How many races did the Yeerks infest?

[Azguard]

  or destroyed for that matter?


 We know of the usual suspects, the Gedds, Taxxons, Hork-Bajir, and the lone Andalite. But a bunch of other species are just briefly mentioned, and other aliens, like humans, might be at different stages of Yeerk invasion.

[DinosaurNothlit]

A few Leerans have been infested, but never the entire population.

Other races are briefly mentioned.  A few Ongachic (the Ongachics are a nomadic race, if I recall correctly, so their entire race would never have been infested because the Yeerks couldn't hunt them all down).  The Sstram and the Mak are mentioned only in book #6, never shown, and never brought up beyond that.  The Garatrons were supposedly being tried as a new host race, but only one Garatron-controller ever appeared in the series.

As a final note, there was a war going on on the Anati homeworld at around the same time as the war for Earth.  So I can only assume that the Anati were another host race, whose planet was at about the same stage of infestation (maybe not quite) as Earth.

Did I miss any?  Good question, by the way.

[Azguard]

what about the Hawjabrawn (sp.?) ?

[anijen21]

iirc they couldn't infest the hawjawbran or w/e because their brains were distributed throughout their body

I actually think dinosaur nailed them all. I mean...the Venber? But they were automated and they all died. They couldn't be infested either.

As far as destroyed, I think it's fair to call the Arn a victim of Yeerk genocide

[esplin]

I've always wondered this, and I think we've discussed it before.  They never really say, except the ones mentioned already.

[dasada122]

Perhaps the host has to be a certain kind of intelligent, with the right brain structure.  Otherwise the yeerk wouldn't be able to interface.
This brings up another point: if the memories of the host become as the yeerk's own, what about the mind itself?  Could a yeerk draw upon the unique brain structure inherent in most geniuses? 

(And since someone brought up the Anati)  I've often wondered what was going on in the Anati system.  They seem to be giving the yeerk empire a run for it's money, seemingly with little or no help from outside sources.  Sounds a lot like the situation on Terra.  If I had any skill whatsoever, I'd write a Fanfiction off of this.  As I do not, feel free to take it and run.

[Azguard]

for some reason I've always imagined the Anati as a mix between traditional greys, and the bug creatures in Star Wars Episode II.

[Shock]

As far as destroyed, I think it's fair to call the Arn a victim of Yeerk genocide

which i think is the stupidest thing the yeerks could do..

why go out and conquer worlds to have bodies when you can just build the prefect one from scratch?

[anijen21]

haha I never thought about that before, but you're totally right. The Arn couldn't be infested but that doesn't mean they couldn't be compelled.

[Chad32]

Yeah, that's another thing. The Yeerks could force the Arn tio create various bodies. But no one thought of the kinds of possibilities in bioengineering. Positive or negative.

[Azguard]

 haha. Maybe the Yeerks don't think like that?


btw, is it possible to infest a Yeerk? or create a virus that specifically infests Yeerks?

[anijen21]

that's exactly what Estrid did

and I still don't see why you can't make a Quantum Virus that just kills Yeerks.

So the Yeerks don't roll in making their own host bodies, and the Andalites don't roll in quick, merciless genocide.

ALL THESE STANDARDS! UGH!

[Chad32]

I think it was the 3% chance that Humans could be harmed that was the reason for not liking the idea. Not that I agree with that. Seems like excellent odds to me.

"Alright Mr. Norris. We need to surgically remove your appendix. Now there's a very, very, small chance that we could really **** up and kill you, but we'd like to take that chance as it would save your life."

[Homiegee]

Alien species have all been mentioned, but there are also some animals who were controllers.

In Book 14, the Unknown, the Yeerks made controllers out of a few dozen horses in order to infiltrate Zone 19.

In Book 16, the Escape, the Yeerks were attempting to modify shark brains to use as controllers, but their underwater facility was destroyed by the Animorphs.

That's all I can think of.

[VisserZer0]

You are all forgetting the Nahara. They're mentioned smewhere in #8 (or so the Anibase says. I don't remember) as a species the Yeerks have infested. What about the Orff? Were they an actual species or just from Jake's alternate world? And if they were real, did the Yeerks infest them?
I think the mission in the Anati system failed, as Visser One was sentenced to death by Kandrona starvation. At the end of Visser, the Council told Visser One that the Anati system was her last chance, so I think it's safe to say that she failed there.