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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on Nov 11, 2015 21:46:55 GMT -5
I know a couple people who have done work in Svalbard and the Norwegian government insists you go through basic rifle/bear-killing training before you go.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2015 22:09:55 GMT -5
I know a couple people who have done work in Svalbard and the Norwegian government insists you go through basic rifle/bear-killing training before you go.  boo humans, yay polar bear majesty! |
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Post by William T. Goat, Esq. on Nov 12, 2015 6:17:26 GMT -5
i know i've posted these for the most part before, but they bear repeating here:  That dog was dead soon after, wasn't it.  |
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Post by haysoos on Nov 12, 2015 10:36:17 GMT -5
i know i've posted these for the most part before, but they bear repeating here: That dog was dead soon after, wasn't it. In a happy reversal of the usual "red in tooth and claw" version of natural interactions, the good news is that the polar bear and dog story is likely a happy ending. It's a known phenomenon where polar bears will strike up a friendship with particular dogs. It's usually mature male polar bears (who don't interact much with other bears). They will wander around a camp where dogs are present, and seem to have learned that no matter how aggressive and noisy the dogs are, when they're on a leash the dogs are harmless. The bears just stay out of leash range, and ignore the dogs. But if a dog acts friendly instead of aggressively, the bear will sometimes approach and even begin to play with the dog. Sometimes they'll come back and develop long term friendships with the dog. The bears have even been seen rolling over in a submissive posture to the dogs that are 10 times smaller than them. The mature bears, who know how to deal with dogs also keep the stupid, young male bears away from the camp, and this greatly reduces conflict between the dogs and bears (which usually doesn't go well for the tethered dogs). So this kind of play is even good for all of the other dogs, and even the people in the camp! |
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Post by ganews on Nov 12, 2015 10:50:42 GMT -5
Whatever you do, don't eat a polar bear's liver. |
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Hippo
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Post by Hippo on Nov 18, 2015 1:42:51 GMT -5
This week is the binturong, the animal you may have never heard of! As requested by Nudeviking in absentia.
Binturongs are a threatened species who live in areas across Southeastern Asia, part of a group called viverrids or civets. The bearcat, as the binturong are also known as, are generally tree dwelling with many found in upper forested areas.  Much like the otter, their long fluffy tails are almost the same size as their bodies with an average length of 65-70cm. They weigh around 10~30kg and unlike many other species the females are larger than the males, generally by 20%. As arboreal tree dwellers, most of their diet is limited to what's around but as omnivores are less limited and can take in rodents, birds, fruit and occasionally fish. Behaviourally, binturongs are timid creatures unless threatened where they'll attack you with their claws and strong jaws. The binturong is coming upon being very endangered with most of its habitat being cut down for logging with a 30% drop in numbers across 30 years. In Malaysia, some do keep them as pets (though they're incredibly ill-suited to be pets) and unfortunately in the Philippines some do eat them as delicacies.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2015 6:38:59 GMT -5
What an adorable raccoon/sloth/bear/otter hybrid.
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Post by haysoos on Nov 18, 2015 10:20:11 GMT -5
Many zoos will put something on the info cards regarding binturongs that they smell like "taco chips" or "buttered popcorn".
I don't know what kind of taco chips or popcorn those zoos are eating, because when I've had the opportunity to smell a binturong (which has happened on about half a dozen occasions with three different binturongs), they smell exactly like a soaking wet sweatsock. Not as overwhelmingly pungent as a ferret or other weasel, but definitely in a category I would define as "unpleasant", "gag-inducing" and/or "malodorous". It's a good thing they're cute as hell.
They are also the only Old World mammal with a prehensile tail.
Also, the inspiration for this great song by David Wilcox:
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Post by haysoos on Nov 18, 2015 17:01:21 GMT -5
Hmm... I forgot the tree pangolin.
One of only two Old World mammals with a prehensile tail. The binturong, tree pangolin, and the harvest mouse.
Three! One of only three Old World mammals with a prehensile tail. Binturong, tree pangolin, harvest mouse and spotted cuscus.
OK, screw the spotted cuscus. Australia doesn't really count as "Old World" for biogeography. More like "Really, Really Old World". Plus, the spotted cuscus looks dopey.
Three! Three species of Old World mammals with a prehensile tail!
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Post by ganews on Nov 18, 2015 17:33:12 GMT -5
Hmm... I forgot the tree pangolin. One of only two Old World mammals with a prehensile tail. The binturong, tree pangolin, and the harvest mouse. Three! One of only three Old World mammals with a prehensile tail. Binturong, tree pangolin, harvest mouse and spotted cuscus. And an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope! I'll come in again... |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Nov 18, 2015 19:44:28 GMT -5
Their coats look very wiry and unkempt. If I had one I'd try to go over it with a sweater comb.
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Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Nov 18, 2015 21:52:34 GMT -5
They're so weirdly adorable! Which is the best kind of adorable.
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Hippo
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Post by Hippo on Nov 19, 2015 9:24:37 GMT -5
If I wanted one person to have more facts than me, it's probably someone who's actually in contact with animals.
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Post by Hippo on Nov 25, 2015 1:25:40 GMT -5
More monotreme fun with the platypus as requested by oppy all along !
Platypodes, platypi, platypuses, platypodia even, however you may choose to pluralise these guys, they're quite interesting. Platypodes are a member of the monotreme family, the mammalian group which lays eggs, and can be found down the eastern coast of Australia and on the island of Tasmania. Like the octopodes from a few weeks back, there's a bundle of ways to pluralise them but generally platypuses is acceptable, platypodes a little old school but fine (and the one I'll be using) and platypi is made up so don't use it. First discovered in the 1800s, they were initially thought to be a hoax looking like a strange chimera of various animals, capable of laying eggs though clearly a mammal, venomous and even semi-aquatic. Their bill is used underwater for detecting electrical fields made by contracting muscles using a method called electrolocation, an ability limited to it and some dolphins.
Platypodes are a crepuscular species and tend to weigh around 2kg with a length of 45cm from tail to bill living for around 10 years. Much like sea otters, they can control their bone density though unlike sea otters they hunt for 10 hours a day for food eating around 20% of their body weight. Both male and female platypodes have ankle spurs though only the male is capable of producing venom, if you get scratched you'll survive but it'll be very painful. Platypodes can only be found in Australia, none have been exported to zoos outside of Australia as the first attempts to do so resulted in the subjects dying within a few years of introduction.
Now, more pictures, do not point at the freak. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Nov 25, 2015 22:29:04 GMT -5
Very interesting! Their bills look so out of place.
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Post by Hippo on Nov 27, 2015 1:19:55 GMT -5
Very interesting! Their bills look so out of place. Yeah, kinda looks like it was jammed on with silly putty. |
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Post by Floyd Dinnertime Barber on Nov 27, 2015 11:47:36 GMT -5
A while back I picked up a book titled "Albert of Adelaide" about the adventures of a platypus. It's a good little read. I have seen it described as being "As if 'The Wind in the Willows' had been written by Larry McMurtry".
That is everything I previously knew about the platypus.
Thanks for these interesting articles, Hippo.
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Post by Lord Lucan on Nov 27, 2015 15:52:18 GMT -5
Very interesting! Their bills look so out of place. Yeah, kinda looks like it was jammed on with silly putty. It does! Looks like their real snouts are underneath. |
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Post by moimoi on Nov 29, 2015 15:12:13 GMT -5
What's the purpose of electrolocation? Just another way to navigate underwater or does it help them find food? I wonder if that has something to do with their inability to survive outside Australia...
Presumably they lay their eggs on land - what kind of shelter do they live in? Ground nests? Are they solitary or communal? Carnivorous or omnivorous?
So many questions! This animal confounds me!
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Hippo
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Post by Hippo on Nov 29, 2015 15:33:50 GMT -5
What's the purpose of electrolocation? Just another way to navigate underwater or does it help them find food? I wonder if that has something to do with their inability to survive outside Australia... Presumably they lay their eggs on land - what kind of shelter do they live in? Ground nests? Are they solitary or communal? Carnivorous or omnivorous? So many questions! This animal confounds me! Can try and answer a few of those. The electrolocation is good for finding food underwater due to most things edible for them having muscles and therefore emitting electrical fields, the navigation is a nice side benefit. The reasons they can't survive outside of their natural habitat is a bit weird, it probably has nothing to do with their electrolocation ability but then there hasn't been an attempt in some years and most of those ended in a quick death. They're burrowers and lay their eggs underground, generally communal and are carnivorous, living on worms, insects and small shellfish. I really should have put this up there but I don't mind followup questions and sometimes hope haysoos can give info that I can't. |
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Post by Hippo on Dec 2, 2015 2:09:12 GMT -5
Staying down under (or as the Antipodes call it, "here") is the wombat as requested by dＬᵒ because he wanted to know about their weird poop.
Wombats are marsupials mostly found on Deadly Everything and Marsupial Island, also known as Australia and have commonality suborder-wise with the koala. There are two distinct types of wombat, the common wombat found on the southeastern coast and the hairy-nosed wombat on the southern coast. They're known for being diggers and like other marsupials for carrying its young in a pouch though theirs is backwards in order to protect offspring from being drowned in a ton of dirt getting kicked back at them. Most of these chubby little creatures come in at around 25~30kg and are a metre in length and 35cm in height with an average lifespan of 15 years (this huge guy though is 29, more here). Their group name is a wisdom (more for MrsLangdonAlger than anything). Being a burrowing creature, it's often subject to predation (in their case from dingoes and foxes) but like other burrowers it does have a defence in it's big ol' butt. Their butts are very tough and have cartilage within their rears and have one heck of a kick from their hind legs. Wombats are generally nocturnal and have low metabolic rates and as such will tend to eat for upto eight hours. Being a herbivore, their main diet is grasses, bark and roots. An average wombat will spend upto two thirds of its life within the burrows, it uses it's weird cubic poop as waymarkers for them to find their way back (wombats have fairly bad eyesight, relying mostly on sound and scent) and to warn off other wombats from their burrow. If anyone can find out why their poop is square, you may yet win something indeterminate!
As ever, please leave via the buffet tables after the boring lecture to pick up as many bagels as can fit in a purse. The pictures are the bagels. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2015 2:33:43 GMT -5
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Hippo
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Post by Hippo on Dec 2, 2015 2:38:20 GMT -5
I feel that's a good overview, the io9 one being next to useless though. |
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Dec 2, 2015 2:41:12 GMT -5
I think this is my favorite animal highlighted to date. What an adorable creature!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2015 2:41:14 GMT -5
I feel that's a good overview, the io9 one being next to useless though. well i just heard about this shit today, and i still can't believe it! |
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Hippo
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Post by Hippo on Dec 2, 2015 2:45:23 GMT -5
It's like learning about binturongs all over again.
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Post by Hippo on Dec 2, 2015 7:36:59 GMT -5
I think this is my favorite animal highlighted to date. What an adorable creature! I'm glad you appreciate them, prairie dogs will be up in the first week of January so there'll be more along with marmots in late February which too happen to be 90% butt. |
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Post by songstarliner on Dec 2, 2015 7:47:48 GMT -5
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Post by ganews on Dec 2, 2015 8:10:45 GMT -5
This was one of my favorite non-Seuss books as a little kid.  |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Dec 2, 2015 11:48:19 GMT -5
This wombat and kangaroo are friends.   |
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