Cliff wampa The cliff wampa was a brown - furred , rock - climbing subspecies bioengineered from the wampa ice creature native to the frozen Outer Rim Territories planet Hoth . After learning of the ice wampa ' s powerful ferocity during the Battle of Hoth , the Galactic Empire captured several of the creatures , and Imperial biologists artificially adapted them to various environments . By 3 . 5 ABY , the Empire had placed the resulting cliff wampa on the rocky Outer Rim moon of Gall to guard local Imperial interests . Biology and appearance . A product of Imperial bioengineering , the cliff wampa was a manufactured subspecies of the wampa ice creature indigenous to the ice planet Hoth . Whereas the ice wampa was covered with a coat of white fur for camouflage on Hoth ' s frozen plains , the cliff wampa was gray or light brown in color to blend in with the rocky habitat of the Imperial - controlled moon of Gall . The cliff wampa boasted sharp , iron - strong claws capable of climbing or digging through solid rock , much like the Hoth wampa would dig through ice . Behavior and intelligence . Like its Hoth cousin , the cliff wampa was semi - sentient in nature . Cliff wampas were temperamental and hungry , and would maul anything or anyone they encountered . History . The origin of the cliff wampa began during the Rebel Alliance ' s tenure at the Echo Base facility on the Outer Rim Territories ice planet Hoth . The Rebels of Echo Base endured repeated assaults on their encampment from Hoth ' s native wampas . During one such attack , the Rebels neutralized and incarcerated several of the creatures , holding them in secluded pens within the base . Later , during the Imperial assault on Echo Base in the Battle of Hoth , several of the Dark Lord Darth Vader ' s elite snowtroopers were slaughtered by the Rebels ' caged wampas after charging blindly into one of the creatures ' holding pens inside the base . Imperial biologists were so impressed with the powerful wampa after receiving reports of how the creatures terrorized Echo Base that the Empire managed to capture some of the beasts and , through bioengineering , adapted them to survive in various environments as guard animals . The cliff wampa was a result of the Empire ' s efforts . Cliff wampas in the galaxy . By 3 . 5 ABY , just months after the Battle of Hoth , the Empire installed the cliff wampa to guard the Cadavine Sector Fleet Imperial Enclave on the rocky Outer Rim moon of Gall . The mercenary Dash Rendar , who had previously come face - to - face with the Rebels ' captured ice wampas within the bowels of Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth , encountered a single cliff wampa while attempting to infiltrate the Imperial Enclave through the high cliffs of Smuggler ' s Canyon in a failed effort to rescue the captive Han Solo from the bounty hunter Boba Fett . Behind the scenes . The cliff wampa was created for the 1996 video game . According to " Shadows of the Empire " game creator Jon Knoles , as recounted in the " Star Wars Insider " 33 article " LucasArts takes on the Wampa " , the LucasArts game developers inserted a rock - camouflaged wampa into the " Gall Spaceport " level as a way to have fun with the game — developer Ryan Kaufman is jokingly listed in the game credits as " Cliff Wampa Zoologist . " The article likens the cliff wampa ' s appearance in " Shadows of the Empire " to any number of hidden tricks , or " Easter eggs , " that game designers have always created to " stretch the fun factor " but noted that LucasArts developers tried to be conservative with what secrets they included in their games , knowing that anything they created could later appear in other " Star Wars " works and thus become official canon when it was never meant to be . The 1996 strategy guide for the " Shadows of the Empire " video game , compiled by Crispin Boyer , was the first source to identify the " Gall Spaceport " creature as a " cliff wampa . " Jon Knoles described LucasArts ' original backstory for its " fabled " creature as the result of Imperial bioengineering , information later fully canonized in the 2006 reference book " The New Essential Guide to Alien Species " . In both and , published by Prima Games , writer Bart Farkas colloquially refers to the cliff wampa as a " mountain wampa . "