Key animals

Key animals are a type of special animals designed by each original developer of WWSNG.

Origin of key animals
Key animals were at first only meant as a project to let every developer of WWSNG to design a single animal of their choice. The idea was pitched to by John Johnson to the project's biologist Mark Markuson. The only stipulation was that Markuson had to approve of the new animals, to make sure that they wouldn't disrupt the ecosystem of WWSNG.

All key animals have the ability to warn other animals of WWSNG not to eat or hurt them. They do this by glowing in bright yellow when in danger.

Modified purpose
After the appearance of Ander Anderson, Zacharyson proposed that the unlocking system of WWSNG should only be operatable through a secret vault. In addition, each of the key animals should be brought to the vault in order to open it. This way, no single person could open the universe. This was all a part of the strategy of the resistance movement of WWSNG.

In the actual vault, a stone statue was made for each of the key animals. The base of each statue contains a furrow into which each animal must place its nail, horn, or appendage. Once this is completed, WSSNG would open.

List of key animals
Some key animals were designed as individuals, while some are fully-fledged species.

Trivia

 * As of 2003, Ericsson had somehow managed to displace all individuals of his own key animals, the Slipperanimal species. This made him a common victim of mockery.