Animals and Wildlife

While the people living in the Mesa have their own needs supplied by those gardens and farming as well as food stock from the Ranch, the dragons are expected to fend for themselves for the most part. Some do this by picking off Antlions or other stray alien wildlife, while others actually move off-world for the duraion of their hunting. The fish stocked in the reservoir have not yet reached the point where a dragon could easily fish - and certainly not at the point that even one dragon wouldn't deplete the supply immediately. It will be at least a decade before there will be fishing there.

Animal life is radically different from other non-invaded worlds, surrounding the Mesa. While there are still cattle being farmed, also goats, pigs, sheep, pigeons, chickens, and other such local food animals in small quantities scattered around the Mesa, Antlion populations in the cavernous desert preclude reliable ranching. For that reason, the Black Mesa Ranch does regular herding and culling operations particularly during Antlion spawning seasons. Their Vortigaunt inhabitants lead forays into the underground Nectariums, removing a significant number of Antlion larva before they can hatch, but also supplimenting Vortal diets as well as dragon ones with the disgusting - but extremely useful - grubs. Anyone with Vortal powers can enjoy a tremendous boost to their temporary power level, when imbibing the Larval Extract. Keenan himself relied on it extensively - that and a good cup of coffee to wash it down - while reformatting the Mesa. Antlions come in numerous varieties, can be semi-tamed if their Vortigaunt herders instruct on how to do so. The most commonly seen Antlions are the drones, which are collectors of food and scouts. They are smallish but colorfully striped. Their pale skinned cousins the 'spitters' only rarely appear above ground, they glow in the darkness with bioluminescence, and spit a weak but dangerous glowing acid to protect the hive. Guardians of several kinds are much larger and more aggressive than either of those, ones which have distinct uses near or outside the hive's eggs. The Antlion Queen is rarely seen, breeding with the Guardians and supplying the Nectarium with plentiful eggs, while there is the rare spotting of an Antlion King, it's well established that a Guardian often sires the bulk of a queen's nest. Important to note, however, is that Antlions and Vortigaunts (along with several other species of invasive wildlife) are from the same homeworld originally and are not actually from Xen. They are not found on Xen, and it's been confirmed that Kallah Vahh actually moved them from this homeworld, to Earth, to facilitate Vortigaunt recovery.

Below clockwise: an Antlion Guardian, a slice of the Hive itself containing sealed egg chambers as well as empty ones, a Drone, a Spitter; and below those left to right a 'grub', a yellow 'chunk' which is partially digested food that can easily be eaten by humans (and while it tastes truly horrific, it is exceptionally nutritious), and a blue glowing larval egg. (Note the blue found in the hive, that is coming from living eggs.)

Other animals live in and near the Mesa, and have been either altered by breeding or by Vortally re-engineering them. Some hail from the same planet, and had been found on Xen for a very long time. Hound-Eyes, Bullsquid, Headcrabs, and some few other creatures are included in this grouping. They tend to have mouths that are situated on their underparts, rather than at their front or 'face'. In later eras it's also clear that Striders and Hunters come from a similar world and may be related to the Hound-Eyes- though they may have been a completely different genetic line or from a distant location on that world.

The most notable among them are the Hound-Eyes, sometimes known as Peeper-Puppies, which have been tamed for use as guards and hunting animals. They are dangerous when they're wild, but less so when they're being used by their expert handlers. Sonic attacks that they use can be heard for miles, and can cause their prey to be pulverized when they're in full pack numbers. Other dog-like beasts have come to reside on Earth, but not in the numbers that Hound-Eyes have. These three-legged creatures obviously have an amazing sense of sight, though their field of view is more narrow than expected due to the absolute front-facing nature of their 'eye'. They detect the slightest of movement, however, and often can be seen to stand on their single hind leg in order to get a better view of an area.

Bullsquid, colorful but very dangerous animals, had resided in the toxic waste and sewage pools near and within Black Mesa, but their numbers have been greatly curtailed since Keenan converted the water back to its purer state. They spit extremely nasty acid, their only useful feature. They cannot be tamed, and their meat is not edible. Their colorful skin is also toxic. Some dragons find this to be a spicy taste treat, though, so they still serve some use as food. Just not to Humans or Vorts. (Image from CombineOverWiki)

Headcrabs are the other extremely common alien life found nearly everywhere on Earth since the portal storms brought them here. While small, about the size of a turkey but without the height, they are extremely dangerous. Their life cycle has been observed by a good number of the Black Mesa science team. Their normal form leaps onto a human or humanoid host (they can adapt to other animals of similar size) and bores into the skull, immediately rendering the host into a 'zombie' like state. Enzymes and possibly Vortal changes occur that alter the humanoid's body to eat directly into its gut, shedding its skin, and eventually dying. A middle-staged 'Gonome' has a much larger chest cavity and is likely to transform into the last stage. The Headcrab can latch onto multiple prey over its life, but eventually if the host eats enough it can morph into a much larger creature known as a Gonarch. This is basically a 'mother headcrab' which stands nearly 10 feet tall, and spews baby headcrabs. They're very hard to kill - both the Gonarch because it's got a durable carapace, but also the tiny baby headcrabs which are nearly invisible yet deliver quite a bite. Headcrabs, however, can be both tamed and eaten. They come in a variety of 'breeds', particularly after residing on Earth as well as being weaponized and experimented upon by the Combine. Varieties include the 'Fast', 'Poison', and 'Weaponized' headcrabs. Weaponized tend to be considerably more dangerous overall because they are included in Combine shelling tactics, deployed over large areas even if no population has been seen there. However they also are able to bore through much thicker armor and helmets, and often enough Combine soldiers are attacked - producing a very unpredictable zombi(ne) that has all its weapons but none of the human instincts. It is known that HEV suited zombies exist, so even those helmets aren't enough protection. Fast zombies appear almost skeletal, as their flesh is consumed by the needs of the headcrab's metabolism, fatty tissues, organs, and skin quickly vanish leaving nothing but sinue, bone, and muscles. The frightful Poison zombie does not 'breed' those headcrabs on its back, however they tend to congregate on one humanoid, they're the only breed that are apt to co-habit a host. Only one of them preys on the humanoid, but they attract others. They often choose larger framed or overweight hosts. Each of these breeds gives off distinct sounds, from a rattling similar to a snake's of the Poison, to a much more friendly cooing and chirping found in the basic type. The howling produced by Fast zombies and wailing from Poison hosts should be heeded: stay away and stay alert. **Note that those variations found in ALYX aren't included specifically because I don't have the game and won't be trying to study it from wiki articles.

Chumtoads, Snarks, and other tiny creatures

'Boids', also known as Ru-unden'ket, are similar to manta rays only they fly with ease in the warm desert air. They come in a variety of sizes and colorations - from those who are barely the size of a pigeon, to ones which rival an A-10 in wingspan. There are few of them anywhere other than around Black Mesa. Typically they are peaceful, but they do eat whatever they can latch onto, and on occasion they have been utilized by the Combine with reinforced beam weaponry coming from their belly mouth. They 'sing' similarly to whales, and on Xen they are plentiful. It is unknown whether they would be able to be mixed genetically or interbred with dragon kind, though possibly with the right sort of Dragon and the right person mixing them...