While it appears on the surface pirates and animals don't have much in common at all, pirates were really a good natured bunch of people who knew the secret benefits of pets at sea to relieve stress. They were also well aware of the need to have fresh food at sea, and while it may seem odd, it was not unusual to find pigs, goats, cows and all sorts of food animals at sea.
This leaves plenty of scope for the roles of animals in Piracy!, from the pig for dinner to the parrot on the cap'n's shoulder.
Food
Cows, pigs, goats, chickens, birds of the seas, fish.
flamingos breed in certain areas, 1.5m high 4kg
green turtles 1.4m long 270kg
Entertainment & Trade
Monkeys, birds,
macaw
War
Horses, stampedes, For the purposes of this game I make the rather wild assumption all Europeans can ride a horse with some skill. Slaves & natives can't ride horses except for mules. Cavalry was not a major factor in piracy, except for the rare occassions of assaulting major Spanish towns which did have cavalry contingents. Pirates involved in assaulting these major towns umbered in the thousands, and really outside the scope of this game. For this game I really only consider small numbers of mounted men riding about as mounted infantry.
peregrine falcon
Wild Animals
Jaguar - grows upto 1.9m long and as high as .75m. For this game I allow the natives in some situations to have trained war jaguars. I have no idea whether this is historical or not, but I find it quite interesting as a game variation.
giant anteater 1.2m long .8m high upto 40kg
tapir 2.5m long 1m high solitary upto 300kg
american alligator around lorida 3.7m long 250kg
Haiilar - This is a factual extract from my local paper, 12th July 1889 - "A Strange Monster. During the past two months it has been a matter of frequent complaint among the inhabitants of the districts east and north of Arims, on the island of Trinidad, that their domestic animals of all kinds were bing lost in strange and unexplained manner - usually at night. Latterly even larger animals, some valuable mules and horses, had gone to join the smaller fry that had disappeared. At first the blame was laid on thieves of unusual daring, but it was soon clear some monstrous animal was the depredator, although strangely enough no trace of blood could be fuond at the spot visited or its neighborhood. No animal large enough to carry off a horse or mule was known to exist on the island. The people began to watch at night, and it was noticed that the traces through the vegetation always stopped at streams and seemed to vanish altogether after that. Several children suddenly disappeared, to add to the horor of the mystery; and a grief stricken mother, while sitting by her hut mourning the loss of her five year old daughter, was, on the very day following the child's disappearance, a treror-stricken eye witness of the carrying off of her three year old boy by a colossal snake. Pursuit by an armed body of residents proved fruitless. It was surmised, from the rather imperfect description given of the approximate color, rings, and spots of the snake, that it was a survivor of the extinct race of gigantic huilliar, or local anacondas, occasionally met with in the old days of the Oroponche, Arima, and other rivers of the island. Finally, after many more depredations by the monster, who was several times seen in different mountainous localities, the matter was thought serious enough by the warden of the island to warrant making a request through the Colonial Secretary for assistance from Port-Of-Spain. The story of the occurences was also considered by the Central Agricultural Board; and in the course of the meeting Hon Dr de Verteoill stated than in his opinion the snake was a huilliar. Early one morning a large cavalcade, heavily armed, set out from Arima and proceeded to the Blue Mountain, in the neighborhood of which, searching parties had located the snake the day before. He had been seen to enter the Guacharo caves in the hill separated fromt eh mountain by a hollow, and the party gradually formed a cordon around the hill. A portion of the party entered into one of the openings leading into teh interior of the great caves, and had scarcely done so, when the head of a monstrous snake suddenly appeared on the surface of a large pool. An angry hiss, like the plunging of a red hot iron into the pool, issued from teh hideous head, and then a volley of bullets was fired into him. A second volley was necessary to produce the desired effect, and was fired at as he lifted his huge carcass some 25 feet out of the water. When dragged out to the level he was found to measure 47 feet, and was 2 1/2 feet through at the thickest part. In color he was yellow on the under part of his body, and dark above, having dark rings between, while the skin was variegated with semi lunar greay discs. His snakeship was dragged to Arima, and steps taken to preserve teh carcass in the council hall of Port-Of-Spain. The matter was made the subject of a despatch from the American consul to his department at Washington. - Port of Spain Gazette"