Animals
The smell of dead rabbits
Weird science: Spanish researchers have determined that rabbits can differentiate between the poop of predators that have eaten rabbits and those that haven't. From New Scientist:There were fewer pellets in the plots sprayed with rabbit-based scat odour than in those sprayed with the beef-based scat odour, suggesting the rabbits were avoiding places where it appeared other rabbits were being eaten.
I assume this means that some researcher had to search around in a field every day to count rabbit pellets.
The journal article: Acta Ethologica
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 13, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Science, Excrement
Have a Slothful Halloween!
Maybe it's not to late to have Karoline Hinz craft one of these for your trick-or-treating.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 10, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Costumes and Masks, Holidays
Female Animal
Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 29, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Sex Symbols, 1970s
Paved Deer
I've heard of road-line painting crews not bothering to move roadkill out of the way. But I hadn't heard before of a paving crew simply paving over a dead animal instead of moving it.For some pics of roadkill painted over see: improbable research
Allentown Morning Call - Aug 22, 1996
Allentown Morning Call - Sep 14, 1996
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 21, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Death, Highways, Roads, Streets and Traffic
Falling Sheep
Yesterday, Paul mentioned the threat posed by cows. It's worth remembering that sheep can be pretty dangerous too. As this hiker in Ireland recently found out when, out of the blue, he was hit by a falling sheep. Both the hiker and the sheep seem to have survived the incident.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 31, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Accidents, Animals
Gibbon Diet
In order to raise awareness and funds for the Gibbon Protection Society of Malaysia, Grace Watson is spending a month eating only what a gibbon would eat. From stuff.co.nz:Lunch is usually a variation of apples, bananas, mandarin, and edible insects, while dinner is limited to vegetable soups, salads or slaws of grated beetroot, carrot, apple, with a squeeze of lime and some seeds...
Although she would like to entirely commit to the animals' diet in order to draw attention to the endangered primates, she cannot consume leaves like they can. "I'm unable to do that as part of my diet because humans can't break down nutrients like gibbons do from leaves," Watson conceded.
While it seems like a fine cause, it seems to me like it's cheating just a bit to eat cooked food.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 30, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Food, Dieting and Weight Loss
Hero Dog of the Year
In 1954, Ken-L Ration Dog Food began awarding a prize to the "Hero Dog of the Year." Sponsorship switched to Kibbles 'n' Bits at some point.Here is a list of some winners.
The latest year I can find when the award was given was 2004.
The American Humane Society seems to have taken over, or rebooted the award.
In any case, the award gives us a chance here at WU to carry forward one of our earliest missions: proving that cows are the most evil and deadly creature on the planet.
Article behind NYT paywall, alas.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 30, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Dogs, 1950s, 1980s
The Punt Gun
Wikipedia page.
Longer article.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 23, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Guns, Nineteenth Century
Miniature horses allowed
Southwest Airlines has announced it's adopting new rules, beginning September 18, about the animals it will allow on-board its aircraft. From their website:They also have a list of the animals they won't allow on-board:
Personally I wouldn't care if someone brought their horse on-board. But I can't imagine where it would sit or stand during the flight.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 21, 2018 -
Comments (10)
Category: Animals, Air Travel and Airlines
President Truman and the Albino Kangaroo
Source.
The animal was spoken of at a press conference.
Source.
But according to LIFE, it came with a name.
Source.
BTW: what was meant by Truman being good at naming dinosaurs? I think this is the answer:
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 20, 2018 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Government, Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, 1950s, Australia, North America
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |