Schniarfeur

Schniarfeurs are a fictional, alien species created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières in the French comic book series "Valérian and Laureline".

Schniarfeurs are small, purple, vaguely humanoid creatures less than half a metre tall. Distinctive marks in their appearance are a protruding gland on top of their heads, black rings around their eyes, and a long, thin tail ending in blue spheres.

In their native state, Schniarfeurs are extremely aggressive, venting their aggression at everyone and everything they see. They are especially fond of spitting their highly corrosive saliva on the object of their aggression, accompanied by a descriptive "SCHNIARF" sound.

However, when a Schniarfeur's head gland is tied tightly into a a spiral shape rather than hanging loose, its behaviour changes completely. Thus tamed, a Schniarfeur becomes friendly, intelligent, and highly loquacious. It also becomes affected to whoever tamed it. While tamed, a Schniarfeur is also incapable of spitting its corrosive saliva. If the gland is loosened, the Schniarfeur resumes its aggressive state.