The aylak (plural aylakim) are are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores and scavengers. Aylakim are roughly palm-sized, tan to dark brown in color, and have four or six clawed legs and a whiplike tail. Their food includes insects and their larvae, seeds, spiders, bulbs, fruit, fungi, and very small animals. Most food is found by digging or scratching in the soil, and using their long tongues.
Aylakim tend to live in the driest parts of Vulcan, and often perish for lack of water. Dead aylakim serve as a primary part of the diet of the le-matya.