Ancient swamp life
From the Early Pandora Wiki Wiki lore Na'vi legend Real world
The great swamps of early Pandora held far more than ducks and duck-suckers. The species on this page come from the Na'vi legend and this wiki's expanded lore. Most are not shown in the films. Wiki lore
Species of the great swamps
| Name | What it was | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Tak | Blue, four-eyed swamp duck with nine feet and glowing tail tips Na'vi legend | Extinct |
| Taktswìkyu | Giant corkscrew plant that slurped up tak Na'vi legend | Extinct |
| Mudlamp beetle | Hand-sized beetle that glowed blue when it walked, lighting paths through the mud Wiki lore | Living, rare |
| Ribbon frog | Six-legged frog with a long glowing tongue; one of the foods the starving Taktswìkyu tried and failed to catch Wiki lore | Living |
| Drift lily | Floating flower whose wide pads formed rafts where tak slept Wiki lore | Unknown |
| Whisper reed | Tall reed that rustled when its roots felt footsteps, an early-warning plant like the loreyu Wiki lore | Living |
| Lantern eel | Long, slow eel with a row of glowing spots; Na'vi children counted the spots to tell how old it was Wiki lore | Living |
| Silverfin | Small shining fish that swam in huge schools; a main food of the early Na'vi Wiki lore | Living |
| Mudback turtle | Six-legged turtle with a shell covered in moss, so it looked like a floating log Wiki lore | Living |
| Four-winged stilt heron | Tall wading bird with four wings and very long legs; it ate silverfin and snails Wiki lore | Living |
| Glow moss | Soft moss that lit up when touched; kept in baskets as lamps Wiki lore | Living |
| River snail | Spiral-shelled snail that grazed on water plants; eaten by the Na'vi Wiki lore | Living |
| Puffcap | Mushroom that burst into a glowing cloud of spores when stepped on Wiki lore | Living |
| Loreyu | Spiral plant descended from the Taktswìkyu Canon Na'vi legend | Living |
The swamp food web
Every living thing in the swamp was food for something else. Here is who ate whom. Wiki lore Na'vi legend
| Living thing | Ate | Was eaten by |
|---|---|---|
| Water plants and drift lilies | Sunlight and water | Tak, river snails, mudback turtles |
| Water bugs | Tiny bits of plants | Tak, ribbon frogs, silverfin |
| Tak | Water plants and bugs | The Taktswìkyu |
| Silverfin | Water bugs | Stilt herons, lantern eels, the Na'vi |
| River snails | Water plants | Stilt herons, the Na'vi |
| Taktswìkyu | Tak, bugs, fallen fruit | Nothing; it was at the top |
The table shows why the Great Hunger was so bad: the Taktswìkyu had only one big food, and nothing ate the Taktswìkyu to keep its numbers down. See The balance of nature. Wiki lore
The swamp at night
Almost everything in the swamp glowed. On a still night you could see blue mudlamp trails in the mud, green tak tail tips on the water, the spotted lines of lantern eels below, puffs of glowing puffcap spores, and above it all the gold rings of the Taktswìkyu. The songs say "no one needed a fire to see." Na'vi legend Wiki lore
Clues in the ground
Researchers studying the old riverbeds report orange-and-purple stalks turned to stone, tiny bird skulls with four eye sockets, and ancient Na'vi ropes and straws made from dried stalks. Na'vi legend
Who survived the Great Hunger?
Most swamp creatures did survive, because they ate many different foods. The stilt herons and lantern eels moved to the rivers, the mudback turtles to quiet lakes, and the whisper reeds still grow along many riverbanks. Only the drift lily is a mystery: no one has found one for a very long time, but no one is sure it is gone. Wiki lore
Real swamps on Earth
Earth's wetlands, like the Everglades in Florida and the Pantanal in South America, are some of the richest places for life on our planet. They clean water, soak up floods and are home to huge numbers of birds, fish and frogs. Many wetlands have been drained for farms and cities, and scientists now work to protect and restore them. Real world