The sentient Yuzzum also hunted ruggers, using domesticated rakazzak beasts to try and catch the rodents when they hid in long grasses so that they could make roasted "rugger." Rugger song could be heard in the treetop villages of the sentient Ewok species—who made jerky from the rodents—as ruggers climbed through the settlements.
Ruggers were a type of herbivorous rodent that mostly fed on nuts. They had bushy green-and-white fur covering their bodies but heads and tails that were instead covered in shorter brown-and-white fur, bar a tuft of longer fur at the tip of the tail. A rugger's eyes were orange and positioned on either side of the head, with two large ears pointing back above the eyes and a mouth and blue snout located below.
Each of the creatures' four limbs were unfurred, showing their green-and-white skin, and ended in paws with three digits. The small claws on each digit and the suction cups on a rugger's paws allowed the creatures to spread evenly across vertical surfaces, adding to the agile rodents' incredible climbing abilities and extraordinary sense of balance. These traits had developed in response to the many predators that hunted ruggers.
Ruggers could be heard singing as they climbed through Ewok villages.
Ruggers were arboreal in nature, spending most of their time in the trees of their homeworld, the Forest Moon of Endor, although they also hid within tall grasses. The creatures would sometimes sing when they climbed. They were one of the better-off lifeforms in the moon's ecosystem but existed at the bottom of the food chain, often needing to use their dexterity to try and avoid the many predators to whom they were very vulnerable.
However, ruggers were intrepid and characteristically curious creatures, and one type of predator—known as the temptor—made effective use of this. Temptors hunted by hiding inside trees or underground and poking out only the tip of their tongue, which resembled the furry head of a small rodent. Many reckless ruggers met their end after following the bait into the temptor's lair out of curiosity, discovering a large pair of voracious jaws instead of the small rodent they expected.
The Yuzzum, a sentient species native to the plains of Endor, loved eating roasted "rugger." In order to help them catch ruggers hiding in tall grasses, the Yuzzum domesticated and rode swift rakazzak beasts. Rugger song could sometimes be heard as the creatures climbed through the treetop villages of the sentient Ewok species, who also ate ruggers in the form of jerky. Shortly after the Galactic Empire arrived on Endor, the Ewok Wicket Wystri Warrick hoped he might find a nice rugger to make strips of jerky from when he left his home in Bright Tree Village on Endor to restock his food supplies from the forest; however, he instead caught two forest frogs.
A rugger in Disney Infinity 3.0
In the new Star Wars canon, Ruggers were first mentioned in the reference book Ultimate Star Wars, released on April 29, 2015. Later that year, on August 30, ruggers appeared in the Rise Against the Empire Play Set of the non-canon video game Disney Infinity 3.0. The creatures originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where ruggers were first mentioned in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, a 1995 reference book written by Kevin J. Anderson.
In the Legends continuity, the ruggers were first depicted in illustrations by Terryl Whitlatch included in the 1999 reference book The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide. One of these images was reprinted as the first canonical depiction of ruggers in "Geonosis and Other Planets in the Outer Rim," a booklet published by De Agostini as part of their Star Wars Encyclopedia series on November 23, 2021.
- Ultimate Star Wars
- Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
- Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
- Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition