15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Aliens In 'Star Wars'

Chewbacca is a loveable walking carpet, but in spite of his presence throughout the original trilogy, surprisingly little about his biology is revealed. As it turns out, though, Wookiees have extendable claws that they are never allowed to use for anything other than climbing trees, because to do so would violate the Wookiee Honor Code.

In fact, the only rule of the Honor Code is that the claws cannot be used for violence. Chewbacca violated that code when he used his claws to kill a male stormtrooper following the death of Han Solo at the hands of Kylo Ren. 

Thanks in part to his enormous cranium, Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi got plenty of attention during the prequel trilogy in spite of his relatively limited screen time.

As it turns out, Mundi is a member of the Cerean race, which are known in part for their large, binary brains. These brains allow them to see both sides of every issue, which make them great analysts, and explains why Mundi was able to ascend to his place on the Jedi Council. 

As we see in Attack of the Clones, the Geonosians were responsible for creating the plans for the Death Star, and the Empire also forced them to build the station. They ultimately became a servant species for the Empire, and were prohibited from breeding freely. 

After construction of the Death Star was complete, Grand Moff Tarkin ordered the Imperial Weapons Division to drop gas canisters on the Geonosian population, leaving just one member of the species alive. Approximately 100 billion Geonosians perished, all in service of keeping the secret of the Death Star intact. The Geonosian genocide was the largest of the Empire's reign. 

Although they don't get a ton of screen time, the Chiss play an important role in the canon of Star Wars. The most notable Chiss is Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Empire (seen in Star Wars: Rebels), but a number of characters from Chiss are depicted throughout other Star Wars stories. 

Among the Chiss, Force sensitivity is incredibly rare, and it usually manifests in limited abilities like precognition or telepathy, and almost always among females. The Chiss refer to Force users with precognition as having third sight, and users who have telepathy as having second sight. Many of these Force users end up joining the Chiss military as navigators and are known as "ozyly-esehembo," which literally translates to "sky-walkers" in Galactic Basic Standard.

Many of the alien species in Star Wars come from worlds in which there is only one dominant culture. There are others, such as the Mon Calamari and the Quarren, that share their planets with other species. The home world of the Mon Calamari and Quarren, which is called Mon Cala, was bitterly divided between the two races for much of the Clone Wars. 

In the conflict, the Mon Calamari sided with the Republic while the Quarren sided with the Separatists, and this led to high levels of tension on the planet. By the end of the conflict, peace had been restored between the two races, but only after the leaders of the Quarren had a change of heart and aligned themselves with the Mon Calamari. 

The Neimoidians are most famous for their involvement in the Trade Federation, which played an enormous role in kick-starting the Clone Wars. As it turns out, their brutal culture starts at a pretty young age. For the first seven years of their lives, Neimoidians live as grubs or larvae and are given a limited supply of food. 

The grubs are then forced to compete with one another for this limited supply, and only those that manage to hoard the most food are able to survive the ordeal. In theory, this means that only the strongest members of the race reach maturity, although it's undoubtedly a brutal trial to impose on children.