Archive for the ‘animals’ category

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Supersize that Rodent?

December 14, 2009

– – Where some see only a hog-sized jungle rodent, others see economic opportunity…or perhaps a sandwich!

Bolivia is planning to export dried meat of the capybara, the world’s largest edible rodent, to Venezuela.  The capybara regularly grows to 145 pounds, and grazes on the banks of rivers and lakes.  It is a shy, short-haired creature with a blunt snouth and no tail that is widely consumed in Venezuela.

Plans to export the meat of between 200 to 500 capybara a year from Bolivia to Venezuela are considered environmentally sustainable, but the meat must sell for $4.45 a pound to be profitable…

Foxes do eat rodents, but this one’s out of my size range, thank you very much…

Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry
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Comments: 3 Comments

Grow Your Own!

December 11, 2009

– – Chickens, that is…we’re not talking about wacky weed!   It seems that a growing number of  city-dwellers are experiencing the wonders of raising and farming backyard chickens.  Anyone with a space the size of a patio can keep a few hens, each of which will produce up to an egg a day throughout the year, save for the two months when she’s molting (usually in the fall).

Those who raise them say that chickens can be just as much pets as dogs or cats, are cleaner if properly maintained than most people imagine, and can even be sweet-natured; in its natural state, the chicken is a strangely beautiful bird.

I don’t speak from personal experience here, as you know what they say about leaving a fox in charge of the hen house…

Categories: animals, trends
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Comments: 5 Comments

Lizards In The Underpants…

December 10, 2009

– – I, for one, do not pack skinks in my underwear.  I’ll even resist the temptation to mine that remark for other comic possibilities, ’cause this is a semi-classy place…

A German tourist, however, was caught by airport security attempting to leave New Zealand with a total of 20 skinks and 24 geckos of various species hidden in a small box concealed amidst his underwear.- – One gecko was even rolled into a sock!  The Geico Gecko would be appalled…

Now the geckos had an estimated black market value of $35, 850; the value of the skinks was unknown.  The tourist admitted to taking the reptiles from the wild, and trading and transporting them without a permit…

Skinks have no pronounced neck, and sport relatively small legs, with several genera having no legs at all!  They usually have long, tapering tails that can be shed and regenerated.- -That’s a neat trick if you can pull it off…ROTFL!    😉

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(BTW, Happy International Animal Rights Day!–Bite the Power!!!)

Categories: animals, deplorable practices, rare animal, scalies, things humans do
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Rabid Raccoons in Central Park!

December 9, 2009

– – Be afraid, be very afraid…of the rabid raccoons in New York City’s Central Park, that is!  You may also want to stay away from skunks, bats, and stray dogs and cats…(hey, I rhymed!)

The advisory was issued by health officials Monday, who believe that rabies is being transmitted among raccoons in the park.  Three rabid raccoons have been discovered at Central Park, two of them in the past week!   While rabid raccoons are rare in Manhattan, four have been identified so far this year.

Rabies is a viral disease that is usually transmitted from a bite or scratch by an infected animal; if not treated promptly, it can be fatal.  There hasn’t been a human rabies infection in New York City since 1953…

Categories: animal occurrences, animals, anomalies, science, strange happenings, unexplained
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Zhu Zhu Pet Rampage!

December 8, 2009

– – You’ve almost certainly heard of Zhu Zhu pets unless you live in a cave…I live in a hole in the ground, and I’ve heard of them! The hot kid gift of this season, these basically robotic hamsters do much of what a real hamster does, except eat, poop, and die.

A consumer group’s report that Zhu Zhu pets were unsafe due to dangerous levels of tin and antimony was met with a rebuke from the manufacturer Monday.  The consumer protection group GoodGuide has admitted that its testing methodology does not measure these metals in the same way that American and European guidelines dictate.  GoodGuide says that it found 103 parts per million of antimony on the nose of Mr. Squiggles, one of the most popular hamsters…I, for one, do not intend to put Mr. Squiggles in my mouth, as a child might do….you may do as you wish, ’cause we don’t judge people around here for that kind of thing, and diversity made this country great, right?–Well, at least passably mediocre…

Imagine going to your doorstep in the middle of the night, and finding several hundred of these things lying in wait for you?–Kinda The Night of the Living Dead Hamsters?!    😉

Categories: animals, trends
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Mighty Mite!

December 5, 2009

– – It’s about the size of a peanut, but its sting can kill you…the Irukandji jellyfish, that is.– Well, it seems that a 29-year-old Australian man was in the waters Thursday off northeast Queensland state, and as a precaution was wearing a full-length “stinger suit,” which protects everything but the hands, face, and feet.   Naturally, the jellyfish immediately stung him in the face! A relative of the widely-feared box jellyfish, the sting of the Irukandji can kill an adult within two minutes, is virtually impossible to see, and is tiny enough to pass through nets meant to keep jellyfish away from popular swimming spots.

There is no antivenom, and the sting can cause blood pressure to soar to 280 over 180, leading to heart failure.   Other symptoms of “Irukandji syndrome” include shooting pains in the muscles and chest, vomiting, restlessness, and anxiety.   Symptoms can last for more than a week.

The swimmer is in serious condition at a hospital intensive care unit…



Categories: animal occurrences, animals, rare animal
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Gollum-Like Creature Found…

December 3, 2009

– – Here at  Foxsylvania, we spend much of our time looking for disgusting and unidentifiable creatures washed up on the shore which might be aliens, monsters, cryptids, or perhaps my old supervisor. It was then regarded as quite a find when this loathsome-looking thing was found by teenagers last September feebly crawling out of a cave in a town while they were playing in  Cerro Azul north of Panama City.

–Well, they did what kids anywhere would do, namely beat it to death with sticks and then threw its lifeless body into a pool of water!   This neatly does away with the need for health insurance or a retirement plan for unidentified life forms.

Regarded by some as a cousin to the Montauk Monster, the creature was later pretty conclusively identified as a hairless sloth, whose last impressions of humans were probably not favorable…and what will those kids say when Santa asks them if they’ve been good?


Categories: animals, strange happenings, things humans do
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Poaching Goes On…

December 2, 2009

– – I’m not talking about cooking eggs here, but rather the illegal hunting of rare and endangered animals protected by law, often just for a body part such as their hide or the ivory of elephants.

In a three month operation, African authorities in Nairobi, Kenya seized over 3,800 pounds of illegally-taken elephant ivory, together with leopard, crocodile, and snake skins.   Poaching has increased in Kenya in the past two years, with more than 216 elephants killed illegally this year compared to 47 in 2007.

The elephant populations of many African nations were being decimated until a global ban on the ivory trade was implemented in 1989.   In 1973 an estimated 167,000 elephants roamed Kenya, with their population dropping to 16,000 in 1989.  Since the ban on the ivory trade, the Kenya elephant population has grown to 35,000 this year…

Categories: animals, deplorable practices, furry
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Deer Season…

December 1, 2009

– – It’s the first day of Pennsylvania’s twelve day deer season as I write, and I had originally planned on posting a disturbing picture of a shot and bloodied deer, the true result of what is euphemistically called, “the harvest.”  We ain’t talking about heads of cabbage here…but I must accept what I can’t change.

Instead, I will fantasize about a revenge for the antlered, that a mighty champion might arise to turn the tables on the hunters.  I will pray for a Rambuck, since turnabout is fair play…“God would have mercy on them, ‘Rambuck’ will not…”

Pray for the prey…

Categories: animals, deplorable practices, furry
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–Diver Dan!

November 30, 2009

– – Kid’s shows used to have special effects that weren’t terribly special.  Take, for example, Diver Dan, a cheesy black and white show from the early 1960’s that was shot through a large fish tank with the human cast simply on the other side of the tank acting out their scenes! Diver Dan wore a clunky old-style deep sea diving suit, and talked to anthropomorphic fish-marionettes that floated by.- -Here, Diver Dan is shown with the affable Finley.

Some of the fish characters were a hoot, however, and included the evil Baron Barracuda with his sidekick, Trigger Fish, who was usually shown smoking a cigarette!  Don’t ask me how he managed to get it to stay lit underwater…they were innocent and politically incorrect times, anyhow…  

Categories: animals, scalies, television
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