Kdatlyno

The Kdatlyno are a sapient species of completely blind bipeds from Kdat, which see the world through radar.

Biology
Kdatlyno are large creatures, standing about 10 ft (~ 3 m) in height. They have flat feet, proportionally long arms and silver-tipped spikes on their elbows and knees. Their skin is tough, brown, draconic-looking and impervious to knives. Their hands are superficially humanlike, but with eight retractable claws on the knuckles. Their faces have neither eyes nor nose: only a mouth and a goggle-like tympanum on the center of the face, where the skin is stretched like a drum.

In terms of physiology, they breathe the same air and use some of the same proteins as Humans, but still can't consume the same food.

Culture and society
Kdatlyno have been enslaved by Kzinti, but were liberated by Humans. In the 27th century, the Kdatlyno sphere of colonized space is about 15 light-years across: about half the size of the Humans' sphere but larger than the Puppeteers'. They create artistic sculptures that are meant to be touched rather than seen.

Appearances

 * "At the Core", by Larry Niven (1966)
 * "Grendel", by Larry Niven (1968)
 * "There Is a Tide", by Larry Niven (1968)
 * Ringworld, by Larry Niven (1970)
 * "The Borderland of Sol", by Larry Niven (1975)
 * Crashlander, by Larry Niven (1994)