Drashig
Drashigs were one of the most dangerous predators in the universe.
Biology
Drashigs were massive snake-themed creatures with six eyes on stalks, fanged mouths and segmented bodies with greenish brown skin. They also had a sparse covering of hair. Their hide was strong enough to withstand machine gun fire, but especially large amounts of damage could kill them. They were very strong and could burst through metal structures. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)
Drashigs were unintelligent but social. They hunted in packs of three and lived in colonies of twenty. When hunting or in pain, they emitted a chilling scream. Drashigs were omnivorous and would eat anything, including spaceships. They hunted by scent and they would never give up the hunt once they found a trail. On the other hand, they would follow the trail, even when the prey had doubled back or were right by them.
Drashigs lived in swamps. They could fully submerge themselves in deep water and use their eyes to look for prey without giving away their hiding place, allowing them to launch surprise attacks and to have a wider field of vision, even seeing behind their own heads. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)
There were quite a few different species of Drashigs. Some of them included the Wetland Drashig (pictured), the Albino burrowing Drashig and the Emerald Drashig. (AUDIO: Planet of the Drashigs) Emerald Drashigs were described as the smallest and deadliest of the species, that hunted in packs of five and had a leader, designated the 'alpha' and which bore a white mark to distinguish it.
History
Iris Wildthyme encountered Drashigs in a feeding frenzy on their swamp world. (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress) Iris once mentioned that she'd saved the Doctor from Drashigs on Qon-ti-jaqir. (PROSE: Verdigris)
When a battlethruster made an emergency landing on the satellite of Grundle, the Drashigs living there killed all fifty of the crew. The crew used weapons to defend themselves, but, save for a few scraps of the reactor venticle, the Drashigs consumed the ship. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)
A colony of Drashigs from Grundle's satellite were kept in Vorg's Miniscope. While wandering through the Miniscope, the Third Doctor and Jo Grant accidentally found themselves in the Drashig habitat. The Drashigs followed them through the Miniscope, attacking the human habitat and eventually escaping out into Inter Minor, where they killed Kalik and Orum, two Inter Minorian government officials. However, the escaped Drashigs were all killed by Vorg with the Eradicator. (TV: Carnival of Monsters) Having found themselves in the same miniscope, River Song and Dibbsworth faced against other Drashigs. Starved of food, the Drashigs took Dibbsworth, Sontaran Commander Strumm and several Ogrons as a food supply before River Song used a sabre-toothed tiger to scare them away. She later turned over all the specimens that the Third Doctor had missed over to him so he could return them to their times and places. (AUDIO: Peepshow)
The Fourth Doctor and Ann encountered some different species of Drashigs on the planetoid 'Drashigworld'. (AUDIO: Planet of the Drashigs)
There was also a Drashig habitat in a different Miniscope owned by Sabalom Glitz. (PROSE: Goth Opera)
To kill the Eighth Doctor, Ryoth used a Time Scoop to bring a Drashig to the Eye of Orion. He chose it as he deemed Drashigs invulnerable. The Fifth and Eighth Doctors built a Temporal Reverse Feedback Field that sent the Drashig to Ryoth's location, where it ate him and the Time Scoop. The Drashig was transmatted to the Death Zone where it was hoped it would kill the other "horrors there". (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
Cortalian found some Drashigs in the swamp of a forgotten world and modified their biodata to make make a small army of advanced servitors and bodyguards. (PROSE: Daring Initiation, Going Once, Going Twice) These Servitors acted as security at the First Auction in Heaven. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)
A Drashig was exhibited in the Space Museum when the Vashta Nerada invaded. (WC: Hall of Monsters)
Other references
When activated, the Master's hypnosound device which created fear-based illusions, caused Jo to imagine she saw a Drashig. (TV: Frontier in Space)
Using psychometry on the sonic screwdriver, Professor Herbert Clegg "saw" images of Drashigs. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
Faction Paradox were familiar with the species' skeletons. (PROSE: Daring Initiation)
There was a brand of cigarettes called Drashig Cigarettes. (PROSE: Mean Streets)
One of the programs on Channel 400 was "Walking with Drashigs". (PROSE: Prime Time)
At the funeral of the Doctor, the Shansheeth used the memory weave to bring back memories of the Drashig for Jo Jones. (TV: Death of the Doctor)
According to Bernice Summerfield, the mating call of a Drashig sounded like an 18th century passenger ship horn. (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire)
Behind the scenes
Drashig is an anagram of dish-rag. (DWMS Winter 1994) Katy Manning stated this was what was generally used as a placeholder for the monster during filming. (DOC: Destroy All Monsters!)
The sound effect used for the roar was a reversed motor car screech. (DOC: Destroy All Monsters!)
Doctor Who producer Phil Collinson claimed on an audio commentary for The Five Doctors that "Drashig" was one of his first words.
Toy Company Character Options produced a 22-cm puppet figure of the Drashig to accompany their 5' scale action figure line.
The short story Dalek: Spoof Scenes, written by Robert Shearman for Doctor Who: Lockdown!, was presented as if it were a series of pages from earlier drafts of Shearman's episode Dalek, featuring several different monsters as the Time Lords' opponents from the Time War. On the final page, the monster reveals itself to be the Drashig; then its skin splits open and its carapace falls away, revealing the withered, gigantic hand of a puppeteer, gnarled and with broken nails, a sight somehow "terribly sad". The hand beckons gently to the Doctor and Rose, and the episode ends.
The promotional short story Daring Initiation [+]Loading...["Daring Initiation (short story)"], written by Jayce Black for The Book of the Peace Dossier, presents creatures whose species name starts with "Drash" moments away from being abducted for a miniaturised carnival, in reference to the events of Carnival of Monsters [+]Loading...["Carnival of Monsters (TV story)"]. These creatures are depicted as the descendants of a posthuman Coterie from the far future, whose eggs were transported backward through time to a prehistoric swamp. However, the creatures were never directly seen nor properly identified.
