The Takarans are a humanoid race native to the planet Takara.
Takarans are characterized by a very unusual anatomy and physiology where their internal organs are not as distinct as those of most humanoids - their organ systems are much more evenly distributed around their bodies, resulting in Takarans having a very high resistance to injury. Takarans also have voluntary control over their own physiology down to a cellular level and can place themselves in a form of stasis resembling death. To Starfleet medical equipment, only the rate of cellular decay could verify whether a Takaran was dead or alive - a slow rate of cellular decay was indicative of a Takaran in voluntary stasis; the rate of cellular decay would be much faster if the Takaran were truly dead - this was unknown to Starfleet medical officers until 2369.
A notable aspect of their unusual physiology is that Takarans do not react to nonlethal phaser discharges by being stunned, as many humanoid species do; rather, the phaser beam creates a hole in them, after which they are apparently able to continue functioning normally. In Suspicions Dr. Beverly Crusher shot Dr. Jo'Bril in this way and in self-defense was forced to increase the phaser setting and fire on Jo'Bril again, vaporizing him.
- Since Dr. Crusher knew little of Takaran physiology and also stated Jo'Bril was the first Takaran she'd ever met, it is unlikely that Takarans were Federation members as of 2369.