The Eye of the Beh-owl-der: Are Convorees Really “Space Owls”?

Star Wars: Rebels has introduced us to an entire menagerie of new creatures in the galaxy far, far away. There are the cute (lothcats), the majestic (purrgils), and the just plain comedic (puffer pigs), but perhaps no creature has elicited more fan speculation than that of the convor (okay, fine, lothwolves excluded). The convorees (plural …

Ecofeminism and Rogue One

By guest contributor Chris Wermeskerch For many fans, after Disney’s new round of Star Wars films was launched, discussions were raised about the new slate of films and whether or not they had feminist biases. The point of this essay is to seriously examine, well, does Rogue One carry feminist overtones? More particularly in this …

#JusticeForBoga: The Growing Awareness of Animal Rights in Star Wars

The idea of animal rights as a social cause is nothing new; the ASPCA was founded in 1866. But when you take a broader look at the history of the animal rights movement, the ethical treatment of animals wasn’t considered a hot-button issue until the early 1980’s, and has continually gained in popularity since then. As …

Nature of the Force I: Ahch-To

What does the wildlife and nature of a planet tell us about how the Force manifests there? Do differences in ecosystems between planets convey whether the dark side or light side is stronger in one or another? Here at Porgology, I'll be analyzing the biomes of various planets in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, how …

Galactic Threat? An Evaluation of Porgs as Invasive Species

Porgs, a recently identified species of avian-like creature nesting on the rocky shores of Ahch-To, have become a cause for alarm in the galactic ecologist community. After seeing how porgs have taken over the landscape on Ahch-To, the speed at which they colonize visiting spacecraft, and public interest in porgs as pets (Bibbiani, 2017; Whalen, …

Report from the Field: Porgs

The beauty of the island was not enough to calm my nerves. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful island. Dark gray cliffs, bright green vegetation, rich navy water – it was truly a tapestry to behold. I had only landed on this island because I was out of fuel, but I had no …

What’s in a porg?

The real-life counterparts of our favourite galactic fluffball. While porgs tragically do not exist outside of the fictional Star Wars universe (and the Pinewood props department), they do have some real-life counterparts. You might not find any porgs on our planet, but you will see echoes of them in many of our native fauna, and …

From Porgs to Porgsplosion: A Brief History of the Porg

It’s hard to believe, but a year ago only a select few people knew what a porg was. Now the puffin-inspired creatures from The Last Jedi are literally almost everywhere. You can find porg t-shirts, toys, keychains, and even tattoos in a store or on social media without even looking for them. The creators of …