Boga / Legends Boga was a female varactyl native to Utapau . Like all members of her species , she was a large reptilian quadruped with a beaked maw and feathers splaying from her scaled skin . Biography . Boga was one of the fastest varactyl to be tamed by the Utai beast tamers . She was thirty - nine hands tall at her shoulder , fifteen meters in length , and possessed a magnificent crest of blue , purple and green feathers . During his search for General Grievous on Utapau , Obi - Wan Kenobi chose Boga as his mount , based on her proud and loyal spirit as he saw through the Force . Astride Boga , Obi - Wan reached the tenth level of Tion Medon ' s Pau City in record time . Boga proved a worthy match for General Grievous in his wheel bike , chasing the cyborg general through the city and using her clawed feet to climb the sinkhole walls in pursuit . Along the way , she proved valuable to Obi - Wan , disabling Grievous ' s shuttle and picking off several droids . With Boga ' s help , Obi - Wan confronted and destroyed the General . Unfortunately for Boga , the clone troopers turned against her Jedi rider on the orders of Palpatine . Boga and Obi - Wan were caught in an explosion caused by an AT - TE , sending both plummeting into the water at the bottom of the sinkhole . Obi - Wan had assumed that Boga died , succumbed to her wounds and allowed himself a moment to reflect upon that touching and unexpected sacrifice . Behind the scenes . The creation of Boga proved to be one of the most daunting animation challenges of Episode III , as an active , agile digital creature had to be married to relatively static live action footage of Ewan McGregor atop a practical saddle . Originally , Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll had hoped the Boga sequences would be pushed to later in the schedule , to the 2004 pick - up photography , allowing time to develop a system where digital animation would drive the practical rig ridden by McGregor . Lucas , however , insisted on shooting McGregor ' s lizard - riding action during the 2003 principal photography window . Animation Director Rob Coleman worked with the Animatics Department to refine Boga ' s run cycle , studying nature footage of various running lizards as inspiration to the shooting crew . When it came time to shoot the live action elements of the Utapau chase in September of ' 03 , a blue - painted barrel - shaped hydraulic rig stood in for Boga . The gimbal rig controlled by the Special Effects Department under the supervision of Dave Young could rock and buck at a good speed , but it wasn ' t set to precisely mimic the swaying run cycle of the animatic Boga . This created the need for extensive repositioning and massaging of the live action element of Obi - Wan when it was composited atop the striding beast . In cases where Boga ' s movements were very extreme , Obi - Wan was entirely computer - generated as no live action element could ever properly match Boga ' s agility . Aside from getting a live action Obi - Wan to realistically serve as jockey to Boga , the creature ' s size and speed proved a challenge as well . With its long neck and tail fully unfurled , the creature ' s length spanned about fifty feet , yet it had to be fleet - footed enough to run with Grievous ' wheel bike . In the , Obi - Wan believed Boga had died , and took a moment to reflect on her believed sacrifice . The sound of Boga was created from the sounds of a dog , a Skywalker Ranch coyote and a Tasmanian Devil ( which was originally recorded for " Willow " ) . It is shown in the novelization that Boga took the brunt of the clone trooper ' s blast , protecting Kenobi , but in the comic it is the opposite , showing Kenobi blocking laser fire , attempting to protect Boga . Some fans believe that the reason Obi - Wan ' s yell to ward off the Sand People in " " was changed in the DVD version was to make it seem that Obi - Wan was copying Boga ' s yelp . " Boga " was the name of a soft drink found in that the crew became familiar with during the filming of " A New Hope " , and it was after this that the varactyl Boga , as well as the beverage Boga noga , was named ( see also Tunisia for other Tunisian - inspired names ) . During Pre - Production for " " , George Lucas had originally chosen Boga to be Anakin Skywalker ' s mount . However , it was soon dropped by the rough draft . In the " " book , it is proven by experts that , in a case of Boga vs . the Acklay , Boga wins because she is smarter , more loyal , and able to outmaneuver the fast acklay .