Nov 21 2011

Mary’s Monday Metazoan: Since we had our first major snowfall this weekend…

Categories:

Organisms

by PZ Myers

(Also on Sb)

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34 comments

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1

Marie the Bookwyrm

21 November 2011 at 10:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Wow! What with this and the Skeptiponies, I feel like I’m at Cute Overload.
2

Glen Davidson

21 November 2011 at 10:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Is that your weasel, ermine?

I’ll be running, fast, now.

Glen Davidson
3

Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden

21 November 2011 at 10:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

totally: this thing could generate cute-tides. The cute come in, the cute go out. Who could explain that?
4

evilDoug

21 November 2011 at 10:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Pretty classical weasel pose. Of course it is sizing you up to decide if you’re edible in one sitting, or if you’ll be need to be used up as leftovers.

I once had a long tailed weasel keep coming closer and closer to look me over. Just before it got to my foot, I moved a little – I was wearing sandals and was a bit afraid of aquiring a nice set of toothmarks in a toe.
~~~
Not much snow here yet. -20°C a couple of days ago. Wednesday a chinook will blow in and the temperature is forecast to be +11°C. What snow there is will evaporate without melting.
5

Ermine

21 November 2011 at 10:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Great picture! Yeah, that’s a pretty classic image, the ermine in snow. I think I’ve had this exact picture (or one very like it) on my hard drive for nearly 2 decades now.

Thanks for the cameo, PZ!
6

Darth Marmalade

21 November 2011 at 10:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

At night, the ice weasels come…
7

Wowbagger, Madman of Insleyfarne

21 November 2011 at 11:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

So cute!
8

Otranreg

21 November 2011 at 11:22 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s the look of a killer, not cute in any way.
9

TomF

22 November 2011 at 12:09 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Weasel or stoat? In general, weasels are weasely recognized, whereas stoats are stoatally different.

Actually, since I’m from the UK but now live in the PacNW, it’s doubly confusing because the European Stoat is the same thing as the American Short-Tailed Weasel, is the same thing as an Ermine (on both sides of the pond).

I had one of these in my back garden last year (in brown form). I looked at it and thought “that’s a funny-looking squirrel” and then it streeeeeeeeeetched and I’m all like “OMG OMG OMG wife look at this!” It couldn’t decide whether to be fascinated by me or terrified of me, so it would bounce back and forth. Then it saw the cat, decided I was already owned by someone and paraboloided off.
10

Caine, Fleur du Mal

22 November 2011 at 12:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh man, too cute!
11

torbertin

22 November 2011 at 12:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

http://www.fupenguin.com/2009/07/im-dreaming-of-white-jackass.html
12

Monado, Deployer of Precision F-Strikes

22 November 2011 at 12:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Lovely! Vicious little things, the reason why some birds build nests hanging from tiny twigs, but lovely.
13

Monado, Deployer of Precision F-Strikes

22 November 2011 at 12:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I was embarrassingly old–in my teens or twenties–when I realized that a monarch’s cute fur-trimmed robe with the black tick-marks in it was made of the pelts of weasels in their winter fur, and the black marks were the tips of their tails.
14

Alethea H. Claw

22 November 2011 at 1:14 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Killer and cute? Sure. Killer animals are generally cuter than prey animals, what with those easily anthropomorphisable forward facing eyes and all. (Especially kittehs, as any internet-aware fule kno.)
15

some bastard

22 November 2011 at 1:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

TomF says:

Weasel or stoat? In general, weasels are weasely recognized, whereas stoats are stoatally different.

Ba-dum-shh!
16

Guy

22 November 2011 at 2:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

So THAT’S where I left my other white sock…
17

Aquaria

22 November 2011 at 3:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Kinda cute. For a rat-faced thing.
18

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

22 November 2011 at 4:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yay Mustelid! I totally ♥ Mustelids!
19

Draken

22 November 2011 at 5:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

He’s got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.
20

TKGE

22 November 2011 at 6:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PZ Myers, I hate you so damn much. I hope you die soon!
21

Guy

22 November 2011 at 6:46 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

OMG TKGE WTF U SOB!?
22

mrianabrinson

22 November 2011 at 6:59 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

He’s so cute! :) Or she is. Not that s/he cares what gender I use. Thanks for the lovely picture, PZ. ;)
23

Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort

22 November 2011 at 7:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

TKGE must REALLY hate weasels.
24

jamesemery

22 November 2011 at 7:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Goddamn it, PZ, that’s too much cute this early in the morning :/
25

nazani14

22 November 2011 at 9:07 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If you have a barn, you absolutely want a weasel, stoat,
(or polecat, if you’re in Wales) family in residence. They may be even better at reducing rodent populations than owls, and sweeping out their poop is a lot easier than scraping owl poop off rafters.
26

happiestsadist

22 November 2011 at 12:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That’s the cutest ever creature that’s planning to eat my eyeballs I’ve ever seen. D’aww.
27

Alex Besogonov

22 November 2011 at 1:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

We had a weasel as a pet. They are much nicer than cats :)

The only problem, they move and move and move and move – constantly. Unlike cats who just like to lie on a couch and sleep 24 hours a day.
28

Dhorvath, OM

22 November 2011 at 1:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yay weasels!
29

Kate from Iowa

22 November 2011 at 2:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That is terribly cute, but nowhere near as cute as the little guys we’ve got out in front/under the apartment building across the street. Yes folks…we’ve got a community of feral ferrets (try saying that after drinking) on one of the busier streets in DSM.

Take quite a toll on the chipmunks and chickadees, but it’s the funniest thing ever to watch them cross the street in the early morning.

And nazani14, owls just so totally kick ass! They burp skeletons! If I were a superhero, that would be my power! Mwahahahahaha! er…okay, probably more suited to a supervillian…
30

WMDKitty

22 November 2011 at 7:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh my SQUEE! That’s adorable!
31

speedweasel

23 November 2011 at 1:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

OMG! I cant believe I missed the weasel the first time around.

Actually, that guy looks familiar. I think he’s a friend of my cousin…
32

Staceyjw

23 November 2011 at 4:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Kate from Iowa-
We have been looking for feral ferrets in the US with no success. Can you tell me more? They usually don’t have the ability to live in the wild/out of a humans care, so this is wild to hear. please email me or post more. What’s DSM?
Stacey
33

Staceyjw

23 November 2011 at 4:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

(just a ferret enthusiast, not looking to round them up or anything. Merely curious.)
Crunchyrenee at gmail
Thanks :-)
34

Kate from Iowa

24 November 2011 at 7:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Will have to remember to email you monday, but just in case I don’t…

DSM is Des Moines, Iowa. There is a small group (probably no more than four or five) of ferrets living across the street from where I work. I didn’t know that’s what I was looking at when I first saw them, but that loopy, long-bodied gait is unmistakeable, if you’ve ever seen it. Most likely, the poor things are pets that someone dumped, and I don’t expect to see a sustained presence. But it has been a year and a half, so I could definately be wrong on that.