Howlers, or Crayak

Crayak

Crayak is a fictional character and villain from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate.-Description:Crayak is a nearly omnipotent entity appearing in the form of an armless cyborg with massive limbs and nothing but what would resemble as a blood-red eye for a head...

's Children, are the alien shock troops of the nearly omnipotent Crayak

Crayak

Crayak is a fictional character and villain from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate.-Description:Crayak is a nearly omnipotent entity appearing in the form of an armless cyborg with massive limbs and nothing but what would resemble as a blood-red eye for a head...

, in the sci-fi book series Animorphs

Animorphs

Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. Five humans, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias, and one alien, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill , obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch. They name...

.

Biology

Howlers possess cracked black skin that resembles hardened lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

; beneath the black, in the cracks and creases of the flesh, are bright, red lines. Humanoid in appearance, their bodies are split in two at the waist, and the two halves tethered together by elastic skin; this bearing allows them to turn their upper body all the way around and keep themselves in the fight permanently, even when thrown away. They have large, expressionless, robin's-egg-blue eyes that have the ability to make out major organs within their prey. The Howlers are fast learners and can easily adapt; when the Animorphs escape them using insect morphs, they counter by releasing insect poison

Pesticide

Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

 into the room during a subsequent attack.

Their most fearsome weapon is the howl that gives them their name. The howl is modulated to affect the complex, intelligent brain

Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

s of sentient

Sentience

Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...

 beings, and will almost instantly disorient and cripple those who hear it. Howlers are very fast, extremely resilient and highly talented at combat. In The Attack

The Attack (Animorphs)

The Attack is the twenty-sixth book in the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Jake.-Plot summary:...

, a single Howler was capable of fighting all six of the Animorphs in their primary battle morphs to a stalemate

Stalemate

Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....

. Their super-fast regenerative abilities allow them to quickly overcome even the worst physical damage. The Howlers operate as a hive-mind; the experiences of any one Howler are shared amongst all of them, so that every single one may become the best possible combatant.

Behavior and Evolution

Being the tools of Crayak

Crayak

Crayak is a fictional character and villain from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate.-Description:Crayak is a nearly omnipotent entity appearing in the form of an armless cyborg with massive limbs and nothing but what would resemble as a blood-red eye for a head...

, this race's sole purpose is to travel through the universe and destroy peaceful civilizations. But while Howlers may seem brutal in their killings, the Animorphs discover that they are not a race of purely evil beings (a philosophical point of K. A. Applegate

K. A. Applegate

Katherine Alice Applegate is an American author, best-known as the author of the Animorphs, Remnants, Everworld and other book series, although some of the books in these series are ghostwritten by other authors. Applegate's most popular books are science fiction, fantasy, and adventure novels...

's), for they are in fact unaware of the severity of their actions; they seem to be unaware that the people they are killing are actually real, sentient beings capable of feeling emotions or pain. The Howler mind is, in fact, similar to the dolphin

Dolphin

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...

 mind in its playfulness. The Howler collective memory means that any experiences of victorious combat are shared throughout the race, but it will also share any experience of defeat among them, something Crayak

Crayak

Crayak is a fictional character and villain from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate.-Description:Crayak is a nearly omnipotent entity appearing in the form of an armless cyborg with massive limbs and nothing but what would resemble as a blood-red eye for a head...

 cannot allow, which is why no Howler has memory of ever having lost a battle; Crayak does not allow those memories to poison the collective pool. The species is manufactured, and a Howler lives for only three years of its childhood before dying.

Howlers in Animorphs

The Howlers are mentioned in the tenth book in the Animorphs

Animorphs

Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. Five humans, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias, and one alien, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill , obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch. They name...

series, The Android

The Android (Animorphs)

The Android is the tenth book in the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Marco.-Plot summary:While sneaking into a concert in dog morph, Jake and Marco discover that they are unable to detect a smell from their friend Erek King, something impossible, as all living things...

, when the Chee

Chee

The Chee are a fictional race of androids created by the extinct Pemalites, a race of pacifists from the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. The word Chee means "Friend" in the Pemalite language.-Fictional history:...

 Erek King

Erek King

Erek King is a fictional character from the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate. He is a member of the Chee, a pacifistic android race created by the Pemalites. Erek King was the name of a real Animorphs fan who won a competition on the Animorphs Official Site to have his name included in one of...

 explains that it was the Howlers who destroyed the Chee's creators, the ancient, dog-like Pemalite

Pemalite

The Pemalites are a fictional alien species from the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate. In appearance they resemble dogs, though they walk on their hind legs.-Creation:...

 race. The creatures are first featured in book twenty-six, The Attack, when Crayak

Crayak

Crayak is a fictional character and villain from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate.-Description:Crayak is a nearly omnipotent entity appearing in the form of an armless cyborg with massive limbs and nothing but what would resemble as a blood-red eye for a head...

 and the Ellimist

Ellimist

The Ellimist is a fictional character from the science fiction novel series Animorphs.The Ellimist is an almost god-like being, displaying many reality warping powers, though it is stated several times that while he appears to be, he is not omnipotent. By standard values, the Ellimist is a force of...

 have a contest between seven of the species and the Animorphs, along with Erek when the Ellimist sought to protect a race called the Iskoort, who would play a vital role in the future. In the fight, Jake manages to defeat one Howler by tricking it into falling off a cliff – subsequently acquiring it during the fall – and the Animorphs subsequently manage to download their own memories into a Howler using Iskoort technology, causing the Howler to realize that humans and other species are, in fact, sentient beings with feelings and emotions. Crayak quickly destroyed the infected Howlers, to keep this information from reaching the collective memory. However, a single memory ended up getting through; a memory of Cassie

Cassie (Animorphs)

Cassie is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. Her last name is never mentioned, although she referred to it as being "nice" in The Secret.-Biography:...

 and Jake

Jake Berenson

Jake Berenson is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. Until the penultimate book of the series, his last name was never revealed, and he was known only as Jake...

 kissing. The Ellimist informs the Animorphs that this, in effect, destroys the Howlers as a threat, as a memory of love makes them useless to Crayak. For Jake's role in this, Crayak has great hatred of him, and has worked harder to destroy him than the other Animorphs.

The Howlers are known to have wiped out several species, including the Nostnavay, Graffen's Children and most notably, the Pemalite

Pemalite

The Pemalites are a fictional alien species from the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate. In appearance they resemble dogs, though they walk on their hind legs.-Creation:...

s. They can, in effect, be seen as the opposite of the Pemalites---who were created by the Ellimist

Ellimist

The Ellimist is a fictional character from the science fiction novel series Animorphs.The Ellimist is an almost god-like being, displaying many reality warping powers, though it is stated several times that while he appears to be, he is not omnipotent. By standard values, the Ellimist is a force of...

to spread life---though both species, interestingly, are noted for wanting nothing more than to have fun.