adopted after unknowingly taking home several of their eggs. However, the little one (now referred to as "Speaks-To-Meat" by the other Sleestak) is considered "tainted" by human contact and thus deemed unfit. The Sleestak are governed by both a Council and a Leader. The Sleestak Leader wears a distinctive pendant and Enik occasionally negotiates with him as in the episode "Fair Trade". The Council often consults the "Library of Skulls" where several skulls belonging to their ancient ancestors are somehow able to communicate with them and dispense advice. The Pakuni word for Sleestak is "Sarisataka". Ex-Detroit Piston and current WNBA coach Bill Laimbeer played a Sleestak before attending Notre Dame. He was a Palos Verdes High School student, and the show solicited their basketball team for tall people to play Sleestak. Altrusians The ancestors of Modern Sleestak were the Altrusians. Their civilization fell approximately 1,000 years earlier. The Sleestak sometimes use the term "Altrusian" to refer to themselves and sometimes to refer only to the true Altrusians. Physically, the Altrusians were similar to Sleestak, with the former marked by a shorter stature, their smallest claw or "finger" placed adjacent to the others on the hand, and a golden yellow skin tone. Intellectually they were very different, however. The Altrusians possessed advanced psionic technologies based on light crystals and understood a great deal about the operation of the Land of the Lost. They strove for calm emotionlessness and as a result could be both cooperative and quite callous. Also, unlike the Sleestak, the Altrusians did not have an aversion to bright light and could venture even into daylight with no ill effects. One Altrusian, named Enik, is a recurring character in the series, introduced in the episode "The Stranger". He travels to the current time accidentally via a time doorway. He initially believes himself to be in the distant past, but upon discovering the ruins of the Lost City, he theorizes that his people degenerated into modern Sleestak when they failed to control their hate and anger. Rick Marshall speculates that it was not the presence of hate that doomed the Altrusians, but rather the absence of compassion; Enik considers this to be a cogent argument and plans to return to his people to warn them of this flaw in their philosophy. Altrusians have a very strict code of honor: they cannot allow others to show more self-control or make greater