Nature is full of wonder and mystery – and, fortunately for us, bizarre facts! This is our first bizarre facts list of 2009 and will definitely not be the last of one of our most popular topics! I hope you enjoy the facts, and if you have any more of your own to add, please feel free to do so in the comments!
Weird Fact: A mouse can fit through a hole the size of a ballpoint pen
During the summer months, mice will generally live outside and remain contended there. But as soon as the weather begins to cool, they seek the warmth of our homes. Because of their soft skulls and gnawing ability, a hole the size of a ballpoint pen (6mm – 1/4 inch) is large enough for them to enter en masse. Once inside, they will constantly gnaw at virtually anything – including concrete, lead, and plastic. This is to keep their ever-growing teeth at a convenient length. Contrary to popular belief, mice don’t generally like cheese – but will eat it on occasion. Mice can jump up to 46cm (18 inches), swim, and travel vertically or upside-down. To mouse proof your house, check all small openings with a ballpoint pen – if it fits the hole, it will let mice in.
Weird Fact: Unlike most creatures, goats have rectangular pupils
We all imagine pupils to be round – as they are the type we see most often (on humans) – but goats (and most other animals with hooves) have horizontal slits which are nearly rectangular when dilated. This gives goats vision covering 320 – 340 degrees; this means they can see virtually all around them without having to move (humans have vision covering 160 – 210 degrees). Consequently, animals with rectangular eyes can see better at night due to having larger pupils that can be closed more tightly during the day to restrict light. Interestingly, octopuses also have rectangular pupils.
Weird Fact: Horses can’t see directly in front of themselves
A horse has considerably wide vision (and the largest eyes of any land mammal) – being able to see a total field of up to 350 degrees. Horses have two blind spots – the first is directly in front of them and the other is directly behind their head. As far as seeing details, horses are red color blind and have vision of 20/33 (compared to a perfect human vision of 20/20)
Weird Fact: Rats can’t vomit
Rats can’t vomit or burp because of a limiting wall between their two stomachs and their inability to control the diaphragm muscles needed for the action. Neither rabbits nor guinea pigs can vomit either. This makes rats particularly susceptible to poisoning (hence its popularity in controlling rat infestations). Because of this inability, rats will nibble at food to see if it makes them feel sick (they can’t vomit, but they can feel like they sure as hell want to!) If they don’t feel nausea they will scoff the lot.
Weird Fact: The scientific name for a gorilla is “Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla”
First off, let us just be clear: this is the scientific name for a particular type of Gorilla – the Western Lowland Gorilla (this is the type you are most likely to see in a zoo – and the most common). For some reason the poor gorillas got stuck with the weird names – if you aren’t a Gorilla gorilla gorilla, you are a Gorilla gorilla diehli, Gorilla beringei beringei, Gorilla beringei graueri. The Bwindi Gorilla (a type of Gorilla beringei) has not yet been given a trinomen – for the sake of fun and to be a little different, I propose it be named Gorilla beringei ChuckNorris. If you didn’t understand this item, don’t worry – I didn’t either!
Weird Fact: A swan can break a man’s arm
Next time you are feeding the beautiful swans and want to give one a nice pat on the back – don’t do it! Swans are very protective of their young and will use their incredibly powerful wings to fend off dogs (and sometimes humans). They have a wing span of around 2.75 meters (9 feet). In 2001, a young man in Ireland had his leg broken by a swan when he was trying to provoke it. The following year another person had their arm broken.
Weird Fact: If you drop a tarantula it will shatter
First of all, unless you are allergic to tarantula venom, they are harmless to humans (though they pack a painful bite). Some tarantulas can also shoot the “hairs” off their legs which can pierce human skin and cause great discomfort. Now – back to the weird fact. Tarantulas have an exoskeleton (that means its skeleton is on the outside) like crayfish and crabs. They shed their exoskeleton regularly – normally by lying on their back. (When they are shedding their skeleton, it is a good idea to keep right away from them as they will attack due to their vulnerable state.) Because the exoskeleton is very fragile, if a tarantula is dropped from a low height, it will shatter and die.
Weird Fact: Nutmeg is poisonous
Nutmeg is a hallucinigenic drug which is regularly used to flavor such lovely things as custard tarts and fruit cakes. It is also a poison which will kill you while you suffer a variety of extremely revolting (and one or two not-so-revolting) side-effects on the way. Ingesting 2 grams of nutmeg will give you similar feelings to having taken amphetamines (the not-so-revolting side-effect) but will also cause nausea, fever, and headaches. Ingesting 7.5 grams will cause convulsions, and eating 10 grams will cause hallucinations. Eating a whole nutmeg can lead to “nutmeg psychosis” which includes feelings of impending doom, confusion, and agitation. There have been two recorded cases of death by nutmeg (one in 1908 and one in 2001).
Weird Fact: The telegraph plant is capable of rapid movement – even in the absence of wind
The Telegraph plant is a tropical plant usually found in Asia – but also in the South Pacific. The plant has the amazing ability to shake its leaves (which rotate on their axis and jerk up and down). There are a few other plants with rapid movement abilities (such as the venus fly trap) but this is the most bizarre and least known. It should be noted that when we refer to “rapid” in relation to plants – it is not super fast – but it is definitely visible with the naked eye. I have linked to a real-time clip of the plant in action above (apologies for the music – this is not my own clip or it would be far more awesome).
Weird Fact: The Bombardier beetle shoots boiling liquid as a defense mechanism
The incredibly complex bombardier beetle has an amazing and unique ability: when threatened it shoots boiling hot chemicals from its abdomen up to 70 times rapidly. The liquid is a combination of hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinones which join together inside the beetle causing a chemical reaction. The liquid is fatal to small insects and creatures and can be very painful to humans. You can watch the incredible reaction in the clip above.
Contributor: JFrater
Anon- thanks for the info. Pretty cool stuff… do you read encyclopedias all day or something? Ha! Keep it up.
Anon- what are earwigs?
deepthinker, (122),
No, I’ve just lived a good while, have a fair number of interests (with even more behind me I no longer have time for), have been lucky to meet interesting folks, have travelled somewhat, and in all this accumulated a vast amount of useless mental pabulum along with a few bits that do serve me. Oh, and of vital importance, although 72, Dr Alzheimer hasn’t yet caught up with my fairly seviceable memory. So better make the most of me before he does! Hahaha.
jfater, please give us your (further) info on the mouse-hole thing, if you have the time.
it’s awesome to hear all this spider talk. in my childhood i was so afraid of any and all spiders i’d wake my whole family to kill one i spied in the night. as i got older i became more ok with them -like “ok, you can live in my house, but not the bedroom. then, later, bedroom corners are fine, but not near the bed.”
then i spent 3 months living in the peruvian amazon (outside iquitos) and it became “if you don’t look like a brazilian wandering spider i won’t poke you, please don’t poke me, good night.”
the weirdest thing is tarantulas helped me conquer my childhood arachnophobia (it was so bad i wouldn’t enter a room if a spider had been seen in it that day and not killed). for tarantulas, there are a few ornate asian species that have a very harsh bite (and are aggressive), one is rumored to be fatal (in one uncorroborated instance), but most in the pet trade are docile and fascinating! something about them being so big and (mostly) not so fast made me less afraid of them. I’m kind of a spider fan now
i think it really changed for me when i was back-backing in montana at age 16 and our group leader picked up this big black spider at our camp site. in retrospect, it was probably some kind of female orb-weaver. i was i petrified by the sight of it, but the spider just climbed gently over his palm and up his thumb and hung out. then we released her in the brush. it made me realize most spiders don’t want to bite us, and most are no more dangerous than a bee sting if they do. there are exceptions (i still fear the brazilian wandering spider, for its venom and its attitude!) but most spiders want to live their little lives and leave us alone.
so don’t kill harmless spiders (which are 99.8% of them), please.
RE 126
Well said, lo! And it is true that a few Old World species are known to be more aggressive, mainly because they don’t have any other defenses like the utricating hairs New World tarantulas have. And, as you said, most in the pet trade are New World and therefor docile.
I suspect you’re referring to the Indian Ornamental, which is as beautiful as it is mean. That’s another thing about spiders, if they’re dangerous, they definitely *look* it. If it’s really shiny and/or pretty looking, give it space.
Which one is rumored to be fatal, btw?
RE: 125: I, too, strive to be a polymath.
Rascalian-
-70! my bones frost over just thinking of it!
i spent 3 week in AK back in ’98 (mostly kayaking in kenai fjords nat. park) but it was summer around the solstice (i got to do 4th of july in seward, good times
) and i want to go back -should i ever have the travel funds. but i am a winter wimp, even the southern illinois winter i’m sitting in right now makes me long for the equatorial tropics (i skipped “winter” last year in peru) so you are much braver and tougher than i! i send you some love of AK, from a confirmed weather wimp, and wish you all the best. have a happy and safe ’09 
bdeans-
i just googled it and can’t find a species. there was a time when i was really thinking of acquiring a pet tarantula (the ultimate showing a phobia who’s boss! i currently keep turtles and felt an arachnid could have a similar maintenance schedule…) and i think i read it on some spider hobbiest site (a place for more than the casual pet-keeper, where they give great detail on housing/keeping “challenging” species) and it was a side note on one of the gorgeous (but FAST and aggressive ornates.)
as i remember, it was referenced as a “possible death” in the local population of the spider’s native habitat. of course, this would not rule out an allergic reaction for the unfortunate victim, but it was definitely a reference to the local population believing it was a dangerous spider. wish i could tell you the species. all i remember is the site giving the anecdote and recommending it “for VERY experience keepers.”
lo-
I highly recommend getting a tarantula to help dispel any fears. That’s how I came to own my chilean rose hair. She was in a little corner pet store, and they had mistaken her for a species that only needed gravel substrate. I tried on a couple of different visits to convince them she needed soft substrate, but no one listened. Well, being the passive Canadian that I am, instead of continuing to argue I struck a deal and bought her. She is by far the easiest pet to care for, even easier than a turtle. She needs to be fed about 4 or 5 crickets a *month.* Females don’t need to feed very often, as they aren’t as active as males. Also, females live 5 or 6 times longer than males. Males only live 3 or 4 years, on average. Females live 20+ years.
You can easily handle them, but I’ve never held mine because I don’t want to hurt her.
stevenh:
Sorry to bring to light the fact that invertebrates can get cancer. Cancer has nothing to do with bones and they have found many specimens of sharks with cancer. It’s just a myth being perpetrated by people who rely on old knowledge. Old books should really be destroyed or at least, locked away. I’m looking at you Bible.
thanks bdeans,
i have a spot right now that could house a spider (if s/he could be happy in a 10 gallon tank) and won’t rule out getting one. when i was researching them i saw so many that are both beautiful and reasonably (don’t threaten them, they won’t threaten you) gentle. perhaps it’s time to take that big step and become a tarantula mommy
and i’m not at all squeamish of feeding live foods like crickets/roaches/pinkies as are size appropriate to my pets.
ok, bed time for me -thinking of pet spiders!
lo-
A 10 gallon tank would be more than enough to house a chilean rose hair, and most other New World species. I keep mine in a 5 gallon, and she’s pretty happy with it. I’ve seen collectors keep their tarantula in those plastic boxes that are smaller than shoe boxes. A female won’t go more than 3 or 4 feet from her burrow in her entire life, anyway.
Listverse
enthusiastic congratulations from Hungary
I am a fan of cats.
Any weird oddities about them?
@ Post #15: You watch QI, don’t you?
88 segue
you shocked me with this
I understand that the CASSOWARY a flightless bird in NEW ZEALAND can kill a man and theres a bird in SOUTH AMERICA that secrets a deadly poison on its feathers when their distiturbed
deepthinker and bdeans,
(PS. Sorry, folks. I tried to post this very late last night immediately after my previous comment, but had server trouble, so could only record it, file it and hit the sack until now.)
Earwigs. Fairly primitive omnivorous but largely vegetable nibbling insects distantly related to what you (and Cyn!) call the roaches. Tender, caring (Nemo-like) parents for their clutch of tiny white nymphs. The name is actually reckoned to be a corruption of earwing, from the shape of their little-used flight limbs, rather than the creepy (literally) idea that they take refuge in our ears. In fact human ear wax is extremely acrid with the purpose of deterring just such liberties. I don’t think you’ll find anything gets into ears for fun, unless some parasite has adapted to that.
Some 1300 species of earwig are known globally. Of these 34 are native to Europe and 4 occur in the British Isles. (Source; Collins Pocket Guide to Insects of Britain & Western Europe, which we just happen to have on our bookshelves by amazing chance. Hahaha.)
Forficula auricularia, the common European earwig, is a minor horticultural pest on account of nibbling at petals, in particular of daliahs and chrysanths.
I’m sure if you google earwig you’ll get pics and more info., if you wish.
Happily for me there are few earwigs in Chile, with only eight named in Introducción al Estudio de los Insectos de Chile.
When threatened they may curl the abdoman up scorpion-wise and open the essentially harmless pincers menacingly: hence my childhood castration fantasy asnd continuing idiotic unease!
ADDENDUM: bdeans: not polymath, I fear. The relevant phrase I was taught from childhood on is ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’!
Having read your collective exchange on the conquest of phobias, I’m wondering if there’s a gentle giant Indonesian earwig with forceps the size of electric-wire pliers I might keep as a pet. I’m safe though. SAG, the Chilean ag. people, wouldn’t let it in!
137. Freca: 88 segue you shocked me with this
****
What about it was shocking?
The list is nice, but the writer is fail.
I posted this up at #88, and at # 137 Freca posted: segue you shocked me with this
I’m at a complete loss. Is anyone else shocked by this, and if so, why? Freca seems unavailable to answer for (whoever)self.
****
Your bit on the gorilla names reminded me of a job I was on, lo these many years ago! One of the “actors” was a baby gorilla, and at one point I got to hold him for a few minutes. Looking into his eyes was like looking into the eyes of a human. It was an eye that held knowledge, awareness, selfness. I was awestruck!
When I went to hand him back to his trainer, he kept hold of my finger for a moment, and held my gaze. Then he was gone, into the hustle and bustle of the set, the familiarity of his pen, and I was back at work.
Those minutes, though, those minutes of communion with another species, my God! They will never be gone. I will always know that behind those gorilla eyes lies a brain as aware of itself as we are of ourselves. When I experienced a meeting similar to this one, with a baby chimp a few years later, I was not at all surprised to see the look of self-awareness in his eyes.
They are truly our cousins.
RE: 139
I seem to recall a bug that crawls into people’s ears in Africa, and causes a maddening buzzing. But I can’t find anything about it. I did find a page about treating bugs that crawl into ears by drowning them in mineral oil.
As for the ‘jack of all trades’ comment, I suspect you’re being modest.
you forgot to add the frogs that can literally stop their heartbeat for months at a time
In my humble and narrow minded opinion, my cat is a wonder of Nature.
140 segue
140 segue
It touched me so much.
mysasssyelf, don’t dis JFrater he’ll destroy you
segue 142
I am not unavailable but periodically I have to sleep
******
I have no Darwin’s Point on my ears.
I can feel it with my finger but visually just nothing.
interesting revelations
@31 Stephenh
elephants are the only (land) animal that can’t jump
Close but I don’t think slugs and snails are known for their leaping aility. And as for those giant tortoises, well! they can hardly keep their feet on the ground at parties.
Elephants are the only land MAMMAL that can’t jump, and also the only one with 4 knees
Tom, (151) and (31) Stephenh,
I can assure you both of you are wrong. There’s a 1992 film with Wesley Snipes called, ‘White Men Can’t Jump’, and white men are definitely mammals.
However, I will concede it doesn’t say anything about white women, who are also part of the species, or black, yellow or red men either, so I’ll allow it only applies to part of the species.
Actually, Tom, I’d thought about remarking that I’d never seen a snake jump either, though tey can get a nifty sort of assisted take-off when they ramp-launch over a rock going fast downhill. And of course they fly (well, glide).
I also pared it down to mammals, but was still having a bit of difficulty imagining a three-toed sloth jumping from the back of its turned over claws, but I supposed you’d clocked that one up. In fact I was having a bit of trouble imagining a three-toed sloth doing anything vigorous at all!
Apropos, are we defining jumping as upwards from a standing position, or is climbing a tree and jumping down in the frame?
3-toed (and 2-toed) sloths are awesome animals! and definitely mammals. i got to interact with some a while back while visiting a lady who rehabs animals in peru, they certainly didn’t show any signs of inclination or ability to jump
the thing that was most amazing was she had an adult 2-toed which had adopted and was fostering a baby 3-toed left to her by a german tourist who bought it in a market under well meaning but flawed influence of “helping.” (paying money for animals encourages people to seek out more of them for commerce, and many die in this process.)
it was so cool to see the “mom” care for a baby not hers and not even her species!
147. Freca: 140 segue It touched me so much.
****
Thank you. I’ve just never connected the word “shocked” with anything good.
lo,
“(paying money for animals encourages people to seek out more of them for commerce, and many die in this process.)”
We have this same problem with goats, but in reverse and more Catch-22 in nature.
If we buy and grill a tasty goat, are we usefully removing a devastator of ecosystems, or are we creating a market, so two will be bred to replace it?
154 segue
http://www.thefreedictionary.com:
1. To strike with great surprise and emotional disturbance.
anon-
my animal commerce comment was directed specifically at those who trade in endangered/IUCN red listed species. (and i have a terrible confession on that: i once bought a pig-nosed/fly river turtle here in the states, knowing full well it was a sold legally only by slipping around the “letter of the law” IUCN status….) but the goat thing does raise a similar point. i would say “go on and eat up the troublesome goats” but i guess it all depends on your country’s laws for locally producing more of them.
uhh, how do they make nutmeg non-deadly then?
last time i’m using that stuff…
What about those goats that faints? That is just SO weird, and also extremly funny, check it out:
As for the mice fitting through a hole the size of a pen…hmm, I grew up in the country and we often had mice in the house, and they did fit through really small places, but the way they do it is that the flatten themselves out to sort of a pancake shape, so the can fit throught really small grates and grits, but they need a “wide” hole cause they flatten out and become wider…
lo,
I’ve come back to you here, hoping you are still visiting from time to time. It’s quieter and more peaceful than that wretched human body parts, evolution topic!
If you’ve been involved in Peru and are into botany for a career, does the legendary name Al Gentry mean anything to you? Like some friends of ours recently, Gentry, one of the world’s top tropical ecology botanists, was killed in a light plane crash. Only our friends crashed nearby here in Chile on a private flight. Gentry and an ornithological colleague (and presumably the pilot) were killed in 1993 while doing a field survey in Ecuador. The vascular catalogue of the Peruvian flora is dedicated to him. We didn’t know him, but know folks who did. He is said to have died with more unpublished information in his head than most scientists would accumulate in several lifetimes.
My Chilean (second) wife is a biologist specialising in botany (now exclusively). I have nothing to do with genetics. I am a humble and highly specialised Andean flora taxonomist who actually slid into that comfortable niche late from a sputtering start in the humanities. Except that we need to earn money to live (even though I’m past retirement age) it’s almost a hobby, in fact. But don’t take that as implying half-hearted. We are as fanatical as any academic and our range of talents allows and are an element of a world scientific study group. We also have the signal advantage of studying a section of plants that has not been seriously touched systematically for 80 years (from the present), has never been treated sytematically seriously or in its entirety at all, and which is constantly providing us with a trickle of new taxa. (Our problem is not finding novelties: funds for fieldwork are difficult, but not impossible. Funds for prolonged investigation in institutions, writing up and publication are virtually impossible to obtain though. Frustrating. We have to eat!)
Delighted to hear of your intention to create a plantly list. (Were any of the recent poisonous items to be included?) I toyed with the idea myself and must have some notes in a computer file somewhere. I’m more than happy to give way, and not only that, to co-operate and offer you my notes, if I can find them. If interested, contact the site organiser directly and ask to be put in direct e-mail touch with me. Make absolutely sure beyond doubt he knows it’s you. We don’t want any trollz psoing as ‘lo’ popping out of the tubework, thank you!
anon-
you live in chile and specialize in andean taxonomy! i’m truly jealous
i was actually in peru around iquitos, working with a non-profit that is a joint peruvian/US venture helping local communities with everything from aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa) agro-forestry in dwarf tree, and alternate-harvest, no-cut methods, to general education, and women’s reproductive health. all i could really do for them was help with english language grant writing and some of the community education (on animal and plant biology) as my spanish is VERY limited. i studied latin in high school and then gave up on foreign language until now. i spent 2 months in cusco first trying to get SOME spanish under my belt. i think of going back everyday!
in truth, i am currently a student in botany (or plant biology, as they call it these days) and have a very strong interest in aquaponics, no-till farming, and other methods that can increase yield without spending money on petrochemical fertilizers/pesticide/herbacides etc. this interests me both as it is easier on the earth in the long run if done well, and can be less expensive for its practitioners, long and short term. i really want to focus on applications in both modern “urban agriculture” and in tropical agriculture.
i know in some response over on “evolution” i wrote “i’m not a vet, i’m actually in the process of becoming a botanist. so cheers to anon the botanist!” i’m 28, and my previous university work was in english and anthropology, but it wasn’t really doing it for me. i’ve always been a “plant person” and while in peru i found that this field excited me like no other -so i’ve gone back to school for another degree! i’d love to exchange emails. how exactly can i get jamie et al. to know such a request is legitimate?
lo
anon-
to be really painstakingly precise, i should have said: i’m studying plant biology (emphasis in ecology) and doubling with plant and soil sciences, with an end interest in “nontraditional” (aka other than western “clean field”) agriculture. i’d love get feedback on my “pant list” candidates if possible.
good luck with your andean studies, and most importantly, funding. i learned first hand how politically complex it can be that part of the world. in peru we were dealing with powerful government affiliated “research and species protection” groups that seemed to spend at least 2/3rds of their funding on glossy brochures making them LOOK like they were taking action, not action. we came to call them self-PR firms. it was very frustrating!
That swan look`s very mean and devious. I have a pet goat named goaty and wouldn`t even think of roasting him Anon ! Unless he get`s on top of my car and crap`s on it again.I don`t care how good his eyesight is. Anything rat`s or mice can do don`t suprise me. I had a pretty pet garden spider at the entrance of my door that we would feed grasshopper`s and such to. I even made people use the side door as not to disturb her.How wierd is that ? That shaking plant had me transfixed (not). Cool list.
163. bigski: A pet goat! I’m jealous! Growing up, in the L.A. suburbs, I had a pet tortoise, and a pet hare, a pair of chipmunks, and an aviary full of cockatiels. Eventually, in high school, we got a cat, and when I was in Uni we got a dog, but as a kid there was never a pet that was what you could consider interactive. A goat would have been extremely interactive.
My last comment is awaiting moderation because I referred to a certain type of bird.
Horses can’t vomit either. Horse owners have to be watchful of their horses eating habits.
i Know of number 10 well, my mouse is quite the escape artist
Love the mouse to bits tho even if it does chew through the cage…
segue- DON`T GET A PET GOAT ! Sorry for yelling,true their cute and cuddly when they are young,but when they get older you have to tie them up or cage them (which they will figure a way to escape).They have to be moved every 2 or 3 days or they will denude the ground.They get into everything they can if you don`t restrain them. They provide a certin amount of comic relief while were sitting outside drinking but the con`s don`t equal the pro`s. Having said that he`s part of the family now so he get`s a pass on getting roasted.
168. bigski: segue- DON`T GET A PET GOAT !
****
I can’t.
Well, to be fair, I wouldn’t. I live in the woods. Literally. Besides the beautiful deer and the playful raccoons, we have bobcats, coyotes, and the occasional bear. A goat would be someone’s dinner very quickly.
segue, (169),
A sacrificial goat, in effect. Nowdays largely confined to wildlife films where used to attract Komodo dragons, tigers, T rexes and the like. I’d tie one up in the garden here like a shot if it would bring us a puma. Not many pumas in vineyard and peach orchard country though, alas.
bigski,
I don’t usually spit-roadt anyone I know personally by name or recognise by sight, so your ol’ square eyes is safe.
We had three long-legged, elegant Polystes wasps. They built a delightful small paper nest like an inverted umbrella or upside-down mushroom on the adobe wall right beside our entrance door in the main gate. They were completely unagressive and I had to build a small protective structure to stop visitors accidentally clobbering their home. Soon they raised another worker, so we figured we had a mum and three aunties. The guy who helped us in the garden was indignant. Nasty, vicious things, he said, even though we walked right past them and watched them all the time – no hassle. They stung him.
You’ll have noticed d is next to s on the keyboard.
segue:
I was lucky enough to have a friend working in the primate house of our zoo, and with her job on the line, she snuck me to the back and let me hold a baby orangutan! I was awestruck by how much like a human baby he seemed… his eyes stared into mine, and I was in love! There is some kind of deep consciousness there, you can’t deny that. The stories my friend told me about all the primates there were amazing. They are intelligent animals, each with its own personality.
I also really wanted to get a goat for a pet, but was talked out of it by people who knew better…. There’s something about their beards that makes me really like them. I’m the same way with Airedales… beards are cool on animals, with the exception of humans! lol
stevenh,
Hippo’s also can’t jump.
A crocodile can’t stick out it’s tounge.
A kangaroo can’t walk.
A Tiger’s stripes go all the way to the skin and are unique to each indavidual.
Apparently there are two types of tarantula, aborial and tarrestrial (According to a friend of mine who keeps tarantulas). You can drop the aborial ones but not the terrestrial ones.
BooRadley, (173),
“beards are cool on animals, with the exception of humans! lol2
I will simply not have you talking of Father Christmas that way. Hohohoho!
170. Anon: segue, (169), A sacrificial goat, in effect…I’d tie one up in the garden here like a shot if it would bring us a puma.
****
With the lack of rain we’ve had these past three years, the big animals are coming down into “civilization” more and more. Very few people in all of the village, and no one in the outer village (in the woods, such as ourselves) have fences, so both predators and prey have full run of the place.
It’s kind of fun to wake up in the morning and find bobcat prints on the deck; finding bear prints, not so much.
173. BooRadley: segue: I was lucky enough to have a friend working in the primate house of our zoo, and with her job on the line, she snuck me to the back and let me hold a baby orangutan! I was awestruck by how much like a human baby he seemed… his eyes stared into mine, and I was in love! There is some kind of deep consciousness there, you can’t deny that.
****
Then you know *exactly* how I felt! They truly are our cousins! You look into those eyes and there is no denying that they are sentient beings.
Where are they are they on the scale? I haven’t a clue. I only know they have awareness, the ability to think, to react, to know they exist.
segue (and BooRadley),
“I only know they have awareness, the ability to think, to react, to know they exist.”
Tell it to the sublime, devout Christians here in these topics who keep rubbishing evolution. A prime tactic is to ask how our introspective, self-aware human ‘souls’ could possibly have developed from animals with nothing but brute cunning and a bit of basic practical intelligence going for them.
On second thoughts, don’t bother. Go bang your head against a brick wall instead. It’s more productive.
segue,
“It’s kind of fun to wake up in the morning and find bobcat prints on the deck; finding bear prints, not so much.”
At least not tigers!
On a side tangent regarding horses: mules can see all of their hooves simultaneously.
179. Anon: Tell it to the sublime, devout Christians here in these topics who keep rubbishing evolution…On second thoughts, don’t bother. Go bang your head against a brick wall instead. It’s more productive.
****
lol!
I had that same thought when I wrote that. Still, I would say to those “devout Christians”, ‘Your God must be pretty puny, if he can’t develop an introspective, self-aware human ’soul’ from an animal with nothing but brute cunning and a bit of basic practical intelligence.’
I was always under the illusion that their God was all-powerful. It should have been a piece of cake for him (Him?).