The Kalidahs are a fictitious species of animal in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).[13] They are mentioned and featured in the first half of the story when Dorothy Gale and her companions are traveling through the dark forest. A Kalidah is characterized as a ferocious monster having the head of a tiger and the body of a bear.
Although two Kalidahs are seemingly killed in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (after falling into a ravine and being dashed to pieces on the rocks at the bottom), Baum had decided by The Magic of Oz (1919) that the inhabitants of Oz are immortal, so a Kalidah, though pierced through the heart, survives.
Other Kalidahs appear in The Magic of Oz, where they bother Trot and Cap'n Bill. In The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913), Dr. Pipt keeps Kalidahs struck with his Liquid of Petrefaction by the entrance to his house. The creatures play an important part in Eric Shanower's "Gugu and the Kalidahs." Phyllis Ann Karr's short story "The Guardian Dove," published in the 1990 issue of Oziana, provides a detailed treatment of Kalidah culture.
Kalidah has been suggested to play 11 roles. Click below to see other actors suggested for each role, and vote for who you think would play the role best.
