Sehlat The sehlat was a giant " teddy bear " - like beast , native to . " Sehlat " s had six - inch fangs and did not like to climb , preferring to remain on low ground . Domesticated " sehlat " s , which were only slightly smaller than wild " sehlat " s , were a popular pet with Vulcan children . " Sehlat " s , however , were very aggressive , so Vulcan children learned early never to be late with their dinner . History . T ' Pol had a pet " sehlat " in her youth . In 2154 , a wild " sehlat " stalked Captain Jonathan Archer and T ' Pol , who was by then a Starfleet commander , in Vulcan ' s Forge . Archer compared the squeals of a " sehlat " to a Klingon opera that Hoshi Sato once made him listen to . ( ) Syrran and T ' Pau were able to imitate the screams of a " sehlat " , and the latter used imitations of those noises to mislead Talok and two Vulcan commandos into the electric discharges of gallicite deposits . ( ) Spock had a pet " sehlat " named I - Chaya during his youth that originally belonged to his father , Sarek . I - Chaya died in 2237 , as a result of injuries inflicted from an attack by a " le - matya " . Because the venom of the " le - matya " was incurable by that point , Spock chose to have I - Chaya euthanized to end his suffering . ( ; ) Appendices . Background information . Animated appearance . Although a " sehlat " could only be referred to in , it could be seen on - screen in because the episode was animated . ( " Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before " , p . 57 ) Although the " sehlat " featured in " Yesteryear " was domesticated , the potentially harmful nature of " sehlat " s in general was referenced in the episode ' s script . ( " Babel " # 5 ; " Enterprise Incidents " , number 11 , pp . 27 & 29 ) That teleplay specifically described the species thus ; " " A " sehlat " looks something like a giant teddy bear . . . with six inch fangs . It is not cute . . . a " sehlat " can be dangerous as hell . If you make a wrong move , a " sehlat " will probably rip your arm off . . . but Vulcans never make wrong moves . That would be illogical . " " According to the unauthorized reference book " Boldly Writing " ( p . 5 ) , the animated design of the " sehlat " was inspired by a speculative article that was published in the fanzine " Spockanalia 5 " . " Boldly Writing " states , " " In this piece , the author looks at precedents in nature to see what sort of animal would have six - inch fangs . The author concludes , ' And so our portrait of the " sehlat " : a carnivore or just possibly tusked omnivore , general shape that of a , size on the order of an , highly intelligent , and despite the six - inch fangs , of a patient and gentle disposition . . . Question : did the " sehlat " belong to Spock , or was Spock in the care of the " sehlat " ? ' The " Star Trek " production staff read this article , and animators incorporated many of the suggestions into the drawing of the " sehlat " I - Chaya . " " Another basis for the animated appearance of the " sehlat " was an illustration that fantasy and science fiction artist Alicia Austin drew for D . C . Fontana , who remembered , " " Alicia Austin came up with several variations on what a " sehlat " looks like . I chose one of the early ones as a model – with modifications [ . . . ] I - Chaya has a different kind of tail , different shape of face , the broken fang . " " ( " Babel " # 5 ; " Enterprise Incidents " , number 11 , p . 27 ) Fontana purposefully instructed the Filmation artists to break off I - Chaya ' s tooth , in order to give the " sehlat " a more aged appearance . Prequel developments . The idea of including a " sehlat " in was thought up by Judith and Garfield Reeves - Stevens and was written into the episode by them . ( " Before Her Time : Decommissioning " Enterprise " , Part Two : Memorable Voyages " , ENT Season 4 Blu - ray special features ) Even before the pair had a story for " The Forge " , though , a " sehlat " was one of two elements ( the other being T ' Pau ) that the couple knew they wanted to include in the outing . ( " " , issue 55 , p . 15 ) In the script of " The Forge " , the " sehlat " was described as having a " Jaguar - like cry " and " heavy paws " . The particular " sehlat " in " The Forge " was a CGI character . With indirect references to the " sehlat " species , Dan Curry recalled how he and a visual effects team at Eden FX revamped this type of creature for ; " " We looked at the animated series and it just looked nice and pleasant , so I did a couple of sketches to do a reinterpretation of it to make it look scary , but not be too radical a departure from the original [ . . . ] John Teska at Eden FX modeled it and visual effects supervisor Art Codron supervised the compositing . We used special software to create the fur and we did it so should the need arise we could look at it fairly closely . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 37 , No . 2 , p . 37 ) Remembering a production meeting concerning " The Forge " , Judith Reeves - Stevens commented , " " They ' d gone to town on it and it suddenly consumed many , many more dollars than , of course , we could have . At the end , we were just hoping we could perhaps have a claw on a stick , and have it in off - camera . " " Garfield Reeves - Stevens added , " " For the " sehlat " , I think it was André [ Bormanis ] who said , ' If you ' re gonna be on Vulcan , we have to see a " sehlat " . " " It was as a result of this that the writers were permitted to include a " sehlat " in " The Forge " . Everyone who was working on the installment was made aware that one of the animals would be in the show . ( " Before Her Time : Decommissioning " Enterprise " , Part Two : Memorable Voyages " , ENT Season 4 Blu - ray special features ) As the Reeves - Stevenses were well aware that CGI was extremely expensive , they felt it was best for the " sehlat " in " The Forge " to appear in a minimum of shots and suggested to show - runner Manny Coto that the animal be portrayed in a total of three shots , to which Coto agreed . The prospect of depicting a " sehlat " in the episode excited the ENT art department so much , however , that they broke down a storyboard of the " sehlat " scene in such a way that the creature was to be present in twenty - seven shots . When the Reeves - Stevenses themselves were reprimanded for having too many shots of the " sehlat " , the couple again recommended showing the beast in only three shots , which was finally approved . ( " Before Her Time : Decommissioning " Enterprise " , Part Two : Memorable Voyages " , ENT Season 4 Blu - ray special features ) An example of the cutbacks was a closeup of one of the sehlat ' s claws , viciously swiping at T ' Pol but missing her , which was scripted to be shown , though such a moment is not in the episode ' s final version . In addition to its on - screen appearances , off - camera noises made by the " sehlat " in " The Forge " can be heard in the episode . In one scene of the " Enterprise " episode , T ' Pol was originally to have sung to her daughter , Elizabeth , a Vulcan lullaby about why children are never late with their " sehlat " s dinner , though this idea was scrapped . ( " Terra Prime " audio commentary , ENT Season 4 DVD special features ) Trivia . The text commentary for " Yesteryear " on the , which was written by Michael and Denise Okuda , claims that Tuvok also had a pet " sehlat " . However , no canon ical evidence confirming this from is immediately evident . The Okudas ' text commentary for " Star Trek : Enterprise " s pilot episode , , on the ENT Season 1 DVD supposes that " sehlat " s typically smell less foul than dog s , since several Vulcans ( naturally hypersensitive ) are known to have had a pet " sehlat " whereas T ' Pol found Captain Archer ' s pet beagle , Porthos , to have a particularly bad odor . Apocrypha . In the relaunch novel " " , the corpse of a " sehlat " was found on the floor of a darkened cave on the Vulcan outpost planet Trilan by T ' Pol in 2135 ( Vulcan Year 8737 ) , the species having been taken to the outpost planet by its Vulcan settlers . T ' Pol took bones from the " seh ' lat " s skeleton and later used them to defend herself against a group of Fri ' slen , brutal and primitive humanoids who were actually mutated Vulcans . " Sehlats " are described in the book as an " urso - feline species " and sharp tusks are said to be characteristic of " adolescent - to - fully - grown members " of the species . The novelization of ( in " Star Trek Log 1 " ) states that " sehlat " s originated in the rain forests of Vulcan ' s southern hemisphere . The same adaptation also refers to I - Chaya ' s brown coat as looking " faded in spots to patches of pale beige , " and his fangs as being " yellowed " and ten centimeters long , although these physical characteristics are not in keeping with the " sehlat " s appearance in the episode . Tuvok ' s pet " sehlat " is named Wari in " " novel " The Sundered " . He also encounters a wild " sehlat " in " Pathways " , with whom he develops a mutual appreciation . In " Star Trek Online " , players can have a pet " sehlat " cub . They are also more feline than depicted in main canon , resembling sabertoothed lions . In " " comic " Deity , Part 1 " , it is mentioned that " a fully grown rabid " sehlat " " is rumored to have been subdued by a security officer in the alternate reality , Lieutenant , using her bare hands , while she had been visiting Vulcan .