Hysterical Panda Pregnancies…

Posted April 14, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry
Tags:

– – Humans aren’t the only mammals that can experience false pregnancies.  The female giant panda at the National Zoo is acting like she may be pregnant, sleeping a lot, making nests with shredded bamboo, and even showing elevated hormone levels…but maybe she is, and maybe she isn’t…and she ain’t talkin’.

…the problem is that panda cubs are extremely small, weighing only three to five ounces.  They are accordingly hard to see on an ultrasound.  If a female panda ovulates but fails to conceive, she almost always goes through a false pregnancy that mimics a real one, with the exclusion that there is no developing infant.  Even those working closely with a female panda can’t tell with certainty if she’s “in a family way” until a baby panda pops out.

The National Zoo’s female giant panda, Mei Xiang, has had pseudo-pregnancies for the past three years, but in 2005 successfully birthed a cub, Tai Shan…

..and wouldn’t Hysterical Panda Pregnancies be a great name for a band?

Comments: 2 Comments

The Tao of Furry…

Posted April 13, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: furries, furry fandom, furry perspectives, philosophy
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– – Those who talk about tolerance and diversity need look no further than the furry fandom; while we have our share of nasties, we have a big tent, and furs may be found there of every stripe (literally) and persuasion.

To paint us all with the same broad brush is inaccurate; besides, we don’t much like being painted with brushes, ’cause it tickles! We are of every age, race, nationality, and orientation.   Some of us are extraordinary artists, while others can’t draw a straight line; some of us are musicians, while others are tone deaf;  still others are creative writers, while others don’t reed and rite too gud.   Some of us do all of these things, while others do none.   At any rate, we all get along rather well with one another, appreciate one another’s gifts or lack of same, and generally don’t try and kill one another off.   This is a lesson from which many people might learn in politics.–You wanna talk about the lion lying down with the lamb?–Furries do this routinely!

So play nice out there, humans…we do!      🙂




Comments: 4 Comments

Becoming Horny…

Posted April 11, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: anomalies, medical incredibles, strange happenings
Tags: ,

– – Now get your minds  out of the gutter; this is a high-class place, at least occasionally!   We are talking today about humans who grow horns, most often cutaneous horns which are composed of keratin, the same substance as fingernails.

A 101-year-old grandmother in China has a rather impressive 2-1/2 inch specimen of such sprouting from her forehead.  Furthermore, another horn is beginning to poke out on the opposite side.  If one has to grow horns, one might as well be happy about it, and the person afflicted, Zhang Ruifang, has refused offers to have the horns removed.

Human horns, while rare, are not a new phenomena.  Robert Ripley of “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!” fame had described a case from the 16th century, and in 1930 brought a photo of a Manchurian farmer with a 13-inch protrusion on the back of his head to the world’s attention.

More recently in October of 2007, a 95-year-old Chinese woman was revealed with a 6-1/2 inch horn protruding from her forehead that grew downward over her face.  One month later, a 93-year-old Chinese male showed the media a 4-inch horn growing on the top of his head.

Cutaneous horns have also been known to grow on the arms, legs, buttocks, and even nipples…Believe It, Or Not!

Comments: 2 Comments

–Oriental Yeti?

Posted April 9, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, animals, cryptozoology, furry, mysteries, rare animal, unidentified
Tags: ,

– – Well, isn’t this a strange and sorry looking critter?- –Discovered in a remote wooded area in Sichuan Province in China, this mysterious hairless creature dubbed an “oriental yeti” will undergo DNA testing.

“It looks like a bear but it doesn’t have any fur and it has a tail like a kangaroo,” said one of the hunters who trapped the unidentified beast after locals reported a bear sighting…but this ain’t no bear!  “It also does not sound like a bear…it has a voice like a cat and it is calling all the time–perhaps it is looking for the rest of its kind or maybe its the last one,” added the hunter, Lu Chin.

So what is this animal?–Pending the DNA testing to be performed in Beijing, one cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, thinks that it is a kind of civet, a small carnivorous mammal akin to the mongoose.   The Asian palm or Himalayan palm civet are regarded as the most likely possibilities.  As for the creature’s lack of fur, Coleman thinks that it has mange, a skin disease caused by mites.

While it is anticipated that DNA tests will show that the finding is “in no way anything extraordinary,”  this guy looks like he could use some TLC in addition to the fur!



Comments: 3 Comments

–Slacker Panda?

Posted April 7, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry, television
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– – He’s a bit  of a slacker, but you gotta love the Wanchai Ferry panda featured in their commercials, even if he does seem to be a couch potato living off the human couple shown.- -Why not have Chinese food at home?- -He didn’t feel like going out, anyways!

While cute and a wonderful talking animal, it’s probably not a great idea to have a real panda wandering around your kitchen as they’re territorial and can be vicious…

Comments: 3 Comments

Animal Ambassadors…

Posted April 6, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry, television
Tags:

– – A furry-friendly commercial for GoRVing features several “Ambassadors of Affordability” that include a bison, bear, owl, rabbit, and fox.  While promoting RV vacations, they caper out to the tune of “Back in the Saddle Again” and verbalize. If you visit the website (www.gorving.com), you can click on each animal and hear a brief commentary.

Four such commercials are in the series, and  in one the bison and fox go on a romantic excursion and wind up toasting marshmallows under the stars.–The commercials are cute and well-done!

Comments: 1 Comment

Hare Club…

Posted April 4, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: Off-topic
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– – Happy Easter, Foxsylvania Readers!   But if asked to join the Hare Club for Men…

…Decline!

Comments: 1 Comment

Cockroach of the Sea!

Posted April 3, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, anomalies, furry, Invertebrates, science
Tags:

– – They’ll never call a tuna that…but they’ve found an enormous crustacean scouring the depths of the Gulf of Mexico, a giant isopod called Bathynomus giganteus related to shrimp and crabs that measured 2-1/2 feet long and was found hooked onto the bottom of a remotely-operated vehicle at a depth of 8,500 feet!

Now most giant isopods are less than a foot long, making the recent discovery a supersized version.  This could be because of a condition called gigantism, which is thought to be common among crustaceans inhabiting especially cold water regions.   In addition to larger size, colder temperatures tend to be conducive to longer life spans, and the deeper the water, the bigger the critter.

Giant isopods are predators that feed on carcasses of dead whales and fish, and have also been known to attack sea dwellers that are alive and swimming.   Such creatures  have existed for more than 160 million years.- -Nature is scary, which is just how I like it!

Comments: 1 Comment

Roadkill Resuscitation Unsuccessful!

Posted April 1, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry, strange happenings, things humans do
Tags: ,

– – Happy April Fool’s Day, but I swear that I am not making this up, and hope that you are not eating:  State police have charged a central Pennsylvania man with public drunkenness after he was seen giving mouth-to-mouth “resuscitation” to a long-dead opossum along a highway…

The incident occurred in Oliver Township about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.  The 55-year-old man was seen by one person kneeling before the deceased animal and gesturing as though he were conducting a seance, while another saw the mouth-to-mouth attempt.   It’s not that this publication doesn’t appreciate the effort to save viable animals, but this was an ex-possum…

Possibly he was then planning to fit the opossum with sunglasses in hopes  of pursuing some “Weekend at Bernie’s” action…

Comments: 6 Comments

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride…

Posted March 31, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animal oddities, animals, science, unexplained
Tags:

– – Anecdotal accounts have existed for thousands of years of animals foreseeing natural disasters such as earthquakes; birds, dogs, snakes, cows, and other creatures have been attributed with such abilities, while documentation could not be reliably made.

A pair of behavioral biologists, Rachel Grant and Tim Halliday, have recently documented proof in the current issue of the Journal of Zoology that large numbers of toads fled a breeding area five days before a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck L’Aquila, Italy in April of 2009. With weather variables such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall normal,  it is speculated that the toads may have picked up on environmental signals prior to the earthquake such as foreshocks or changes in naturally occurring magnetic fields that encouraged them to flee.

Scientists who are already studying amphibians in earthquake-prone areas such as Indonesia are being looked to in order to determine if the behavior occurs again...listen to the animals, humans, or ignore them at your peril!

Comments: 2 Comments

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