Talk to the Animals

For Starships & Spacemen, here's an obscure species from the background of Star Trek: The Motion Picture:

KAZARITES
Requirements: CON 9
Ability Adjustments: INT +1
Skill Adjustments: Contact +1
Metabolism: Iron Based

Kazarites are a Federation member species known for largely living a simple, bucolic lifestyle, despite their technological advancement. There are few cities on Kazar and herds of great beasts still migrate, guided by shepherds in telepathic communication with their charges.

Kazarites are somewhat anthropoid in appearance and tend to dress in homespun garments. They possess active psi abilities: most notably, the ability to communicate telepathically with nonsapient lifeforms. Perhaps because of their abilities, many Kazarites are vegetarians and carry their own food for practicality’s sake. They wear small bags of pellets around their neck that can be mixed with water to make a yeasty paste.

Psi Powers: In addition to Animal Telepathy (functions similar to the telepathy, except that it is limited in the complexity of the thoughts that can be conveyed due to the limited intelligence of the animal), a player may select 1 more psi powers at character creation.

Note: Kazarites just appeared in the background of ST:TMP and have never been featured prominently. They don't even show up in any of the Trek rpgs. What little information has been published about them comes from the costume designers for the film.