Mar 11 2013

Mary’s Monday Metazoan: Uh-oh, she’s going for cute

Categories:

Organisms

by PZ Myers

I hope this feature doesn’t turn into Cute Overload…but how can I resist the fennec?

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36 comments

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1

Lofty

11 March 2013 at 4:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

And they look even more wistful when being handled by the vets at our local zoo.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/theyre-testing-times-for-mum/story-e6frea83-1226594253325
2

ck

11 March 2013 at 4:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The fennec fox already picked up the alien signals SETI is trying to discover, but isn’t telling.
3

loopyj

11 March 2013 at 4:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

No one can resist the fennec! Resistance is futile!

I, for one, welcome our new fennec overlords and would like to scritch them behind the ears.
4

Matrim

11 March 2013 at 4:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Some of my favorite animals. The foxes at our zoo operate in shifts; one is always running around like a freak, one is always sleeping, and one is always barking and scrabbling at the glass. It’s not always the same fox every time, though.
5

chrislawson

11 March 2013 at 4:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Remember, when drying a fennec on the clothesline, not to peg it on its ears…
6

abbeycadabra

11 March 2013 at 4:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yay, fox! My icon is relevant!
7

azpaul3

11 March 2013 at 4:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I assume the tentacles are below the frame.
8

Ichthyic

11 March 2013 at 5:21 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

*oof*

too much cute.

knocked the wind out of me.
9

unclefrogy

11 March 2013 at 5:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

like kittens carnivores especially the young are seldom shown with their mouths open or in the middle of eating or killing their food if they even bother all the time with killing it before they start devouring it. No blood or squirming death throughs, or teeth in or claws in flesh.
They are beautiful and of such keen awareness, so focused

uncle frogy
10

Gregory Greenwood

11 March 2013 at 6:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I am now suffering from severe cuteness overload. I blame PZ (and Rebecca Watson), naturally.
11

echidna

11 March 2013 at 6:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

From the moment I read “Mischief in Fez” by Eleanor Hoffman, I fell in love with fennecs. All hail our fennec overlords!

Unclefrogy, as a very young kid I had a pet ferret that we would take rabbiting. I have never understood the squeamishness that everyone else seems to feel about carnivores eating.
12

frankb

11 March 2013 at 6:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This organism (with the cute little button nose) seems to place a great deal of importance in the detection of sound and locating the source of it.
13

Ichthyic

11 March 2013 at 6:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

^^ they actually can hear insects moving several centimeters below ground, and this is a primary food source.
14

Ichthyic

11 March 2013 at 6:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I note that fennecs are now becoming popular in the pet trade…

makes me wonder if the source of fennecs for that trade is wild, or bred in captivity?

look for fennecs ending up on the endangered list because of habitat destruction and the pet trade.

*sigh*

oh, speaking of adorable pets that shouldn’t be…

baby liger!

That adorable little guy will someday grow up to be the largest species of cat in the world, as ligers traditionally grow to around ten feet in length and over seven hundred pounds in weight. The largest in the world is named Hercules, and he weighs almost a thousand pounds!

a one thousand pound predator with giant fangs and claws… hmm….
15

Rob Grigjanis

11 March 2013 at 7:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I have never understood the squeamishness that everyone else seems to feel about carnivores eating.

I’m not generally squeamish, but the couple of times I’ve seen prey being eaten while still alive, or brought to cubs to play with, made me change the channel pretty quick. YMMV.
16

F [nucular nyandrothol]

11 March 2013 at 8:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Some squeamishness, some preference: Your prey animals are sometimes the favorite, rather than the predator.
17

Ichthyic

11 March 2013 at 8:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Your prey animals are sometimes the favorite, rather than the predator.

yup. seen it in action, even in places where people should know better.

Killer whale attacks shark, tosses it around for youngster to learn from playing with it… nobody has any issues.

they see the same thing happen with a baby seal?

now the killer whale is a villain, torturing the baby seal for pleasure.

I’ve seen EXACTLY that scenario play out, and numerous similar ones, even in places like the comments section on Jerry Coyne’s blog.

it’s very hard to get people to break out of the “charismatic fauna” trap.
18

unclefrogy

11 March 2013 at 9:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m not squeamish at all I have some turtles and they can hold their own against crocs and gaters in the eating brutally.
Many of the more photogenically popular are very accomplished killers very few make the painless quick kill favored by people.
They are still beautiful for all that I would hate to have any of them vanish but I am glad I am not on the menu . :-)
uncle frogy
19

bad Jim

12 March 2013 at 12:47 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I found the photo rather eary.
20

Nakkustoppeli

12 March 2013 at 3:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Grandma, why do you have so big ears?
21

Holms

12 March 2013 at 8:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Cute enough to remind me of my old childhood chihuahua… happy days!
22

luching

12 March 2013 at 9:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I saw one of those in Pokemon.
23

ambulocetacean

12 March 2013 at 9:40 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Reminds me of the wonderful Animal Planet program Dogs 101, which says that chihuahuas could be descended from fennec foxes rather than, you know, other dogs.

Gotta love that educational television!
24

sciencemc

12 March 2013 at 4:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The tragic part: It’s deaf.
25

Ichthyic

12 March 2013 at 5:42 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

which says that chihuahuas could be descended from fennec foxes rather than, you know, other dogs.

I’m curious what on earth they could have provided as actual evidence in support of that contention?

last I checked, the genetics told a pretty damn clear story.
26

ChasCPeterson

12 March 2013 at 9:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Nice pair of pinnae on that fox!
27

ambulocetacean

12 March 2013 at 9:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hi Ichthyic,

They don’t provide any evidence, only assertion. This is Animal Planet, remember — they have shows about how dogs and cats can sense ghosts and demons…
28

Owlmirror

12 March 2013 at 9:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Well obviously Wise Ancient Egyptians sailed from Africa to Mexico and brought fennecs with them for the Mexicans to play with while teaching them how to build pyramids.

I mean, come on!

Pyramids=pyramids!

Ears=ears!

Do I need to draw a picture?
29

Ichthyic

12 March 2013 at 9:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Do I need to draw a picture?

Yes. I demand you draw that picture!

:)
30

Ichthyic

12 March 2013 at 9:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

they have shows about how dogs and cats can sense ghosts and demons…

lolwut???
31

Ichthyic

12 March 2013 at 10:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

http://animal.discovery.com/pets/can-dogs-sense-the-supernatural.htm

well, not as bad as I expected, but still…

to lend credibility to “witnesses” saying that the dogs are seeing ghosts is pretty bad.

and you say there is an actual broadcast series devoted to this subject?

does News Corp own Animal Planet by chance?
32

Owlmirror

12 March 2013 at 11:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Do I need to draw a picture?

Yes. I demand you draw that picture!

*breaks out the restaurant paper placemat world map, and the big box of crayons*

This may take a while…
33

Ichthyic

12 March 2013 at 11:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

oh take your time. I just have to see this!

:)
34

ambulocetacean

12 March 2013 at 11:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The series I was thinking of was called The Haunted.

Folks who had moved into spooky houses and found their cats hissing at nothing or being startled for no apparent reason would tell the camera that when they later saw/felt the ghosts/demons themselves they realised that their pets had seen them first.

Then the producers would get some local yokel ghost hunters in to stumble around with night-vision cameras, declare the place haunted and announce that Mr Fluffykins had been right all along.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-haunted

It’s pretty standard stuff for Animal Planet, Discovery, History and even Nat Geo these days.

Murdoch half/majority-owns the Nat Geo channel (though not the magazine). Dunno who owns Discovery/Animal Planet.
35

Ichthyic

13 March 2013 at 12:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

*sigh*

With the BBC mired in corruption and controversy, the American science and history channels having adopted the ‘reality tv’ model, in 10 years, where will kids be able to view sane TV programming that is nature-oriented and actually educational?

it’s sad. Evidently, the golden age of the nature documentary will retire along with David Attenborough.
36

Owlmirror

13 March 2013 at 12:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Stop the ~~presses~~ crayons!

This theory (which is mine, which belongs to me) needs sexed up for prime-time auds.

*thinks carefully*

Atlantis, or Ancient Aliens?

*thinks some more.*

*nibbles on dark brown crayon, disappointed as always to find that it does not taste at all like chocolate*

Atlantis AND Ancient Aliens! Yay!

Back to work.