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canine-looking creature with a horn

This little guy has been circulating around the internet today, claiming he's an alien from Star Trek. Do we know if that's true? And what episode of ToS is he from? What is he?

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    How do you not know about the unidog? >.>
    – Molag Bal
    Nov 10, 2016 at 21:48
  • 4
    That dog seems like it does not like being dressed up.
    – Joshua
    Nov 10, 2016 at 22:38
  • It's the opposite of a service dog for the anxious.
    – Major Stackings
    Nov 12, 2016 at 5:08
  • You wouldn't be happy if someone tied half a banana and some sparklers to your head, either.
    – RDFozz
    Jan 7, 2019 at 23:35

2 Answers 2

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This is from "The Enemy Within", episode 5 of season 1 of Star Trek: The Original Series. The creature is never named in the episode, although the planet they found it on is stated to be Alpha 177, so Memory Alpha calls it the "Alfa 177 Canine".

Here's a screenshot from the same episode with Kirk holding the same creature:

Spock and Kirk, Kirk is holding the horned canine creature

Technically, your screenshot shows the evil twin of the creature Kirk is holding. The whole premise of this episode is a transporter malfunction that splits this creature and then Kirk into good and evil twins.

The scene that your screenshot probably comes from was transcribed by chakoteya as follows:

[Transporter room]
KIRK: What is it, Scotty?
SCOTT: Transporter breakdown. Continue circuit testing. We beamed up this animal and, well, look for yourself. It's in this specimen case. (opens lid to reveal angry pink animal)
KIRK: Yes?
SCOTT: A few seconds after they sent this one up through the transporter, that duplicate appeared. Except it's not a duplicate, it's an opposite. Two of the same animal, but different. One gentle, this. One mean and fierce, that. Some kind of savage, ferocious opposite. Captain, we don't dare send Mister Sulu and the landing party up. If this should happen to a man.
KIRK: Oh, my.

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    it is so cute! Not like a dog with some attachments at all. I was hoping to see a better CGI version in the Remastered episodes.
    – PhasedOut
    Nov 10, 2016 at 21:44
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    I was raised to believe shuttles hadn't been invented until after episode five.
    – Major Stackings
    Nov 11, 2016 at 1:12
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    @JörgWMittag If you can't handwave the shuttle issue, you have no business watching Star Trek :-)
    – Politank-Z
    Nov 11, 2016 at 1:14
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    @Luaan Here's a bit more info regarding the Shuttle Craft: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/100572/…
    – Major Stackings
    Nov 11, 2016 at 8:41
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    @eMBee Of course it wouldn't be safe to use the shelter's evil twin...assuming you can even figure out which one is evil.
    – Ixrec
    Nov 11, 2016 at 16:32
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This wonderful creature is known as the "Alfa 177 Canine", seen in the Star Trek: TOS Episode The Enemy Within.

More information can be found on Memory Alpha at the following link: Alfa 177 Canine

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