Gúta

The Gúta is a gigantic troll-like species found on planet Reach. It is hostile to both humans and Covenant troops.

Description
The Gúta is the largest terrestrial lifeform discovered on Reach. Severe aggression is rare, outside rutting males or females with young. Even so, it is an extremely dangerous animal. The Gúta is likely carnivorous due to its large tusks and claws and powerful musculature and agility. However, it is also a possibility that is it herbivorous and uses its claws for self defence against other predators.

It is remarkably durable, requiring three to four shotgun blasts and an equal number of melee attacks to kill it on Normal difficulty. The species was likely rendered extinct due to the glassing of Reach, although it is possible that there were specimens on other planets at the time.

Trivia

 * The Gúta bears a passing resemblance to the cut Blind Wolf from pre-Xbox builds of Halo: Combat Evolved and greatly resembles the Deathclaw from the Fallout series and slightly resembles the Rancor of the Star Wars universe.
 * The Gúta is seemingly named after the Guta, a fearsome demon from Hungarian mythology, as many of Reach's early settlers were of Hungarian descent.
 * A Gúta's roar can push a Spartan back fairly hard despite the enormous weight of a Spartan clad in MJOLNIR armor.
 * On a player's career stats at Bungie.net, the Gúta is listed as "mule". Instead listing a rank, the entry simply says, "No hugging". The "Mule" nickname is an internal name used by Bungie employees.
 * Unlike killing Moa, killing a Gúta awards points in campaign scoring due to the creatures being a threat to the player(s).
 * Several ideas were formed around the Gúta, but were ultimately cut from the game. Among these ideas were Gúta being used as battle-mounts by Sangheili and Unggoy, Gúta that were equipped with mounted weapons, and the ability for the player to "hijack" the Gúta and plant a grenade in its mouth.
 * The Gúta was originally set to be in several campaign missions in addition to Nightfall. Due to resource constraints, this level features the only two Gúta in the game.
 * The player can move a dead Gúta's body around by attempting to walk over it, as a Gúta's body is considered solid in the game's physics engine.
 * The Gúta may have been derived from the Drinol, a deleted concept for a massive beast Bungie had explored during the development of Halo 2.