible existence of Earth's bulldog breed.
• Elephant
  • Hallucination-Baltar: "Start with the elephants..." (TRS: "Downloaded")
  • William Adama has a tapestry depicting two elephants hanging in his quarters.
• Goat

Starbuck: "A horse. Why not a goat? I mean, that's good, right? Think of it as a goat." (TRS: "Six Degrees of Separation")

• Gorilla

Starbuck: "I'm gonna need some of those gorillas you call Marines." (TRS: "Sacrifice")

• Horse
  • Tyrol: "Take it for a ride. Treat it like a horse." (TRS: "Six Degrees of Separation")
  • Helo and Sharon are in what looks like horse stables in "The Hand of God"
  • A horse can be seen on a picture on the memorial wall behind Kara Thrace in "Maelstrom"
• Jackrabbit

Starbuck: "This is the Viper Mark II. It's as maneuverable as a jackrabbit and can flip end for end in .35 seconds." (TRS: "Act of Contrition")

• Monkey

Cliff Hooper's friend: "He's a real-deal war hero, Hoop. Can't be seen drinkin' with a bunch of low-life freight monkeys." (TRS: "Scattered", deleted scene)

• Otter
  • An otter can be seen on a picture on the memorial wall behind Baltar in "Taking a Break From All Your Worries"
• Panther

Adama: "I'm a Picon Panthers fan myself." (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")

• Pig

Phelan: "Fisk was a pig. He tried to force us to renegotiate."

Rats on Caprica (TRS: "Bastille Day").

• Rat
  • Helo: Frakkin' rats! (TRS: "Bastille Day")

    Rats actually appear on screen in this episode.

  • Another rat can be seen in "Litmus"
• Squirrel

In the episode Dirty Hands, Xeno Fenner describes Cabott as "squirrelly." This might simply be a figure of speech.

• Tiger

Gaeta reveals a tattoo of a tiger on his upper right chest in the episode "Final Cut".

Birds

• Birds of Prey
  • While the animals have never been specifically mentioned, it's reasonable to assume the Raptor is named after them.
  • Possibly a bird of prey is heard and mentioned by Tyrol and Socinus on Kobol (TRS: "Valley of Darkness").
• Blackbird

The creature for which the Blackbird experimental stealth fighter was named (TRS: "Flight of the Phoenix").

• Chicken
  • Cami: "We're going out for dinner, and I'm having chicken pie, and then we're going home, and then Daddy's going to read to me, and then I'm going to bed." (TRS: Miniseries)
  • Colonel Tigh imitates a chicken when mocking Starbuck's nickname, "Starbuck-buck-buck." (TRS: Miniseries)
• Ducks
  • Palacios: "Wouldn't we be like ducks in a Cylon shooting gallery?" (TRS: "The Hand of God")
  • "Duck" is the callsign of Lieutenant Tucker Clellan (TRS: "Flight of the Phoenix", "Scar", "The Resistance" webisodes)
• Geese

Colonel Tigh: "They're coming up with big goose eggs" (TRS: "Water")

• Parakeet

Jammer: "I don't care if they put a giant parakeet in here. If the colonel says build a cell, we build a cell." (TRS: "Resistance")

• Pigeons

There is a pigeon in the episode Daybreak, Part I.

• Sparrow

Colonial pilot jargon for a Cylon Raider (TRS: "Maelstrom").

• Swallow

The creature for which the Colonial drone weapon the Swallow was named (TRS: "Occupation").

• Turkey

Colonial pilot jargon for a Cylon Heavy Raider (TRS: "Maelstrom").

• Vulture

In a deleted scene from "Downloaded", Karl Agathon calls D'Anna Biers a "stupid frakking vulture" after being notified of Hera's alleged death.

Reptiles

• Python

Adama: "Betrayal has such a powerful grip on the mind. It's almost like a python. You can squeeze out the thought, suffocate all other emotion until everything is dead except for the rage." (TRS: "Home, Part I")

• Viper

Laura Roslin has a vision of "serpents two and ten" as prophesized, which she and Elosha associate with the Viper fighter craft (TRS: "The Hand of God").

Fish

• Salmon

Baltar: "There was an off-road bridge, over the Euclid river. I used to go there, when I was a boy. Watch the fish try and swim upstream. They were mesmerizing." (TRS: "Home, Part I")

What Baltar describes, without naming, are anadromous fish - almost certainly a type of salmon.

• Shark

ECO Lyla "Shark" Ellway (TRS: "The Captain's Hand") presumably took her call-sign from these creatures.

• Betta or Guppy

When Six comes "home" to Baltar's house carrying the metal suitcase, one can see three different glasses on a table in the front of the scene. They contain only water and one living, small, long-finned, black fish each, a way aggressive Siamese fighting fish are kept (TRS: Miniseries).

Invertebrates

• Ant

Crashdown: "Someone else feel like they have ants crawling behind their frakking eyeballs?" (TRS: "33")

• Cockroach

Starbuck: "...even a cockroach needs to breathe..." (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again")

• Oyster

Caprica-Sharon: "I remember the first day I met you, Starbuck. You were puking your guts out in the head after you ate some bad oysters." (TRS: "Scattered")

Plants

• Apple

Roslin: "I need you to send my ID code on the exact same frequency: D, as in dog, dash, 456, dash, 345, dash, A as in apple." (TRS: "Miniseries")

In the commentary for the Miniseries, Ron Moore stated that the officer at Armistice Station was originally supposed to take out an apple and eat it while studying his notes; in keeping with the new series's emphasis on naturalism.

• Blueberry

Starbuck: "You look like a blueberry." (TRS: "Flight of the Phoenix")

• Burdock

Used by Sagittarons as a calmative (TRS: "The Woman King").

• Carrot

Baltar: "Simply put, Admiral, you have already used the stick. It's time to use a carrot." (TRS: "Pegasus")

• Celery (TRS: "The Resistance")
• Coffee plant

Gaeta: "Seven other container ships are refusing to release their supplies. Food, medicine, even coffee." (TRS: "Resistance")

• Lemon

Col. Tigh: "A couple of lemons, we could make lemonade". (TRS: "Bastille Day")

• Licorice

Roslin: "Chamalla and licorice. Would you like some?" (TRS: "Resistance")

• Walnut

Adama cracks walnuts while going over potential CAGs in the episode "Home, Part I".

• Beans
• Maize
• Peanut
• Chili pepper
  • In the episode "Sacrifice", Lee Adama's drink is decorated with a chili pepper.

Helo: You hungry? I don't know, what do we got? Peanut butter... baked beans, corn. How about some chili? (TRS: "The Hand of God")

Helo is probably referring to the common Haricot bean

• Potato

In "Razor", Kara Thrace asks Kendra Shaw if she wants to be demoted back to peeling potatoes in the ship's galley.

• Algae
• Cocoa

In "The Eye of Jupiter", Tyrol says, referring to the algae, "It's breakfast, lunch and dinner until someone finds a hot fudge planet."

Official Statements

• In an interview with BattlestarGalactica.com on December 28th, 2005 RDM was asked about the possibility of animals actually appearing in future episodes:

"Q: Boxey's been more or less written out of the series, but there's always a chance that we might one day see the return of Muffit, or some other form of Man's Best Friend. Might we see the introduction of animals (including Cylon animals) into the Galactica universe? Where would Cylon animals fit in with the Cylon plan (especially in light of "The Farm")? Can Cylon animals reproduce?

RDM: The presence of animals in the rag-tag fleet was something that came up in early discussions, but we kinda dropped it from the conversation as the year went on. I don't know if we'll ever get around to doing something in this area or not. It mostly depends on finding a story that supports it in some interesting fashion other than Gaeta finds a kitty. I don't think the Cylons are creating animals as we would define them, but they certainly see the Raiders and other craft as animals vis a vis their relationship with the humanoid Cylons."

In a curious footnote to Moore's comment, eventually the character of Felix Gaeta finds not a kitty, but a dog and his water dish.