The ability of the yeomets to eat such a wide variety of materials (including monocellulose compounds) is dependent on a digestive enzyme that can only be activated in the presence of large amounts of electromagnetic radiation. Without this enzyme, yeomets are capable of only digesting a small range of plants and animals.

Many individuals find yeomets to be frightening in appearance, but attacks by yeomets are rare - confronted yeomets usually flee. Only when a yeomet is cornered and has no means of escape will it attack.

While attacks are rare, they are also extremely dangerous. The primary attack mode of a yeomet is a biting attack, and while the teeth of a yeomet are not notably sharp, the jaws are extremely strong, and the blunt trauma damage is substantial. In addition, yeomets carry a wide range of diseases and any injury caused by a yeomet is a likely source of infection.

Yeomet social behavior is extremely simple. The yeomets gather together in non-hierarchical herds of not more than 30 individuals and scavenge together for eight to nine hour periods. Following each scavenging period, the yeomets form a large pile in which they sleep for approximately four hours. There is no organizational structure to the sleeping pile Ñ individual yeomets enter the pile at random, and those on the top and edges of the pile (who would, in similar behaviors performed by other species, most likely be designated as guardians or watchers) appear to sleep as soundly as do those in the center of the pile.

The only exception to this behavior occurs during sleep periods in which a female is going to give birth. Such a female is always on the bottom of the pile - some behaviorists postulate that the added weight pressing down on the female assists her in her labor.

Newborn yeomet pups are accepted into the herds as the offspring of the herd, not as the offspring of any individual, eliminating the instinctive reproductive competitiveness that, in other species, often results in infanticide.

Yeomets began to thrive largely because their natural predators could not adapt to urban life. As it is now, the only creatures that prey on yeomets are sentient creatures. In fact, in some sectors, yeomet exterminators are as well respected as are the members of the local law enforcement agencies. Exterminators will often track a yeomet herd for days, studying its foraging and sleeping patterns, in an attempt to predict the possible locations of future sleeping piles, since these sleeping periods represent the most effective times for exterminations.

Yeomets have been used in medical research throughout the galaxy because their digestive and lymphatic systems are remarkably similar to that of many reptilian sentient species. They have also been bred as pets, although these domesticated yeomets are much more docile and unintelligent than the naturally occurring yeomets. Members of the Jenet species, in particular, are known to enjoy keeping yeomets as pets.

Many bureaucrats have attempted to recast the destructive tendencies of yeomets as benefits. There have been instances in outlying space stations where the station government has decreased its garbage disposal service upon hearing of the presence of yeomets, under the impression that the yeomets themselves would dispose of the excess refuse. Despite the fact that these incidents almost inevitably lead to tragedy (due to the ability of the yeomets to spread disease), rumors persist that scientists are working to develop yeomets that are even more efficient at consuming garbage, and could, ultimately, supplant all other methods of garbage disposal.