Fauna in "The Mrem Go West"

The biosphere of Harry Turtledove's "The Mrem Go West" includes two sentient species - the Liskash and the Mrem - and numerous examples of non-sentient fauna. The latter include common present-day Earth creatures such as lizards, turtles, and frogs, and extinct species such as the woolly mammoth. The following is a list of fictional wildlife unique to the Mrem-Liskash world. As the story takes place in a shared universe, some of these animals may be further developed in sequels written by other authors.

Axehead
Axeheads were pterodactyls with large crests on their heads. The Liskash lord Sassin used axeheads for aerial reconnaissance, probing the creature's mind for an image of what it had just seen, then feeding it smerps which it eagerly gulped down.

Frillhorn
Frillhorns were eight-horned ceratopsian dinosaurs herded as livestock by the Liskash, sometimes with the aid of a zargan. Mrem generally found frillhorn meat distasteful,, but their larger wild cousins the somo were not so picky.

Krelprep
Krelprep were horned artiodactyls used as beasts of burden by the Mrem. During the Clan of the Claw's battle against the Liskash lord Sassin, Talonmaster Rantan Taggah rode into battle in a krelprep-drawn chariot.

Smerp
Smerps were small, frequently-reproducing vermin-like mammals. Young Mrem often learned to hunt by catching smerps. The Liskash lord Sassin found smerps to be filling but extremely distasteful, but his tame axeheads didn't mind.

Literary comment
Smerps are based on rabbits. "Calling a rabbit a smeerp" is a common expression in analyzing fantasy and science fiction works. It is most frequently a perjorative metaphor to describe "lazy world-building" which consists entirely of creating "alien" synonyms for everyday objects and animals.

Somo
The somo was a large non-sentient felid distantly related to the Mrem. The somo never mastered bipedal walking. Its strength was such that it could take down bundor or frillhorn singlepawedly.

Literary comment
The somo is Turtledove's self-reference to his earlier story "Moso" and its titular fictional largest felid species.

Zargan
Zargans were small theropod dinosaurs which could be psychically tamed by Liskash liege lords and used to guard their herds of frillhorns.