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In the process of exploring space, humankind encounters several intelligent alien species, including the following:

Kzinti: Large and very aggressive felinoid aliens with whom humans fight several brutal interstellar wars. Kzinti tactics are somewhat cat-like in nature, &quot;scream and leap&quot; being the primary mode of declaring a challenge. The first Man-Kzin War ended when the humans obtained the faster-than-light drive from the Outsiders, after which the Kzinti ships stood no chance against FTL-drive (Faster Than Light) warships. Throughout the rest of the wars with man, the Kzinti tended to always attack before they were ready, and subsequently lost each and every one of them. As a result of this most of their empire was lost; in the peace treaties that resulted, colonies and slave planets were ceded to man or given independence. In Ringworld it is revealed that this was in part due to clandestine meddling by the Pierson's Puppeteers. They saw in the aggressive Kzinti a major threat, and orchestrated the events that led to the human FTL armada, ensuring the human victory of the first war. Each of these Kzinti defeats eliminated the most aggressive individuals from the Kzinti gene pool and thus made the Kzinti more &quot;manageable&quot; from a Puppeteer point of view. By the time Ringworld takes place, Kzinti are able to deal with other races diplomatically, rather than by attacking and enslaving them. Female Kzinti are not sapient, although among the archaic Kzinti found on the Ringworld some are. The protagonist Louis Wu thinks this indicates the Kzinti in Known Space have bred intelligence out of their females.

Niven himself wrote little about the Man-Kzin Wars, although many of his stories refer to them having taken place in the past. The Man-Kzin Wars short-story collections were primarily written by other authors. The Kzinti &quot;crossed-over&quot; in to the Star Trek universe in the animated episode &quot;The Slaver Weapon&quot;, which was written by Larry Niven and is adapted from Niven's own short story "The Soft Weapon"

Pierson's Puppeteers: A technologically advanced race of three-legged, twin-necked herbivores descended from herd animals, and noted for their so-called cowardice. Their commercial empire directly and indirectly controls events throughout Known Space and beyond, and Puppeteer plots are behind many of the larger events in Known Space. The name &quot;Puppeteer&quot; is purportedly derived from the twin &quot;heads&quot; (not enclosing brains) which perform as both mouths and hands, which strongly resemble sock puppets. The Puppeteer voice range is far greater than the human one, but for speaking to humans they adopt the tone of a very seductive female. It is also suggested that the &quot;Puppeteer&quot; name may derive from their social tendency to be very manipulative. The species were depicted in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials[1]
 Outsiders: fragile aliens shaped like cats o' nine tails that, according to Ringworld, probably evolved on a cold, low gravity world resembling Nereid. They mostly live on big ships, crossing the interstellar space at sublight velocities (according to A Gift From Earth, they find hyperspace vulgar), trading in information and technology. It was the Outsiders that sold humans the FTL drive, on a stop to We Made It. The Outsider ships' paths between the stars are determined by the starseeds, which they for some unknown reason seem to follow. The starseeds are gigantic, non-sentient space-dwelling animals that travel from the galactic core to the rim by their solar sails. At the rim they lay their eggs, then travel the 50,000 light-years back to the core.
 Pak: Interstellar ancestors of humanity whose life-cycle mimics the stages of human aging. A Pak who reaches the age of 30 to 45 years may eat the Tree-of-Life to transform into a &quot;Protector&quot; of his descendants. In the novel Protector, Protectors are described as xenophobic, violent, hyper-intelligent and driven only by the fierce instinct to protect their descendants. This powerful instinct drove them to commit genocide on several planets where they tried to establish colonies, since every other sentient species was considered a potential threat to their offspring. It also led to relentless internecine wars whenever two familial lines wound up with goals in conflict. When the Protectors reappear in The Ringworld Engineers and its sequels, it is strongly indicated that they constructed the Ringworld.
 Kdatlyno: A slave species of the Kzinti until humans free them though some are still legal Kzinti slaves. Kdatlyno are huge, 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) bipeds with long arms. They have a thick brown hide, curved claws at knees and elbows, and retractable claws on the knuckles of their hands. Their heads are eyeless and noseless, with a gash of a mouth. Above that is a goggle-shaped tympanum (eardrum), which allows them to &quot;see&quot; by way of sonar. Kdatlyno create 'touch sculptures' as an art form they invented. Other species need to touch this art, rather than look at it, to appreciate it properly.
 Pierin: A slave species of the Kzinti. At the time of their conquest, they occupied several planets near p Eridani. No description is given, but the Ringworld RPG suggests they resemble horned birds and that their homeworld has low gravity. Presumably freed by humans, but this is not attested.
 Chunquen: A slave species of the Kzinti, remarkable to their captors for the sentience of both sexes. (&quot;They fought constantly.&quot;) Their homeworld is watery; they resisted the Kzinti invasion with missiles fired from submarine ships[citation needed]. Apparently exterminated before the Kzinti first encountered humans.
 Thrintun: An ancient species that ruled a large empire, including the region of Known Space, through telepathic mind control about 1.5 billion years ago. A technology created by one of their slave races was the stasis field, which makes its contents impervious to harm and provides indefinite suspended animation, which has figured in several Known Space stories. Thrintun were small (approximately 1.25 meters tall), highly telepathic but not particularly intelligent (with their mind control, they did not need to be), reptilian, with green scaly skin, pointed teeth, and a single eye. The species were depicted in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials[2]
 Grogs: Sessile sentient creatures, shaped like furry cones. They are eyeless, earless, and have a prehensile tongue. They can also control animals telepathically. The Grogs are thought by some to be the descendants of the Thrintun species, after 1.5 billion years of atrophy.
 Tnuctipun: An apparently extinct ancient race of small carnivores contemporaneous with and enslaved by the Thrintun. They were known for their technological prowess, especially in genetic engineering. They secretly planned and executed the revolution to overthrow their Thrintun masters using many of their creations. When it appeared that the revolt would succeed, the Thrintun elders built and used a psychic amplifier that forced every sentient being in the galaxy to commit suicide, the signal repeating for centuries. The Thrint that survived the revolt died out when all their slave races were dead.
 Bandersnatchi: Colossal slug-like creatures, originally created by the Tnuctipun to be grown as a food source by the Thrintun. Believed by the Thrintun to be unintelligent, the Bandersnatchi were engineered by the Tnuctipun to be highly intelligent spies for their war on the Thrintun. At one time found on every Thrint estate throughout the Thrintun empire, the only known survivors in Known Space are on the planet Jinx, though they are later found on the Ringworld and on a forested planet called Beanstalk (in the Man-Kzin Wars story &quot;Hey Diddle Diddle&quot;). The Bandersnatchi were the only intelligent species which were immune to the Thrint mental power.
 
 Trinocs: Named for their three eyes; they also have three fingers, and a triangular mouth. They are described as 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) bipedal humanoids, with long legs, short torsos, and improbably flexible neck vertebrae. An unconfirmed source states that

last updated december 2011