Denobulan
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
The Denobulans were a humanoid species from the planet Denobula.
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[edit] Culture
Denobulans were typically polygamous, where a man typically has three wives, who each have three husbands. This creates extremely large extended families; Phlox had 720 familial relationships, 42 with romantic possibilities. In addition, Denobulan marriages are not exclusive, and married Denobulans can be intimate with anyone they choose. The females emit powerful pheromones during their mating season. Male Denobulans often become combative during this time, and mating can require medical supervision. Denobulans typically prefer to be amongst large groups and find solitude uncomfortable. However, Denobulans, at least males, are uncomfortable being touched by persons they are not intimate with. (ENT: "Dear Doctor", "Bounty")
There were also Denobulans who believe in other combinations for their marital practices, though these marriages are considered "improper" by Denobulan culture. (ENT: "Doctor's Orders")
Amongst Denobulans, it was considered healthy for a person to hallucinate, as it is seen as a harmless way to release nervous energy. (ENT: "Exile", "Doctor's Orders")
The Denobulan lullaby was a form of song. In 2154, Phlox offered to sing one of these lullabies to Porthos although the doctor remembered that his singing would often make his Denobulan children cry. (ENT: "Storm Front")
On their homeworld, Denobula, the 12 billion Denobulan inhabitants all share one continent, resulting in living-space being at a premium and Denobulan culture having come to embrace close, communal lifestyles, although this habitation arrangement is due to choice rather than necessity. (ENT: "Doctor's Orders")
See also: Denobulan sausage
[edit] Physiology
Denobulans have prominent facial ridges running down either side of the forehead to the cheeks, an enlarged brow ridge under a high receding hairline, a vertical crevice in the center of the forehead and a ridged chin.
They also have ridges on their back, along the spine. Their toenails are dark brown and yellow striped, and they grow so rapidly that they must be groomed once a week. Denobulans also have very long tongues, and they use tongue scrapers. Denobulan males have a line of hair down the middle of their chest, up to their throat. (ENT: "Bounty", "A Night in Sickbay")
Denobulans females have very potent pheromones that the males can sense, that they release when they are romantically interested in someone, and presumably during their mating season. Denobulan males have been known to become violent during the mating season. (ENT: "Dear Doctor")
Denobulans have a unique ability to enlarge their faces. This is an instinct for when they feel threatened. It is likely similar to the defense mechanism of the blowfish, an aquatic lifeform native to Earth. (ENT: "Home")
They also have an unusually wide smile for humanoids. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "A Night in Sickbay", "Stigma", "These Are the Voyages...")
Denobulans seem to change their eye color depending on their moods. (ENT: "Acquisition")
Denobulans normally require very little sleep, but they do hibernate for five to six days each year. However, at a minimum, two days are sufficient. If a Denobulan is awakened prematurely, the results can be somewhat unpredictable - hibernating Denobulans, if woken, appear extremely disoriented and confused, with oddly-pitched voices, and have difficulty maintaining normal motor skills and cognitive functions. Denobulans do not talk during meals, as they consider it a waste of time. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights", "Fight or Flight", "Similitude")
Denobulans have highly-efficient natural climbing abilities similar to those of Earth lizards, being capable of scaling vertical rock faces at a rapid speed with no equipment whatsoever, instead appearing to scuttle up the rock face without needing to find handholds. (ENT: "The Breach")
They appear to possess particularly powerful immune systems; when Phlox was nearly assimilated by the Borg, his immune system was able to fight off the nanoprobes long enough for him to find a means of killing them, although he admitted that his immune system would not be able to hold them off, indefinitely. (ENT: "Regeneration")
The average life expectancy of Denobulans is not explicitly stated, but indications suggest that lifespans are extremely long. Phlox, in the 22nd century, once stated that his grandmother lived through Denobula's last war with the Antarans, a war which ended while Earth was in the 19th century. This indicates that at least three generations of Denobulans had existed during the three-hundred-year span between the events, suggesting a long lifespan. (ENT: "A Night in Sickbay", "The Breach").
[edit] History
The Denobulans believed they were the only intelligent species in the galaxy until the B'Saari made first contact. (ENT: "Future Tense")
Denobulans have fought several wars against the Antaran race. The last one was during the late 19th century. Denobulan battle tactics killed 20 million Antarans. The Denobulans demonized the Antarans and made them a faceless enemy. As of the 22nd century, there were still some Denobulans that hated Antarans, although most have outgrown the hatred. (ENT: "The Breach")
- Since the Denobulans' last war with the Antarans was in the late 1800s, the B'Saari must have made contact before then.
In 2155, a Denobulan ambassador was sent to Earth to join in talks of forming a Coalition of Planets. (ENT: "Demons")
[edit] Mirror universe
In the mirror universe, Denobulans were a slave race of the Terran Empire. The Denobulan Phlox served aboard the ISS Enterprise as ship's doctor.
Denobulans were not part of the rebellion against the Empire, as it was not in their nature. That, however, did not stop Phlox from sabotaging the commandeered USS Defiant in Jonathan Archer's attempt to assassinate and then succeed the Emperor. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
[edit] People
[edit] Background
The species is first named in ENT: "Terra Nova", after a Denobulan had already appeared in four episodes.
[edit] Appendices
[edit] Appearances
A list of all appearances of Denobulans (excluding Phlox's ENT appearances).
- ENT:
- "Stigma"
- "The Breach"
- "Cold Station 12"
- "Demons"
- "Terra Prime"
[edit] Related topics
[edit] Apocrypha
Several Star Trek novels set in the 24th century have Denobulans in them. Some references include the Star Trek: The Lost Era novel The Sundered, which has a Denobulan engineer on the USS Excelsior. A dead Denobulan is featured in the second novel of the Star Trek: Vanguard series, Summon the Thunder. One of the USS Enterprise-E's doctors, Tropp, is a Denobulan in the A Time to... series.
In the game Star Trek: Elite Force II, several Denobulans are among the crew of the USS Enterprise-E.
[edit] External link
- Denobulan at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
