Biology[]
The Urs are a matriarchal society of centaur like beings with 3 eyes, 4 legs, and 2 Y shaped arms that split at the elbow. Female Urs are the greater of the species in both size and intelligence, while males stay in a pair of marsupial pouches just ahead of the fore-legs, one on each side, with one being expelled when it's time to make room for the young. The Urs evolved on a Mars like world, where water is found more in roots and stems of dense organic mats rather than the atmosphere. Urs prefer to drink blood unless severely dehydrated and are hydrophobic enough to find direct skin contact with water unpleasantly caustic. Wet Urs dry themselves as soon as possible and may even shave off their hair to avoid fungus and rot.
Galactic culture[]
The natural Urs lifespan is 30 years, surviving due to a high birthrate. Since overpopulation is a serious sin in galactic culture this would make population control into a religious act. At some point the Urs encountered the Hoon, whom they eventually became mutual enemies of, while their interactions with the "Wolfling" Humans is more decent, with the Urs having a possibly nostalgic curiosity to Human technology, rocketry among other things, which arose without assistance from the Civilization of Five Galaxies, who find this fascination absurd.
Sources[]
Contacting Aliens. an illustrated guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe.