Kavaavik was a small flightless avian on the Yuuzhan Vong homeworld[1], an extra-galactic world[2] destroyed in a devastating ancient conflict.[3] Millennia before this event, the eyes of the kavaavik had adapted to burrowing through dark subterranean tunnels. This ability appealed to the bioengineering sciences of the Yuuzhan Vong, and over time, this kind of creature was replaced, as was common among their creations, by a genetically-altered freak with a powerful echolocation sense, which was co-opted to allow the Yuuzhan Vong to see in the dark.[1]
The kavaavik was a delicate bundle of flesh and thin bones, its pale skin puckered as if freshly plucked. When a Yuuzhan Vong placed a kavaavik over his eyes, the bioengineered creature gripped the wearer’s head with its two remaining limbs and inserted its spinal needle into the optic nerve through the tear duct of the right eye. When worn in this manner, the subject saw whatever the kavaavik saw, as its echolocation pulses were translated into visual images, temporarily granting the wearer the ability to see in complete darkness within a range of 500 meters. The wearer perceived his surroundings only as silhouettes, and a Yuuzhan Vong using a kavaavik was unable to read a datascreen or a paper scroll unless the scroll had raised lettering. If the kavaavik was killed while attached to a host, the host was temporarily blinded for several seconds until the optic nerve adjusted to the shock. Kavaavik were typically carried in membranous pouches.[1]
