Tibidon sand whale

For other uses, see whale.

"The tibidon sand whale is the tibidee's significantly more massive relative. It measures three hundred meters long and weighs more than four thousand kilograms."

―From the journal of Ardis San Tekka^[1]

Tibidon sand whales, or just sand whales, were a relative of the tibidee that was native to the desert planet Tatooine. Measuring three hundred meters in length, the sand whales used their pectoral fins and a tail fluke to propel themselves through either sand or air. In 9 BBY, the sand whaling station Tibidon Station was set up to harvest meat from the corpse of a tibidon sand whale on Tatooine.

Biology and appearance

"The sand whale is native to Tatooine. It uses its broad tail fluke and ten pectoral fins (five on each rib cage) to propel it through the sand or air."

―From the journal of Ardis San Tekka^[1]

Tibidon sand whales,^[4] also known as just sand whales,^[5] were a huge^[3] non-sentient species that were three hundred meters in length and weighted over four thousand kilograms. They had flat bodies with a head at one end consisting of a mouth and two eyes, and a tail fluke at the other. The creatures had ten wing-like, pectoral fins, five on each ribcage, which they used in combination with their tail to propel themselves through either sand or air. They were relatives of the smaller tibidee.^[1]

History

In 9 BBY,^[6] the gray carcass of a tibidon sand whale was partially submerged in the desert of Tatooine,^[2] the sand whales' home planet.^[1] A sand whaling station^[3] called Tibidon Station^[7] was established to harvest the meat from the carcass, with foreman Groff Ditcher overseeing workers like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padu Cherd as they cut up the meat.^[2] Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts Director of Creature Cartography Ardis San Tekka wrote an entry on tibidon sand whales in her journal^[1] at some point after the Battle of Exegol in 35 ABY.^[8]

Behind the scenes

A tibidon sand whale appeared in the first episode of the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi television series,^[2] which aired on May 27, 2022.^[9] The design for the creature was repurposed from a Ralph McQuarrie sketch exploring the concept of a flying whale for^[4] the 1980^[10] film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.^[4]

The creature was not named in the episode, although the audio description did state that the station set up next to it was a sand whaling station.^[3] The show's sixth episode,^[5] released on June 22, 2022,^[11] then identified the creature as a sand whale in its audio description.^[5] The full name of tibidon sand whale was then provided in the guide for the episode on StarWars.com.^[4]

Appearances

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part I" (First appearance) (Appears as a corpse)
Obi-Wan Kenobi 1 (Appears as a corpse)
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi — "Part VI" (First identified as sand whale) (mentioned in audio description only)