So in OD&D, animals are broken into "Insect or Animal, Large" and "Insect or Animal, Small" and given the minimum information necessary for fighting them. In Supplement III there are revised wilderness wandering monster tables that incorporate all monsters in the original 3 books plus those from Supplements I through III. I was looking at the Animals subtables for ideas on what kinds of "insects and animals" were expected and the tables are interesting in the places they suggest. The entries for "Clear" terrain and "Woods" are clearly modelled off the American Midwest. The only two that stand out to me here are Wolverines and Giant Lynx, mostly because I'm from Texas, which bridges the American South and the American Southwest and the wolverine and lynx are from northern latitudes. The Mountain table seems more the Rocky Mountains due to the Giant Rams and Giant Goats, but could also cover the Alleghanies (the mountain range that runs up and down the American eastern seaboard). The "Optional Mountains" is clearly the Ice Age and is interesting because "Neanderthalers" appear on a list specifically of animals. "Jungle-Like" exists because they didn't know the word "savannah" or were trying to cover savannah and jungle, but didn't have space in the layout for a long word like savannah. Apes and Warthogs in a jungle? Check. Hyenas, Elephants, and Rhinos? Not so much, let alone Buffalo, "Herd Animals", nor Lions. The Swamps/March table features expected animals (at least for swamps/marshes on the North American continent) but also includes Lizard Men on an encounter list specifically of animals. The "Optional Swamp" includes dinosaurs for your Forgotten World locales. Note, these are dinosaurs as known in the 1970s, so a mish-mash of ages: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, "Bronto's", stegosaurus, and "Pter'dyle" (which I assume is a badly abbreviated "pterodactyl"). What struck me most was the inclusion of Lizard Men and "Neaderthalers" on tables specifically for animals. Lizard Men already appear on the Swimmers table, so they are possible encounters on River and Swamp terrains, so why add them to animals as well? "Neanderthalers" appear nowhere else and are separate from Cavemen, a type of "Men". The suggestion is that both are bestial and not civilized at all, which puts them below orcs, the stereotypical savages of early D&D. Not much else to say and I feel like I'm starting to meander, so I'm going to stop here. Later!
