CT The Wampa Ice Beast

Is the Wampa the soul creature of the Ice World Hoth. The Tuantans could not handle the temperature so I believe they may have been introduced and domesticated by the Rebels when they came to the planet. This monstrous creature appears to the only large animal native to the inhospitable conditions of Hoth,

 

It appears so. There might be more, but they might also be cannibals.

 

I think the Tuantans are native but the blizzard was just really really bad. Tuantans could also hide out in caves if it got too cold.

 

The ecosystem of the sixth planet in the Hoth System ("Hoth") still remains enigmatic up to this day.

But I have to admit that the prospect that the Tauntauns might have been imported by the Rebels is an intriguing one, unless they managed to domesticate these animals (is the stuffed Tauntaun head next to Solo's carbonite slab in Jabba's Palace an exotic souvenir from Hoth?)

Yet, the Wampas have tusks much like the Tauntauns, suggesting being somewhat related. And if the Wampas are the carnivores, shouldn't that make the Tauntauns the herbivores - but eating what plantlife exactly?

Maybe there is still plantlife covered by snow which the Tauntauns dig up, maybe the meteorites constantly hitting the ground open up pockets of nutrition, but unless we just witnessed the winter season on Hoth chances are higher that we are looking at a dying planet with its last breath of life (Solo: "There's not enough life to fill a spacecruiser" - what kind and size of spacecruiser did he have in mind?)

 

The tauntauns were also native to Hoth. They took shelter in caves when blizzards got bad. Han's tauntaun was just unlucky to get caught in the open.

 

Horses are found all across the US. They roam the continent having been introduced by the Spaniards and traded to the Indians. Similarly the Dingo is an Australian animal that arrived via land barrier with Asia and accompanying humans to that continent. So in theory the Rebels could have brought them with them to the Planet. The Wampas being cannibals in this wasteland is a distinct possibility.

 

Did we take a closer look at the skeletons in the Wampa's cave? If these belong to Tauntauns then I'd say they were native to Hoth.

Had the Rebels brought these to Hoth I don't think they would have let them roam free but always had these controlled by one rider. And since we didn't learn about scouts that mysteriously disappeared, I'd vote for the "native" theory.

 

There's got to be SOMETHING else on Hoth for Wampa's to eat, an exclusively cannibal diet is an evolutionary cluster-**** of epic proportions surely.

 

Tauntauns are a lizard species that is native to Hoth. They survive by eating lichen and small ice plants. They often move in packs and are hunted by Wampas.

Tauntauns can handle daytime surface temperatures on Hoth, but seek shelter at night in the many caves that are heated from the planet core, which is also where their food grows. Tauntauns can also burrow into the snow for warmth.

Some Tauntauns were domesticated by the Rebel Alliance, as we see in TESB.