What life forms were Luke and Han trying to detect in Hoth?

Question

At the beginning of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Luke Skywalker (Echo Three) and Han Solo (Echo Seven) have a talk via comlink about scouting the Hoth ice wastes, picking life readings and placing sensors, as follows:

[Luke] Echo Three to Echo Seven. Han, old buddy, do you read me?

[Han] Loud and clear, kid. What's up?

[Luke] Well, I finished my circle. I don't pick up any life readings.

[Han] There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. The sensors are placed. I'm going back.

[Luke] Right. I'll see you shortly.

The aforementioned dialogue tells that they were putting those sensors in place to detect -I think- potential life-threatening forms. As far as I know, Wampas were one of the few deadly species in Hoth, however according to Canon/Legends about Wampas as predators:

The competition among Wampas for Hoth's relatively small number of prey animals formed a limit to the numbers of the creatures existing on Hoth, keeping the Wampa relatively scarce.

Wampas were typically solitary hunters.

Wampas preyed on tauntauns as their primary source of food.

I could be wrong, but even though in the episode "Beasts of Echo Base" of Star Wars Forces of Destiny there were occasional sneaking of Wampas into the base, I don't see a small group of Wampas being a serious threat to the Echo Base that had reinforced chambers and closed corridors to hold the Wampas. On the other hand, the Galactic Empire did not yet know the location of the base, I ask if there is a Canon/Legend reference about the life forms they were attempting to detect with the sensors.

Answer 1

Per the film's official junior novelisation, Luke and Han are planting sensors that can detect Imperial or alien intrusion into their local area. They're worried that local lifeforms (like the wampas and tauntauns) may interfere with or confuse their trackers, so they're out looking for those also.

Luke was looking for wild tauntauns, wampa ice monsters, and any other of Hoth’s few indigenous creatures. Sensors were being planted for the Alliance’s regional warning network, which would anticipate Imperial or alien intruders, and it was Luke’s job to make sure that no native beasts might accidentally damage them. But from what Luke could see, there wasn’t any sign of life amidst the frozen wastes, not even tracks. In every direction, all he saw was white.

This deleted scene shows that the wampas were (potentially) a direct threat to base personnel, so a warning of their presence would be wise.