Biology and appearance: Covered with shaggy white fur, standing at heights of up to three meters,[1] and weighing an average of 150 kilograms,[5] Hoth's wampa ice creatures were lethal predatory beasts. They possessed long, powerful arms, razor-sharp claws capable of carving layers out of ice, and a fanged maw.[1] Aided by an acute sense of smell and a well-camouflaged coat of thick fur, the carnivorous wampas roamed Hoth's icy plains preying on near-helpless animals.[13] Wampas ranged in height from 2.2 to three meters,[3] with an average height of 2.5 meters;[1] sometimes weighed up to and exceeding 200 kilograms;[6] and had eerie yellow eyes.[14] Older wampas possessed short, jagged, curving horns, which were an indication of age. The horns began to appear at the onset of puberty and continued to grow larger as the wampa aged.[1][15] Wampas' horns were similar to those of Hoth's native tauntauns, though the two species were entirely unrelated.[15] Wampas also had a single heart within their thoracic cavity.[6]

Giant Wampas: One male wampa, named Ku-Kak, had a rare, natural affinity for the Force.[10] Another, the giant wampa Unkajo, towered at a height much greater than the species' average height of 2.5 meters.[1][21][22] Still another giant wampa creature, larger than ordinary wampas, lived on Hoth during the early portion of the Galactic Civil War. This giant wampa possessed a freezing breath as a natural weapon

Subspecies of Wampa: Subspecies of Wampa were found on other worlds, clearly transplanted there from Hoth, though scientists were unable to determine the exact method by which this occurred.[1] These subspecies included the cliff wampa, a beast bioengineered by the Galactic Empire and used as a sentinel on the rocky Outer Rim Territories moon of Gall,[1][25] and the swamp wampa of Dromund Kaas.[1][26]

Swamp wampas were identical to the Hoth wampa in almost every way, prompting scientists to theorize that they were directly descended from them. Though the exact nature of the swamp wampa's development was unclear, it nevertheless indicated a strong adaptability of the wampa species. There also existed Tatooine Howlers, colloquially named "desert wampas" for their strong resemblance to wampas. Although their appearance, with heavy fur and tusks, was similar, genetic testing proved no relation between the desert hunter and the wampa.[1]