Alien Spotlight - The Horta - The Devil In The Dark - Happy Mother's Day!

During its over four decade run, Star Trek has featured many mothers.  The Borg Queen (Alice Krige) doing anything to see her collective family survive thrilled us.  Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) caring for her son Wesley (Wil Wheaton) impressed us.  In Voyager, there was even The Caretaker - a kind of pure energy mother.  Above all, there was a tough mother who dealt out strong defensive punishment when protecting her offspring - the Horta from The Devil In The Dark.

On Janus VI, the Horta roamed the mining tunnels and made sure nobody messed with her eggs.  The horta are silicon based life and therefore appeared and functioned quite differently from most other carbon based lifeforms.  No matter what you thought of her physique, or methods of dealing with interlopers, the horta was one tough momma!