Thota were a ferocious type of predatory animal originating from the planet of Varl, according to species lore. These creatures were regarded as the main threat to the sentient t'landa Til people, who also lived on their homeworld. These predators could emit a very high-frequency, piercing shriek that would cause the t'landa Till to become terrified and run without thinking. A devastating disaster wiped out the atmosphere of the thota's home planet, leaving it desolate and toxic, which resulted in the death of the majority of the creatures that lived there.
In the year 1 BBY, a Rodian named Sniquux employed a recorded thota wail to incite panic among a group of six t'landa Til priests residing in Colony Nine, a city located on the planet Ylesia. The priests tried to find where the sound was coming from, but they were so afraid of the noise that they ran into some monofilament wires that the Rodian had put in place, leading to their death. By this point in time, the thota were considered to be a species of the past.
The initial mention of the thota occurred in the novel Rebel Dawn, which was published in 1998 and served as the second installment in The Han Solo Trilogy penned by A. C. Crispin. No source has definitively stated whether the thota managed to survive the cataclysm that occurred on Varl.