<P> In the 2009 science fiction film Avatar, director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtanium on the fictional exoplanetary moon, Pandora . The Earth - like moon is inhabited by a sapient indigenous humanoid species called the Na'vi, and varied fauna and flora . Resources Development Administration (RDA) scientists, administrators, recruits, support, and security personnel travel to Pandora in the 22nd century to discover this lush world, which is inhabited by many lifeforms including the human - like Na'vi . The clan with which the humans have contact in the film "(lives) in a giant tree that sits on a vast store of a mineral called unobtanium, which humans want as an energy supply ." </P> <P> The Pandoran biosphere teems with a biodiversity of bioluminescent species ranging from six - legged animals to other types of exotic fauna and flora . The Pandoran ecology forms a vast neural network spanning the entire lunar surface into which the Na'vi and other creatures can connect . The strength of this collective consciousness is powerfully illustrated when the human invaders are defeated in battle by the Pandoran ecology, after the resolute Na'vi were nearly defeated . Cameron used a team of expert advisors in order to make the various examples of fauna and flora as scientifically feasible as possible . </P>

Why did humans go to pandora in avatar