Fauna of A Series of Unfortunate Events

Lemony Snicket's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events mentions numerous forms of wild and domestic fauna. Though many such animals are only described in passing - swans, marmosets, manatees, carrier pigeons, butterflies, and yaks to name a few - a number play central or secondary roles in the plot. The following is a list, including descriptions, of the most notable of these.
V.F.D. fauna
Throughout the series it becomes apparent that V.F.D. utilized numerous animals to accomplish their missions. According to the woman with hair but no beard, the , , , and are the main animals of V.F.D.
Crows
The carrier crows, often referred to as the V.F.D. crows (because they are found in the Village of Fowl Devotees, not because of their affiliation with V.F.D.), are a vast flock (or "murder") of crows native to the eponymous Village of Fowl Devotees (V.F.D.), a tight community with unclear connections to the V.F.D. organization.
Within the Village (whose sole purpose is to accommodate the birds), the crows roost uptown in the morning and downtown in the afternoon. At night they sleep in the Nevermore Tree. The Village has extremely strict rules on the treatment of the birds, including the death penalty for killing one. The carrier crows are used by Isadora Quagmire to carry her encoded couplets to the Baudelaires while she and her brother Duncan are trapped in the Village.
When the Baudelaires reach the Hotel Denouement, Klaus is given the task of capturing the corpses of the crows on enormous bird paper, after they have been harpooned by Carmelita Spats. The Baudelaires soon discover that the crows are delivering the sugar bowl. Although most of the characters believe the sugar bowl falls down a funnel into the laundry room, in actuality it falls into the Hotel Denouement pond, the location of Dewey Denouement's secret library.
Eagles
The Mortmain Mountain eagles (also referred to as the volunteer eagles) are a fictional variety (and perhaps subspecies) of bald eagle found in the Mortmain Mountains and owned by the firestarting side of V.F.D. They appear primarily in The Slippery Slope, though they are mentioned as early on as The Wide Window.
The Mortmain Mountain eagle is a predatory raptor, preying on the . Snicket describes the variety as enormous in The Wide Window,
Approximately twenty years before the series takes place, while hiking up to the summit of Mt. Fraught with Lemony Snicket and Jerome Squalor (among others), Beatrice Baudelaire was snatched by one of the Mortmain Mountain eagles and carried away to its eyrie, However, while Kit Snicket, Cpt. Widdershins, Fernald, and Fiona navigated their submarine, the Queequeg, toward the self-sustaining hot air mobile home, the eagles tore open the net. When the Queequeg arrived, the aerostatic envelopes had been torn by the eagles, and the airship crashed in the submarine, capsizing its crew. Kit Snicket escaped with the on a raft of jetsam, but Quigley, Isadora, Duncan, Fiona, Fernald, Hector, and Cpt. Widdershins all disappeared into the Great Unknown.
Quigley feared that the eagles would die out because of the lack of , but according to Snicket, the eagles survived and "rebuilt their nests" (which had apparently been destroyed in the burning of the V.F.D. headquarters).
Lions
The V.F.D. lions (or volunteer feline detectives) are a pride of highly intelligent and "noble" lions (Panthera leo) which originally lived in the caves of the Mortmain Mountains. They were trained by V.F.D. (including Bertrand and Beatrice Baudelaire) to detect fires by scent (hence their moniker detectives). In , Ike and Josephine Anwhistle are said to have been lion tamers before Ike's death.
Through an unknown series of events (Klaus suggests that the lions are orphaned like himself), Count Olaf comes into possession of the lions. The count donates them (in poor condition) to the Caligari Carnival so that Madame Lulu (Olivia Caliban) can focus more time on fortunetelling and locating the Baudelaires.
The starts the Lion Show, which combines "violence and sloppy eating" (in which random carnival freaks are fed to the lions), eventually leading to his and Madame Lulu's death in the lion pit.
Although the Baudelaires considered rescuing them from maltreatment at the hands of Olaf,
Reptiles
The trained reptiles (often referred to as "Uncle Monty's reptile collection") are an extensive collection of reptiles and amphibians accumulated by Dr. Montgomery Montgomery during his work for the Herpetological Society of London, culminating in the discovery of the Incredibly Deadly Viper just prior to his death at the hands of Count Olaf.
While it is mentioned that the reptiles were "trained", the exact nature of this training is never made clear except in the case of the (see below). (The viper shows unusual fine motor skills, but there is never any indication that this is the result of training.)
After Montgomery's death, the collection was removed on Arthur Poe's request from the Reptile Room by the Herpetological Society (under the direction of Bruce) to be donated to "scientists, zoos, and retirement homes." Those that were not accepted were to be put to sleep.
While the collection of trained reptiles is extensive, only a handful other than the incredibly deadly viper and the mamba du mal (see below) are named or described:
) is a venomous constrictor described as "one of the deadliest snakes in the hemisphere." The (fictional) book The Mamba du Mal: A Snake That Will Never Kill Me (by Mommy Eggmonteror) states:

The Mamba du Mal is...noted for its strangulatory grip, used in conjunction with its deadly venom, giving all of its victims a tenebrous hue which is ghastly to behold.

The illustration provided in The Mamba du Mal portrays the mamba as small and light-colored with large, dark spots. In addition, the mamba is capable of human mimicry and is used for the same purpose as V.F.D. (see below), with which it can communicate. after which it is mounted in a display frame and auctioned away at the In Auction. Though several "unidentified sources" bid on it, the Esmé Squalor Fan Club wins out. Lemony Snicket points out that they are not usually active in the winter.

The story goes on to say that the professor teaches the son the language of dogs. The old Count is dissatisfied, and sends him off to another professor, who teaches him the language of birds. The old Count is again dissatisfied:

Then the father threw a wild tantrum, and roared: "Dimwitted fruit of my loins, have you learnt nothing all this time? Aren't you ashamed to come into my presence? I will send you to study with a <u>third Professor</u> in the hinterlands, but if you learn nothing this time, I won't be your father any longer. "

The son stayed with the third Professor for one more year, and when he came home again and his father asked, "My dimwitted hobbledehoy, what have you learnt?"

He answered, "I have learnt the cricket language."
Bats
The bats are domesticated bats bred in homing by V.F.D. for use in carrying messages (similar to pigeon post), a process known as "baticeering". Lemony Snicket, Beatrice Baudelaire, Beatrice Baudelaire II, and the Duchess of Winnipeg all express doubts about the capability of the bats to deliver messages to the correct correspondents. Snicket describes the bats as living in caves in the Mortmain Mountains.
Snicket frequently refers to Beatrice as his "baticeer" (which, in addition to a reference to Beatrice's training, is an anagram of her first name).</poem>
Which may enigmatically refer to My Silent Knot, although no further indication is provided.
Donkeys
The vineyard's famous donkeys (V.F.D.) are V.F.D. donkeys employed by the Vineyard of Fragrant Grapes. In The Carnivorous Carnival, Lemony Snicket affords a very brief description:

This vineyard was famous for having grapes that smelled delicious, and it was very pleasant to picnic in the fields, while the fragrance drifted in the air and the vineyard's famous donkeys, who helped carry bushels of grapes at harvesttime, slept in the shade of the grapevines.

Salmon
Stricken salmon are a fictional species or subspecies of salmon found in Stricken Stream and Sontag Shore. Their main diet is insects: in particular, . Anwhistle Aquatics and its founder, ichthyologist Gregor Anwhistle, lead a program with the help of Captain Widdershins, Fernald, and the Snickets (among other s) called Voluntary Fish Domestication,
Almost a month before the Baudelaire children arrived in the Mortmain Mountains, the two burned down V.F.D.'s headquarters in the Valley of Four Drafts. The ashes from the mammoth headquarters' destruction polluted Stricken Stream and harmed the stricken salmon. In addition, the snow gnats were driven from the area by the fires' smoke, leading Quigley Quagmire to fear that the stricken salmon would die out. According to Snicket, however, this was not the case (see ).
There is also some evidence to suggest that the stricken salmon grew in opposition to V.F.D., since Captain Widdershins says, "Aye! The Submarine Q and Its Crew of Two is not in the best of shape, I'm afraid! Aye! We've been attacked by...angry salmon!"
Other fauna
Lachrymose leeches
Lachrymose leeches are a fictional species of leech that inhabit the central part of Lake Lachrymose. Though playing a significant part in The Wide Window, they are also mentioned in several other books in the series, including The Beatrice Letters.
The Lachrymose leech is a sightless, anthropophagous leech that travels in social groups and gregariously attacks its larger prey. It is predatory (rather than hemophagic, or "blood-sucking"), generally preying on small fish. The leech's body is made up of roughly sixty annuluses (body rings), is of a lightish color, and has two sets of vela (veil-like frills) along its midsection whose purpose is unspecified. The body is also slightly longer than a human finger, though whether this is at its fully extended state or not is likewise unspecified.
The Lachrymose leech feeds on humans who have eaten within an hour of entering their territory. According to Aunt Josephine, they can "smell even the smallest bit of food from far, far away". leaving the orphans' third guardian, Josephine Anwhistle, a widow. During their residence with Josephine, Count Olaf (disguised as Captain Julio Sham) claimed his leg was eaten off by Lachrymose leeches; this, however, was part of his ruse to hide his ankle tattoo and curry Josephine's sympathy. In the end, Josephine herself was eaten alive by the Lachrymose leeches.
Snow gnats
The snow gnats are white gnats found in the Mortmain Mountains and other frigid, high-altitude areas. Snicket describes their aggressive behavior as "for no reason whatsoever." In an attempt to coin a V.F.D. name for them, Violet refers to the gnats as "violent frozen dragonflies", although gnats are members of the suborder Nematocera, while dragonflies are of the only distantly related suborder Epiprocta. Snow gnats are the main element of the 's diet. Snicket describes how an "associate" of his fell over a cliff in the Mortmain Mountains while pursued by the gnats. and display aggressive behavior toward intruders on the Shack. They are afraid of loud noises, When Vice Principal Nero forces Sunny to make her own staples, Violet provokes one of the crabs into clipping the metal rods with its claws.
Sheep
In The End, sheep were used by Ishmael to carry various items which were found on the coastal shelf towards the arboretum at the far side of the island. They were originally washed up on the island many years ago, but now are left to scavenge on the island.

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