Common Animals

Common animals, in the definition used here, are animals that are abundantly present, 'common', in many biomes and/or larger regions of Middle-earth.

The motive for this page is to reduce the long lists of animals in the biome infoboxes on the biome pages. The purpose is to:

• provide info on the occurence of these animals in biomes of Middle-earth and to
• provide links to more detailed information on any common animal.

In most cases, the 'animals' section of the biome infoboxes will contain one or more link(s) to the groups of common animals mentioned below.

The 'common animals' are divided in a few logical groups that correspond to their occurence in larger regions of Middle-Earth. This division may change as more animals are added with new mod updates. For now, we distinguish between the following groups of common animals:

Far Harad Savannah - Predator and Predator.

Global: Bird, Bat, Butterfly and Fish.

Temperate: Farm Animals, Aurochs, Bear, Deer, Wild Boar, Rabbit.

Tropical: Rhino, Giraffe, Crocodile, Lion, Zebra, Gemsbok, Dik-dik and Flamingo.

A number of biomes/regions, particularly evil and/or very inhospitable lands, has no common animals at all, except bats. These are: Brown Lands, Dagorlad, Dead Marshes, Emyn Muil, Far Harad Volcano, Forodwaith, Meneltarma, Midgewater, Misty Mountains, Mordor, Near Harad Desert and Utumno.

Global

The common animals in this category are spread across entire Middle-earth. At the moment, all of them are airborne creatures.

Note that Midges are not included in this list. The reason for this is that they occur in only a very limited number of biomes. Their occurence is mentioned specifically in every relevant biome infobox.

Rhûn Forest - Birds.

Bird

Birds are found throughout Middle-earth with the exception of the following biomes: Angmar, Far Harad Arid Savannah, Far Harad Mangrove, Far Harad Swampland, Midgewater, Nindalf, Ocean Islands, Perdorogwaith and Tundra.

Bat

Bats are the only animals that are common to all biomes of Middle-Earth.

Lothlórien - Deer and Butterflies

Butterfly

Butterflies can be found in many biomes, but there are notable exceptions: Angmar, Far Harad Arid Savannah, Far Harad Mangrove, Far Harad Swampland, Midgewater, Nindalf, Ocean Islands, Perdorogwaith and Tundra.

Fish

The mods fishies can be found almost anywhere where there is water that is not corrupted or frozen. Fish comes in a great variety of colours.

Temperate

The animals in this group are typically found in all the biomes in between the Forodwaith to the north and Far Harad to the south.

Notable exception is the Grey Mountains, where no larger game spawns at all, possibly because of the devastating effect of the coming of the Dragons, ages ago.

Shire - Cows and Pigs - which to eat first?

Note that Elk, Horse and Wolf are not included in this list despite their occurence in quite a few biomes in the temperate regions. The reason for this is that they occur in less than half of the biomes in the temperate zone. Their occurence is mentioned specifically in every relevant biome infobox and on the dedicated pages on these animals.

Farm Animals

White Downs - Chicks gettin' down

This group of animals contains the vanilla passive mobs 'cows', 'pigs', 'sheep' and 'chickens'. They are included in two groups of 'common animals' for the temperate biomes:

• Domesticated: Cows, Deer, Pigs, Sheep and Chickens
• Non-Domesticated: Aurochs, Deer, Boar, Sheep and Chickens

  

  Lindon - Aww ...

The Non-Domesticated group is used as default for most temperate biomes. The Domesticated group is only used for the Shire, Breeland, Dorwinion and the Pelennor Fields. Rohan is the only biome that has an abundance of cows, next to the animals of the non-domesticated group.

None of the vanilla farm animals occur in the Ettenmoors, the Grey Mountains and the Midgewater marshes.

Aurochs

A herd of aurochses bossing a fresh Dalish meadow

Auroches are big ruminants roaming many a grassy meadow throughout the temparate zones of Middle-Earth. They shall better not be approached too carelessly.

Bear

Bears are large omnivores that can be found in most of the temperate biomes of Middle-Earth. They are most common in forests, however.

Deer

Deer are the predominant herbivorous animal in the temperate biomes. The only biomes where they cannot be found are those listed in the introduction. The page on Deer lists a number of biomes where they are especially succesful.

Wild Boar

Enedwaith - Piglets and Bunnies, how cute...

Wild Boar are the predominant omnivorous animal in the temperate biomes. The only biomes where they cannot be found are those listed in the introduction and in the Shire, Breeland and the Pelennor Fields. Their vitality is exceptionally high in the Iron Hills, where they outnumber all other game.

Rabbit

Rabbits are numerous wherever they are present ... which is almost everywhere in the temperate Biomes. The only area's where these tender loving creatures do not thrive are Ettenmoors, Grey Mountains, Lothlórien, Midgewater and Tundra, presumably for different reasons.

Tropical

Perdorogwaith - Rhinos, Gemsboks and ... Monstrous Things

This region includes all of Far Harad and Perdorogwaith.

Rhino

Rhinos shun dense woods and treacherous swamps and do not occur in: Far Harad Cloud Forest, Far Harad Jungle and Far Harad Swampland. Other than that, they thrive throughout the rest of the region.

Far Harad Savannah - Lion sneaking up on a loooong snack.

Giraffe

These majestic acacia grazers prefer a wide view and solid soils. They have not populated: Far Harad Cloud Forest, Far Harad Jungle, Far Harad Swampland and Perdorogwaith.

Crocodile

These top predators have colonized nearly any Far Harad biome and are the only tropical common animals that live in the Far Harad Swampland, where they practically exterminated any other life forms. They do not occur in: Far Harad Cloud Forest and Perdorogwaith.

Lion

This is the top predator of the dry lands. They leave these biomes to other dominant carnivores: Far Harad Cloud Forest, Far Harad Jungle, Far Harad Swampland and Perdorogwaith.

Far Harad Arid Savannah Hills - Ruminant buddies.

Zebra

The zebras of Far Harad are the main herbivorous animals grazing the plains and valleys. They do not occur in: Far Harad Cloud Forest, Far Harad Jungle, Far Harad Swampland and Perdorogwaith.

Gemsbok

Gemsbok are the next big herbivore in Far Harad where they coexist with rhinos. They do not occur in: Far Harad Cloud Forest, Far Harad Jungle and Far Harad Swampland.

Far Harad Savannah - Jitterbugs ... and photographers nightmares

Dik-dik

Dik-diks run around through the undergrowth throughout much of Far Harad, but they do not occur in: Far Harad Cloud Forest, Far Harad Jungle, Far Harad Swampland and Perdorogwaith.

Flamingo

These flamboyantly feathered phenomena can be encountered in the Far Harad Cloud Forest, the Far Harad Jungle and along the banks of all Far Harad Rivers.

Check out

Top 10 Animals list

Far Harad Swampland - Flamingo facing a difficult choice.

Fun fact

Mevans favorite animal is in this page.