The Taung were an ancient species of Humanoid simians. Indigenous to the galactic Core World of Coruscant, the two-meter-tall, gray-skinned Taungs were warriors from youth, and viewed battle as a source of honor both for the individual and their gods. Famous for their struggles against the Human Battalions of Zhell—prehistoric Coruscant's other major power—the Taung waged war against their enemies for hundreds of years. When a powerful volcano erupted and devastated the Zhell, spewing ash into the sky with such density it blocked out the light of Coruscant's sun, the Taung labeled themselves the "Warriors of the Shadow", or Dha Werda Verdain their language. Despite their loss, the Zhell eventually managed to drive the Taung from Coruscant, and the defeated Taung fled to the planet Roon, located in the Outer Rim. There they remained for millennia, until legendaryMandalore the First led the Taung to conquer a new world which they named Mandalore in honor of their leader, and the Taung subsequently recast themselves as the Mandalorians or Mando'ade—"Sons and Daughters of Mandalore".
As the newly entitled Mandalorians, the Taung set out to conquer the worlds around their new home, their nomadic nature and worship of war driving them crusading outward as they increased their territory. Under the rule of Mandalore the Indomitable, another Taung warlord following in the leadership tradition established by Mandalore the First, the Taung began to take in beings of other species into their culture, transforming what it meant to be Mandalorian forever after. This willing acceptance of other beings peaked during the Mandalorian Wars, when Mandalore the Ultimate led the Mandalorians on a campaign against the military forces of the Galactic Republic. Though initially victorious, the intervention of the Jedi KnightRevan and his loyal Jedi followers turned the tide of the war against the Mandalorians, culminating with the devastation of the planet Malachor V. The Taung race had suffered heavy losses during the war, and by its end, were generally believed to have drifted into extinction, while leaving their legacy through the Mandalorian culture they had passed on, many of whom referred to the Taung as the Progenitors.