Category:
Animals
Animals
Lions And Tigers And Bears, Oh My!
Meanwhile Mr Zhu, a 61 year-old retired teacher from China’s Jiangxi province, let his curiosity get the better of him during a vistit to the circus in Nankang, and put his hand though the bars of a tiger’s cage to feel its fur. The tiger promptly bit off four of his fingers. Zhu collapsed on the spot with shock, but survived to receive 3500 yuan (about $500) in compensation. The tiger was unharmed by the incident, but felt hungry again 15 minutes later (Times of India).
Less aggressive, but equally troubling, is the giant bear that has made its home near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, described by one resident as “super smart”. The residents of Incline Village are enduring almost nightly visits from a 700 lb black bear that has already caused $70000 of damage this year. The bear has evaded the traps set for it and the patrols looking for it, and has even survived a couple of rounds from a .44 magnum, one of which reportedly bounced off its skull (Las Vegas Sun).
In other (not actually) bear news, Australian marsupial pinup the Koala is looking at a bleak future according to recent reports. The loss of eucalyptus trees through deforestation, dog attacks and car accidents are stressing the animals to such an extent that they are succumbing to usually harmless viral infections. Frank Carrick of Queensland University’s Koala Study Program said the koalas were in “diabolical trouble” and that their numbers were “declining alarmingly”. (Washington Post). The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are fewer than 100000 koalas left in the wild, maybe as few as 43000, and the mainland population could go extinct in as little as 30 years (New Scientist).
Finally, a crocodile bit of more than it could chew this week when it strayed too close to a bloat of hippopotami and their young, who promptly formed a threatening defensive ring. Startled, the crocodile attempted to escape over the backs of the angry hippos, a fatal mistake. The croc’s scaly hide was no defence against the 3000-4000 lbs of bite pressure of an adult hippo, and it was soon crushed to death in their jaws (Telegraph).
It's a far cry from the cretaceous period where, according to new fossil finds, crocodiles were the extraordinarily successful inhabitants of a swampy region that was to become the Sahara Desert. Given nicknames like "boarcroc" and "ratcroc", the fossils show a plethora of different crocodile species living alongside each other, with each adapted to different ways of life. Some, like "dogcroc" and "duckcroc" have oddly shaped braincases that suggest they may have been considerably more intelligent than their modern descendants (Times).
Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu Nov 19, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Death, Stupidity
Aqua Frolics
'Why not have your Thanksgiving turkey dinner underwater this year?
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 11, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Exercise and Fitness, Movies, Documentaries, Recreation, Sports, 1950s
Chinese Fruit Bats Engage in Some Kinky Behavior
A scientific paper published today on http://www.plosone.org details some interesting bat behavior. The article title really says it all Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time. The paper's abstract goes on to state "A positive relationship exists between the length of time that the female licked the male's penis during copulation and the duration of copulation. Furthermore, mating pairs spent significantly more time in copulation if the female licked her mate's penis than if fellatio was absent."
The image above (and a more in-depth discussion of naughty bat behavior) comes from this article on Treehugger.com
Posted By: dherlich - Wed Oct 28, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Science
Black Sheep
In line with the WU theme of "dangerous domestic animals...."
Anyone actually seen this?
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 25, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Death, Movies, Parody, South Pacific
Cyber-pigeon!
Please be sure to magnify the photo for full horrifying effect.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 18, 2009 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Science, Experiments, 1960s
Orange Blossoms for Violet
I don't think the Italian subtitles will stop you from enjoying this bit of monkey madness.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 13, 2009 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Cartoons, 1950s
Tennessee Vultures
Okay, I'm used to pigeons and crows scavenging in Providence. But giant carrion birds outside my front door, eating smooshed squirrels--!?! I'm sorry, this is why cities were invented.
Any WU readers have such birds as their immediate neighbors?
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 04, 2009 -
Comments (10)
Category: Animals, Death, Regionalism, North America
Follies of the Mad Men #72
This one's just for Patty, who registered discontent with our exclusive concentration on the female form!
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 27, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Body Modifications, Business, Advertising, Products, Hygiene, Fictional Monsters
The Dead Animal Library
Not as gruesome as it sounds, these hides and skulls are proving useful for determining pollution in modern day animals.I think a human skin and skull library would be equally valuable for the same reason -- are you ready for your hide to be tanned?
Posted By: gdanea - Tue Sep 22, 2009 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals
Barry White Comes To The Rescue Of Zorro!
A six year-old male shark imported by the London Aquarium to breed with their resident female was initially a disappointment. Zorro the zebra shark showed little interest in London girl Mazawabee, despite having built a reputation as a lover at his previous home in Belgium. Staff at the aquarium floundered around for a solution before suggesting that perhaps Zorro's uncharacteristic shyness could be overcome with a little masterly mammalian mood music from legendary sole-singer, Barry "Great" White?Surprisingly, the treatment has almost worked too well, to the saving of Zorro's reputation and further enhancement of Barry's. Zorro and mate Maza are now so ardent that their frequent, and violent, public courtship has alarmed some visitors, with Zorro's "love-bites" being misinterpreted as an attack. But with a "tiger in their tank" the aquarium staff are happy, Zorro is happy, Maza is (probably) happy and maybe, somewhere, Barry is smiling too (Annova).
Posted By: Dumbfounded - Fri Sep 18, 2009 -
Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Music
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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 |