The Mobs of the Pocket Edition

While the PE includes a Survival Mode for game play in addition to a Creative Mode, the Survival Mode lacks the full complement of Mobs in the game, as the PE only contains the following Mobs at present: Chickens, Cows, Pigs, Sheep, Creepers, Skeletons, Spiders, Zombies, and Zombie Pigmen.

The basic briefing for each of the Mobs in the game below will assist you both in dealing with the potential threat they pose as well as making use of the resources that they present to you in the game.

Note that at present there is no mechanism in the game for breeding farm animals, though it is possible for baby animals to spawn on their own in the game.

Chickens

Chickens are a passive mob and they first appeared in the Alpha release of the game. Chickens were added to the game in order to serve as a source for feathers, which are an essential resource for creating arrows, an absolutely key ammunition for ranged defense. In addition they will later serve as a source for both Raw Chicken and Eggs, which are used in making food items.

While they appear to wander aimlessly, they actually possess very decent path-finding capabilities, and they will willingly follow you when you are holding wheat in your hand. For some odd reason they have a liking for caves, but are also drawn to light in dark environments, and swim very well. They have the ability to jump, and are keen on escaping when they find themselves trapped, which can make it a bit difficult to farm them.

Cows

Cows are a passive mob and are the sole source for Leather, Raw Beef, and Milk in the main game and will eventually be that in the PE version. While they are not the most commonly encountered animal in the game, when they are encountered it is often in herds of 4 to 8 cows (and there can be baby cows too). They are not the most durable animal, or the smartest, and have been known to walk off of the edge of cliffs, falling to their death.

Cows appear to like water -- they swim very well -- and their primary defensive move is to flee when attacked. The largest of the 5 common animals in the game that are used for resources and farming by the players, Cows will willingly follow you when you are holding Wheat in your hand, which is useful for herding them into enclosures.Useful Factoids:

• All cows in Minecraft have udders, therefore all baby cows have two mothers.


• Cows seem to be a less common mob in the game.
  
• It takes one complete Minecraft day (approx 20 minutes) for baby calves to grow into fully mature cows.
  
• Calves, while not full-grown cows, can still be milked.
  

Pigs

Next to Chickens and Sheep, Pigs are probably the most frequently encountered and easiest to find passive mobs in the game, and considering that they are the source for porkchops, a very useful bit of foodstuff, that is a good thing.

You will not likely confuse a Pig for any other animal in the game, considering that they are bright pink and have a curly tail.

As implied above, they are a common animal to find roaming the Overworld -- often encountered in groups of three-to-five Pigs, and they are a very mobile animal, being good swimmers and able to jump up and down ledges, which means that they can and will flee when attacked.

Having said that they are generally considered to be a rather stupid animal, mostly because they are not very good at fleeing, often getting stuck or trapped in the environment, which is good news for you as it means that they are pretty easy to harvest.

Useful Factoids:

• It takes one full Minecraft day for baby piglets to become Pigs.
  

Sheep

Having been raised on a Sheep Station I can confirm that Sheep are a devious and mean sort of animal, and really you are doing them a favor when you kill them...

They are also the passive mob in the game that serve as the source for wool both when sheared (providing 1-to-3 pieces) or killed (usually resulting on only one piece of wool). Originally they were planned as a source of meat as well as Wool, but at some point following the addition of Chicken and Cows it was decided that this was not a necessary addition to the game after all.

Sheep tend to wander around aimlessly, usually in flocks of between 2 and 8, and are generally considered to be a rather stupid animal and easily killed. Sheep are generally excellent swimmers and seem to like water, which is why you often encounter them jumping up and down in it.

The Wool that you get from Sheep is used in making some rather nice items in the game, including beds and paintings, and can be dyed with any of the 16 colors of dye that can be made in the game, so that they can be used as decorations as well.

As mentioned above Wool can be died -- a block of white wool can be crafted with a unit of dye to produce the desired colored wool -- but a much more efficient method for achieving that end is to simply make your dyes and then apply the dye directly to sheep prior to shearing it! The dye can be applied by holding it and Right-Clicking a sheep of any color, and then using the Shears to shear the Sheep, which allows you to harvest whatever the number of Wool you would get but in the color you have made it.Useful Factoids:

• After being sheared all sheep (regardless of their original color), will display remnants of white wool on their head and legs, but when they eat Tall Grass and regrow their Wool it will be whatever the color was that you harvested from them, which means you can encounter oddly colored Sheep.
  
• Sheep can be herded when you have Wheat in your hand; thus a Sheep will follow you around which makes it easy enough to herd them into a pen.
  
• Sheep can get stuck in the environment, and particularly in fences.
  

Creepers

Creepers are probably the best known and most hated of the hostile mobs, largely due to the fact that their habit is to ambush players by sneaking up on them and then to explode, causing massive damage to the player and the surrounding blocks -- a sort of roaming sneaky walking bomb.

This is especially annoying because they can appear pretty much any time -- unlike the other night-mobs they do not burst into flames in the daylight, so if any have spawned outside of your home in the night, they will still be there in the morning!

I can say from personal experience that walking out in to the cheerful sunshine only to have a Creeper sneak up and then blow up myself and a large crater in front of my house to be a rather unpleasant surprise indeed!

Creepers spawn at night and in dark locations that have a light level of 7 or less, so it is generally thought to be a good idea to make sure that your bastion is very well-lit at night. They take a particular interest in blowing up players, call it a hobby for them I guess...

Creepers are THE source for Gunpowder -- which is a primary ingredient for TNT -- but to obtain it you need to kill them BEFORE they explode, right?-- Creeper Behavior --
As mentioned above, the Creeper generally uses the technique of sneaking up on a player and then when they are within one square, hissing briefly and blowing up -- though once they start to hiss they generally then blow up, it is possible to distance yourself to limit the amount of damage you take, I am just saying...

If a Creeper can see you and get within the one-block distance required, they will explode, but the good news is that they cannot see you through glass (as far as we know none of the mobs can) -- so having them lounging outside your house does not mean that they will count down and blow -- unless you do something really stupid like open your door...

Their explosive force is roughly 25% less than that of TNT, but when a Creeper is struck by lightning (and thus in a "charged" state) their explosion is twice the power. It is not clear if that is possible in the PE at this point but I thought it should be mentioned.

Killing them is best accomplished with a bow and two or three fully-charged shots -- you can do it with a sword but if you do you sort of need to be backing away from it all the while so that it never starts its countdown while you are killing it.

Iron Swords will kill a Creeper better than Stone or Wood, and faster as well, but the Diamond Sword can do them in in just two or three hits, which is something to consider if you are actually hunting them -- but it would be an idea to wear armor just in case one blows up on you...

Useful Factoids:

• Despite their explosive properties and the fact that they drop gunpowder when killed, Creepers will not detonate when exposed to lava or fire.
  
• Despite having no arms, creepers can climb up ladders and vines like any other mob.
  
• The creepers path finding allows for it to notice lava, and it will not attempt to chase the player if they are on the other side of the lava.
  
• Glass walls around entrances can prevent the creepers' habit of hiding in ambush around corners.
  
• To minimize creeper damage to shelters and structures, the surrounding, interior, and roof areas should be well-lit.
  

Skeletons

Perhaps one of the most common mobs to be encountered in the Overworld, Skellies drop Bones, Arrows, and very rarely, their Bow (and there is a very very rare chance that the Bow that they drop will be an enchanted one in the regular game, not sure if that applies to PE).

They are easier to kill up close than they are far away -- and really REALLY good news for PE players is that they are far less accurate in their shots in the PE version than in the other versions of the game! But still, the reason that they are easier to kill close in has to do with the fact that they are pretty good with their Bow and when they do hit you it can hurt... The farther away they are, the more effective their bow attacks can be when they do hit you -- and while their accuracy is reduced in the PE version, their bow shots tend to be a lot more effective than yours are on them, which makes them a poor candidate for a shoot-out...

A good sword and a willingness to rush in and swing are your best tactic in my experience.

Like zombies, skeletons spawn in dimly lit areas, burn in daylight -- unless they are swimming in water or are standing in the shade, in which case they will not. Still that is not necessarily a bad thing as they are easy to kill...

As the sole source of bones (and by extension of Bone Meal which is an incredibly useful item as it allows you to instantly grow some plants like trees), they are also a source of Arrow drops, but bear in mind that any Arrows that they actually fire AT you can not be harvested and used by the player.

Useful Factoids:

• Skeletons cannot see the player through glass.
  

Spiders

The form that these take is instantly recognizable for what they are -- big black spiders that would have Harry's mate Ron running for the hills! While these are included as a Hostile Mob here, that only applies to Spiders encountered in the dark, since Spiders encountered during daylight are actually Neutral and will not actively attack the player unless they first attack the Spider.

Spiders are a highly desirable target as they are the source for String -- the String is the thing though, because you need that to make Bows and Fishing Rods.

If you have a decent set of armor and a good weapon, dealing with spiders in melee is likely to be the most effective way to kill them -- if you are a good shot and know how to lead your shots you can also do OK with Bow and Arrows, but Swords is a more reliable method.

In addition to spawning in the dark, Spiders are really good at climbing walls, so even if you build walls around your Stronghold it is possible for them to enter -- though putting a lip around the wall can prevent them from climbing it.Useful Factoids:

• Spiders slow down when climbing vertical surfaces, making it easier for a player to outrun them around steep mountains and cliffs.
  
• When you set fire to a spider, it will be surrounded by a giant fireball.
  
• Spiders are one of the few hostile mobs that will take recognizable notice of you while you're hidden behind glass.
  

Zombies

Similar in appearance to Creepers -- but having two arms which instantly differentiates them -- they have green skin, empty eye sockets, and wear the same clothing as The Player and humans Villagers.

Zombies spawn in dimly lit areas and attack the player by shambling towards them and touching them. Like skeletons, zombies catch fire in sunlight.

There is a small chance that when killed by the player they may drop Iron Ingots, Iron Shovels, Iron Swords, and Iron Helmets, and they may drop other pieces of Iron armor.

Unless they are found in a large group -- not likely -- Zombies really do not present much of a threat to the player, and are easily killed.

Useful Factoids:

• If a zombie is in water, it will not catch fire and die, regardless of the light level.
  

Zombie Pigmen

Zombie Pigmen were the first completely neutral, non-passive mob, and were introduced in the Alpha of the main game as part of the Nether update along with Ghasts.

They are an irregular mob and spawn naturally in the Nether, and appear in the Overworld when lightning strikes within 3 to 4 blocks of a Pig, which is a very rare occurrence.

Zombie Pigmen are not naturally hostile, but will converge on a mob or player as a group to attack them if a single member is attacked. Zombie Pigmen roam the Nether in packs of 4 to 10, dislike Ghasts, and are smart enough to avoid falling off of cliffs.

Bear in mind that a group of attacking Zombie Pigmen is a force to be feared, with each able to do up to three-hearts in damage with each sword swing! Once they aggro against you, if you cannot kill them chances are they will kill you, and quickly, because they are nearly impossible to outrun unless you get really serious about it.

They are known to drop Gold Nuggets, and have rare drops of Gold Helmets and Gold Swords, and Gold Ingots. Because of that they are a desirable target to kill -- and they can be killed if you are very careful about how you do it. Ideally what you want to do is pick them off when they are alone or out of sight of their mates -- because it is SEEING you attack one that causes the others to attack.

Another popular method is to build a perch three-blocks-tall and then stand on it and attack them with bow and sword. As long as you stay on top of the column they cannot damage you, but you can damage them, so it really does not matter if they attack in packs with this tactic.

Useful Factoids:

• About one in two Zombie Pigmen will drop a Gold Nugget.
  
• Zombie Pigmen can climb ladders and attack while doing so but generally only do so if the ladder is directly in their path.
  

As the game matures there should be more mobs added, and the drops that are commonly associated with the mobs should start to equalize with the traditional drops in the core game. Please be aware that the information that was presented above is based partly on my experience with the game and partly on the assumption with respect to certain drops being retained. If they are not I apologize for including them, but on the other hand, a broken clock is still right twice a day, and eventually they WILL drop those items!