'Arrk' notes - Compiled by crew of EAS Sophocles

To quote Pvt. Pat Sembello, "It looks like God crossed a camel with an elephant, and that he had a big laugh doing it."

The Arrk - named for the sound of the deep bellow it usually makes - is a work animal that was imported from non-alliance space to Sanctuary. There at probably thousands of them, based on the hundreds seen by the crew, possibly hundreds of thousands - there are more Arrk than horses. This simple fact is because of the persecution from Alliance worlds, leading to unknown numbers of destroyed ships and their passengers and cargo. Horses included. If not for the Minbari warships escorting some of the freighters, and the direct gathering and sending on of earth's work animals by Doug Myersal (Through his ISN connections, both on earth and dozens of agricultural colonies), there would likely be very few earth-based animals in Sanctuary. The persecution of human telepaths and families by Human control agencies was - and still is - among the worst of all species. So there are more Arrk than horses.

An Arrk, when full grown, is about 8 feet tall from head to toes. It's back tops at just over 6 feet tall, the head and neck make the 8 foot mark. It does actually look like a camel crossed with an elephant. It has a long, floppy muzzle - several inches past it's mouth, but some muzzles range up to over a foot long - made up of loose skin: lips that it uses when grazing - its natural food is leaves that it strips off of tree branches. This muzzle cone tends to completely obscure it's mouth. It has no external ears, loose greyish skin that is often mottled with blackish patches, sad-looking dark eyes, no tail, and is all-around ugly. Apart from their signature call, they also make sounds by grunting and huffing. They are not a quiet species.

Mammals, they do not get grumpy, moody, or territorial during mating seasons, and are capable of working (under lesser loads) right through their 20-month (local time) pregnancies of a single calf. The young can walk within hours, and are able to keep up with their mothers while they work by the next day. They only nurse for about a year (after weaning, the drivers quickly build the mother's haul-weight back to full size) and mature quickly. Able to pull small loads within a few weeks, they move up to a full adult load by their 4th or 5th year. They are fairly long-lived (about 40 or 45 years) and are capable of working right up until they die, if their drivers have treated them well and kept them healthy. They have excellent immune systems, and are resistant to infections as well as diseases, making them perfect for the multi-species environment found in Sanctuary.

They are not graceful - their odd (to human eyes) leg structure makes them look knock-kneed, and they smell slightly bad even when cleaned off. After working hard for a day or longer, they positively reek. But all bad things aside, they are beyond valuable as beasts of burden. Calm of temperament, extremely strong, they are easily trained and remain obedient in almost any situation, despite not being mentally bright (about the same as a north american domestic cow). They can cope very well with dry conditions, and since they are from a high gravity world (about 1.6 g's compared to the .82 g's of Sanctuary's inhabited world), the loads they can pull are enormous.

They are not the best for steep mountain roads - the crew saw very few while in the mountain range, compared to the great caravans that cross the prairies - they work better on the level. Their legs lift outwards from the knees - front lifts to front, back to back, but the hooves stay fairly level, pivoting by gravity on their ankles. Their meat is edible to most species, but there were none who claimed to like how it tasted. They can be ridden, but since they do not like loads being carried on their backs, they are usually delegated as pulling-beasts.

An Arrk's pulling power is centered on it's chest (where the main weight-strap is placed) - when properly tacked out, they can haul more than three times what a heavy draft horse is capable of pulling. Their bodies are compact, thick muscled, and dense boned, perfect for the task. They are not as long or wide as an elephant, despite the other similarities; they are only slightly wider than a full-grown heavy draft horse is.

It's hind legs (and fore too) are impressively strong - their hind feet are sometimes over 8 inches across, and cloven with center pads for a good grip. An Arrk almost never loses it's footing. It's forefeet are usually 6 to 7 inches across, but the hind legs do most of the pushing: with everything lining up from it's chest-strap, an Arrk seems to only need to lean it's head forward and give one big push with it's hind legs, and it can move a several-tonne load from standing still to several kph within a few paces. They are usually attached to a cart singly, but can work in teams of two, four, of even more - the only hindrance is building carts strong enough to carry the loads they are capable of hauling. The legs are as thick, if not more, as their hooves - this is a very strong animal. The forelegs are good for braking, even if they do not usually carry much weight.

Because of it's leg structure, it's knees will almost touch at a trot. It looks very silly when it tries to go fast, but it cannot do a full run - a human child can easily outrun it for any distance under about a kilometer, even if it is not tacked up to a cart. However, they have fabulous stamina, and can work steadily with a full load for a full day, dawn to dusk, and not need to stop of rest. It can do many long days in a row as well, outlasting even the similar earth-camels. They do like to be able to eat and drink after a day's work, however; even though a healthy one can go for several days without either if it has to. When fed regularly, they eat only slightly more than a single draft horse does. This makes then very efficient animals.

They would eat leaves in the wild, and lived in lightly forested areas on their original world. When fed by sentients, it's manger and water bins must be high up - it's chest and neck are arranged so that it's head cannot be lowered past it's knees. If it gets enough fresh leaves to eat, one will not need to drink any additional water, unless it is very hot out - they are quite tolerant to the extremes found on most of their new world, even the desert areas at midsummer. When being fed on the road, their drivers will lead them into ponds (natural or constructed) up to their bellies to let them drink, often giving them a bit of a bath if there is enough time and water to spare.

Their skin is smooth, greyish, and often a little baggy around the head if they've not been full-feeding daily. They usually have patches of black fuzz on them, with the markings being fairly individual to each Arrk. They often look to a layman like they've got a horrible skin disease, but the mangy coloration is normal. Their hides are not the least bit useful for leather, since it does not treat well and rots easily once soaked. The locals do occasionally use the hides off of dead Arrks, however - to bury people in. Their skin is cut to make body bags, instead of wasting more valuable cloth or even wood for a coffin.