# Question about the Star Wars universe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521 "2018-08-30T13:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/1 "2018-08-30T13:23:10Z")
If Saarlaccs take a thousand years to digest a meal, how did Jabba the Hutt know that HIS Saarlacc was even READY to eat something again? His most recent meal might have been only 500 years ago. How would Jabba even know when the Saarlacc ate last? How long do Hutts live (provided they don’t die in an autoerotic asphyxiation accident)? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/2 "2018-08-30T13:29:15Z")
Hmm. To quote Harrison Ford (speaking to Mark Hamill, as I recall): “Kid, this ain’t that kinda movie.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/3 "2018-08-30T13:30:24Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Hmm. > > To quote Harrison Ford (speaking to Mark Hamill, as I recall): > > “Kid, this ain’t that kinda movie.” Somebody shoulda told Carrie Fisher that. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/4 "2018-08-30T13:30:38Z")
IDK but the saarlacc was pretty darn big. Maybe it was just ready for another bite? Seriously though, most animals are not finished digesting when they eat again. There are generally a few different stages and organs that the meal travels through before absorption is complete and the waste excreted. What I want to know is: Does a saarlacc come out of its hole to poop? If not, is it just sitting in two thousand years of excreta? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/5 "2018-08-30T13:30:40Z")
On the other hand, Hutts are another of the long-lived races in the Star Wars universe. Sources say Jabba was 604 when he was killed and could expect to live double that or more, irritated, bikini-clad princesses notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/6 "2018-08-30T13:52:20Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > IDK but the saarlacc was pretty darn big. Maybe it was just ready for another bite? Seriously though, most animals are not finished digesting when they eat again. There are generally a few different stages and organs that the meal travels through before absorption is complete and the waste excreted. > > What I want to know is: Does a saarlacc come out of its hole to poop? If not, is it just sitting in two thousand years of excreta? There is some speculation that a sarlacc is a plant rather than an animal. See [here](http://www.earthlymission.com/actual-anatomy-of-the-sarlacc-pit/) for more than you ever cared to know. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/7 "2018-08-30T15:50:52Z")
The Hutts have great accountants. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/8 "2018-08-30T16:21:38Z")
The prisoners were probably the equivalent of an after-dinner mint to the Saarlacc. Compared to its capacity, they were negligible. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/9 "2018-08-30T16:42:31Z")
This. Saarlaccs are _always_ hungry. Asking, “Ya ready t’ eat?” just wastes time. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/10 "2018-08-31T18:37:37Z")
It could one of the many creatures that kills even when it’s not hungry. Also, this could explain why Boba Fett survived the Sarlac. It attacked him like a cat attacking a mouse, but didn’t bother to try to eat him. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/11 "2018-08-31T18:50:16Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > On the other hand, Hutts are another of the long-lived races in the Star Wars universe. Sources say Jabba was 604 when he was killed and could expect to live double that or more, irritated, bikini-clad princesses notwithstanding. More than you ever wanted to know about Hutt physiology (though most of it from the now-considered-to-probably-not-be-canon Expanded Universe) is on [Wookieepedia](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt/Legends). A few highlights: - As Jonathan Chance notes, they’re very long-lived, with an average lifespan of around 1000 years. - They’re hermaphroditic, and can apparently mate with themselves if they choose to. :eek: - They have marsupial pouches for carrying and nurturing their young. - Not only do they smell awful, but even the Sarlaac finds Hutts to be indigestible. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/12 "2018-08-31T21:04:38Z")
Maybe it digests that slowly precisely because it doesn’t know when its next meal will be: When food is plentiful, it eats all it can, and then stores it for up to a millennium to be available for whenever it needs the Calories. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/13 "2018-09-01T01:49:14Z")
Other things I’ve thought of with regard to this: what difference does it make how long it takes to digest the victim if the victim is dead within a few days from thirst or lack of food, or suffocation from being inside an animal. Also, I find years meaningless in the Star Wars universe unless there’s some sort of “standard year” that the entire galaxy adheres to. I mean, 1,000 years on Tatooine might only be 6 Earth months if it orbits its sun fast enough. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/14 "2018-09-01T02:05:54Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > Other things I’ve thought of with regard to this: what difference does it make how long it takes to digest the victim if the victim is dead within a few days from thirst or lack of food, or suffocation from being inside an animal. Also, I find years meaningless in the Star Wars universe unless there’s some sort of “standard year” that the entire galaxy adheres to. I mean, 1,000 years on Tatooine might only be 6 Earth months if it orbits its sun fast enough. Welcome to the minutiae that Star Wars fans and authors have totally thought of to death. 😃 (Though, as with my earlier post about Hutts, a lot of that minutiae falls into what used to be called “Expanded Universe” canon, which all essentially became non-canon when Disney bought Lucasfilm.) Yes, there’s a [Galactic Standard Calendar](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galactic_Standard_Calendar). In it, a standard galactic year is 368 days long, and each day is 24 hours long. And, the [Sarlaac](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sarlacc/Legends)’s digestive system kept its victims alive as it slowly digested them: > [@Wookieepedia](#): > > After being swallowed by the tongue, the victim made its way into the sarlacc’s stomach to be digested, purportedly being kept alive and slowly digested for a millennium. A strong network of vessels inside the stomach punctured the victim’s skin and muscles and then embedded itself into victims before injecting neurotoxins into them, preventing the victims from escaping and ensuring that they remained immersed in the acidic fluids in the stomach, and attached to the walls of the stomach. > > The vessels also provided victims with nutrients to keep them alive while they were digested in agony; sometimes when a victim was in the stomach for a long time period, the sarlacc actually embedded it in the lining of the stomach to make room for other victims it swallowed and to make the stomach stronger so that other victims could not escape particularly once their digestion was complete and they were free to become One with the Force. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/15 "2018-09-01T15:01:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maybe it digests that slowly precisely because it doesn’t know when its next meal will be: When food is plentiful, it eats all it can, and then stores it for up to a millennium to be available for whenever it needs the Calories. This is one of the better speculations I’ve seen so far. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-star-wars-universe/820521/16 "2018-09-04T13:01:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maybe it digests that slowly precisely because it doesn’t know when its next meal will be: When food is plentiful, it eats all it can, and then stores it for up to a millennium to be available for whenever it needs the Calories. I wanted to say the fat storage is the normal mechanism for this, but then again, there aren’t a lot of fat spiders, and they do something similar, just outside of their bodies.