massiff

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Tatooine, Geonosis

• Size:
  0.76 meters at the shoulder

• Vehicle:
  carnivore

• 

From the Movies

Massiffs are burly quadruped carnivores, standing about a meter tall at the shoulder. They have coarse skin, large jaws, toothy mouths, big dark eyes, and a line of hard spines along their backs. They are found on both Tatooine and Geonosis. Tusken Raiders have been known to domesticate the creatures.

From the Expanded Universe

The close proximity of Geonosis and Tatooine undoubtedly led to the migration of the creature from one world to another, most likely the result of careless traders introducing the animal into a new ecosphere. On Geonosis, massiffs are emblems of the Geonosian aristocracy, and domesticated massiffs are used to rid the hives of vermin. On occasion, massiffs are used in arena fighting. On Tatooine, they are similarly domesticated as camp guard animals.

Behind the Scenes

The massiff design originated first as an orray concept. When it was deemed too vicious-looking for the simple pack animals, the massiff instead became a dog-sized lizard that was to attack Obi-Wan Kenobi during a scene ultimately cut from the film.

Rather than discard the work already done on the massiff, the creature was transplanted to Tatooine. The computer-generated model was used instead as a Tusken Raider guard dog, replacing a creature design originally called a "faybo".