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Day Of The Animals: Tales Of Man Vs Beast (And Man Suffers)

"...she saw the bite marks on Kian’s arm."

It occurs to me that I was once bitten by a bat. ("That explains a lot!", cry several FTMB members). The experience was laughable, as a bat's teeth are optimised to deal with moths and other flying bugs. I believe that I even have a Polaroid of the wee creature in my hand, somewhere in the attic; I know I caught it in flight in a flash photograph.

I was trying to sleep before an early shift in my bedroom in the "section house". I was woken by a whir, whir, whir noise, and turned on the light: Nothing. Grrr...

Off to sleep. Again: whir, whir, whir. Lights on again, and I saw the culprit: a bat circling my bedroom ceiling. I snapped the Polaroid I mentioned above.

It landed, and I managed to catch it by throwing a hat over it. I held it in my hand long enough to have a close look, during which time the game wee beast made its pitiful attempt to chew my finger off. I felt nothing, and it certainly didn't leave even a trace of a mark.

I then released it from my window with a tale to tell.

My theory? An authority figure (nurse? teacher?) had found, or was about to find, bite marks (rat? pet?) on little Kian ( :rolleyes: ), and mum was getting her alibi in early.

maximus otter
 
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Or there's a delapidated building nearby which houses bats, and which is about to undergo a dramatic purge and refurbishment into studio apartments. (Better also watch out for rabid newts in nearby ponds. They probably need to be eliminated too, just to be on the safe side.)
I wonder if the kid's Dad is a builder?
 
This seems like a strange topic for joking, but to be serious for a moment, here's a PSA - if a bat is found in a room with a person who cannot reliably rule out physical contact (for example a sleeping person, a child, a mentally disabled person or an intoxicated person) treatment for rabies must be sought out immediately.
 
It's Hull, FFS: a town which makes Cromer look like Esher. The kid's mum has probably been seeing bats since the last bad batch of sulphate hit Sgt. Pepper's.

maximus otter

Brought to you by the Ministry of Jumping To Conclusions.

If you read the report, the bat was found when shaking the duvet in the morning, it died & was sent away for tests.

A spokesman for the Bats Conservation Trust said: “They don’t want to enter the living areas of people’s homes but it does happen by accident occasionally.

“This may be linked to young bats who are still learning to fly or who lose their way.

“UK bat species only feed on insects although some eat spiders. UK bats do not bite people unless they are handled or trapped.”
 
My theory? An authority figure (nurse? teacher?) had found, or was about to find, bite marks (rat? pet?) on little Kian ( :rolleyes: ), and mum was getting her alibi in early.
Something similar happened in Hackney when I was living there. A kid was 'attacked by a fox' who apparently came right inside the house. The thing is, foxes aren't known to attack people. Dogs are. The whole thing caused widespread panic about urban foxes.
 
Follow up on this:

The bears - Eurasian brown bears - are already there. Wolves will be introduced into a separate adjoining pen so they can get used to each other. They'll then be put together but the wolves will be able to retreat to their pen without the bears getting in if they feel threatened.

The wolves are all male so there'll be no young to protect/fight over.

The lynx & woverines will be permanently kept in a separate enclosure.
 
"...she saw the bite marks on Kian’s arm."

It occurs to me that I was once bitten by a bat. ("That explains a lot!", cry several FTMB members). The experience was laughable, as a bat's teeth are optimised to deal with moths and other flying bugs. I believe that I even have a Polaroid of the wee creature in my hand, somewhere in the attic; I know I caught it in flight in a flash photograph.

I was trying to sleep before an early shift in my bedroom in the "section house". I was woken by a whir, whir, whir noise, and turned on the light: Nothing. Grrr...

Off to sleep. Again: whir, whir, whir. Lights on again, and I saw the culprit: a bat circling my bedroom ceiling. I snapped the Polaroid I mentioned above.

It landed, and I managed to catch it by throwing a hat over it. I held it in my hand long enough to have a close look, during which time the game wee beast made its pitiful attempt to chew my finger off. I felt nothing, and it certainly didn't leave even a trace of a mark.

I then released it from my window with a tale to tell.

My theory? An authority figure (nurse? teacher?) had found, or was about to find, bite marks (rat? pet?) on little Kian ( :rolleyes: ), and mum was getting her alibi in early.

maximus otter

Ordinarily I'd echo your scepticism, but I think we have to consider the higher frequency of close bat-human interaction these days. Is it really inconceivable that they could develop a taste for human blood?

Certainly many other inter-species relationships have been turned upside down by our encroachment upon traditional habitats.
 
Ordinarily I'd echo your scepticism, but I think we have to consider the higher frequency of close bat-human interaction these days. Is it really inconceivable that they could develop a taste for human blood?

Certainly many other inter-species relationships have been turned upside down by our encroachment upon traditional habitats.
Here's how to properly clean your baby bat .. you need to scroll down a bit for the video ..

 
Were all my lovingly crafted bat puns in vain?
 
Surely he would have felt the cat over his face, how deep does he sleep?
 
Tiger takes catnap on bed in Indian home after fleeing huge floods

Well, this would scare the shit out of you...

(CNN)A family in India found a wild tiger "relaxing on a bed" in their house following a deadly monsoon which flooded parts of South Asia this week, according to Indian conservationists.
In an image released by India's Wildlife Trust, the massive predator can be seen lounging on a bed in the unnamed family's home in the village of Harmuti, in the northeastern state of Assam.
The tiger is believed to be have come from the neighboring Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to tigers, elephants, bears, and the world's largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/19/india/india-tiger-bed-flooding-intl-hnk/index.html
 
Give a dog a bad mame ...

Religious edict in haredi town of Elad says canines are forbidden because they bark at people and may scare them: ‘And because of its bark it is a bad dog even if does not bite’

JTA — More than a dozen rabbis from the city of Elad near Tel Aviv issued an edict declaring all dogs bad and warning residents that keeping them will make them accursed. The edict, dated June 14, contains the signatures of all the Sephardic rabbis in Elad, a city of about 46,000 residents where most of the population is Haredi Orthodox, and the city’s chief rabbi, Mordechai Malka, the news site bhol reported Friday.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/all-dogs-are-bad-and-their-owners-accursed-israeli-citys-rabbis-rule/
 
Crafty spoonbills pinching alligator's tales to create a fishing opportunity ..

 
How much interaction is there naturally between these species?

I know that 'co-exist' is just a factual term, but it conjures up images of a cozy co-habitation in a shared cave.

View attachment 18921

Which in turn reminds me of 'Pablo Escobear':

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/03/14/cocaine-bear/

You know? I’m not sure reintroducing carnivorous wild animals to the UK is such a good idea.



Boar wars: how wild hogs are trashing European cities
They have become a menace in European cities. In Barcelona, where wild boar are jostling tourists and raiding rubbish bins, the fightback has begun. By Bernhard Warner

Boars carry a host of diseases, including tuberculosis, hepatitis E and influenza A, that can make the jump to humans
In addition to spreading disease, wild boar each year cause thousands of road accidents. In January, a group of wild boar crossed a highway south of Milan, leading to a three-car pile-up which killed one driver and injured several more. The boar destroy property, devour ground-nesting animals – including endangered turtles’ eggs – and crops, such as fragile vine roots and shoots. Italian farmers estimate the boar inflict €100m (£90m) worth of crop damage annually.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/boar-wars-how-wild-hogs-are-trashing-european-cities
 
Maybe that's why they're reintroducing these animals? To thin our herd.

It’s the fact that, like a lot of emotional and romantic acts, it hasn’t been fully thought through.

It was in 2014, when this species seriously threatened the global pork industry, that the boar’s presence went from nuisance to existential threat. Boars can carry African swine fever (ASF), an incurable and highly contagious virus. Known as “pig ebola”, it kills wild and domestic pigs, creating an animal health crisis that is rapidly becoming a geopolitical one. To save the bacon from ASF, countries have been erecting physical borders with neighbours, threatening embargos, incinerating millions of farmyard pigs and offering bounties for the culling of wild boar.

African Swine fever or ‘pig ebola’, seems to be hitting the headlines a lot this year.
 
... If I was one of the monkeys, I'd have thrown some :dpoo:at him.

Speaking of which ...
Why Do Chimpanzees Throw Poop?

Going to the zoo can be a great adventure, especially if you find poop hurtling in your direction. The likely perpetrators, chimpanzees, are known to sometimes throw their feces at visitors. But what's the reason behind this behavior?

And, more importantly, should you consider yourself lucky to be the center of their attention?

Throwing feces is not a regular occurrence for primates, at least not most of them. Primates in the wild don't normally throw feces, Karen Strier, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Live Science. It's typically observed in captive populations of chimpanzees, although other primates, such as wild howler monkeys in western Belize, are also known to throw poop. ...

In her research, Strier studies the northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus), which may be one of the most peaceful primates in the world. These animals live in the forests of Brazil, and they don't have social hierarchies in their groups. This even-footing might make aggression unnecessary, at least for those monkeys, Strier said.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), on the other hand, do have hierarchical social groups. They are known to drag tree branches or throw rocks when they are frustrated or annoyed or when they want to display dominance.

"They're capable of expressing so much … they're really good communicators," said Ronnie Steinitz, a doctoral student in the Integrative Anthropological Sciences program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Throwing rocks and branches is part of how these animals communicate, and being a good communicator can be an advantage in their society. ...

In zoo environments, especially if groups of people are staring at them, the chimps may get riled up or frustrated, and they may decide to convey that emotion to their captive audience.

"Since they're usually deprived of rocks, or branches, or any small objects like that, for this exact reason, they opt for the next best thing that they have within reach, which is usually poop," Steinitz told Live Science. This explains why you might need to take cover next time you're at the ape house.

However, there is a silver lining: If you're not bothering the chimpanzees, you should be flattered that these primates consider you worthy of their poop-throwing attention.

"Think of it as another intelligent being trying to communicate with you," Steinitz said.

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/66042-why-chimps-throw-poop.html
 
I'm wondering which was the more ill-advised act - putting an octopus on her face, or waiting 2 days to get medical attention.
Woman posing for photo with octopus bitten twice on the face

A Washington state woman participating in a fishing derby learned a valuable lesson when she posed for a photo with an octopus and the mollusk bit her on the face.

Jamie Bisceglia, founder of South Sound Salmon Sisters, said she was at the fishing derby in the Tacoma Narrows late last week when she encountered a group of fishermen who had landed a small octopus.

"It was a photo contest in the derby. So, crazy me, hindsight now and looking back, I probably made a big mistake" ...

Bisceglia put the octopus on her face to pose for the photo.

"I thought, this is pretty cool. It was a gorgeous, exotic creature, and I put it on my face and said take my picture. Then all of a sudden, they notice and I notice, my eyes just widened, and it had put its beak into my chin, not once but twice. It was like a barbed hook going into my skin" ...

Bisceglia said her chin was bleeding for a while after the bite.

"It was a really intense pain when it went inside and it just bled, dripping blood for a long time," she said.

She said she continued fishing in the derby for two days before deciding to go to the emergency room for the pain she was continuing to feel from the bites. The octopus, believed to be a Pacific red octopus or a juvenile giant Pacific octopus, had injected Bisceglia with venom.

Busceglia said she has learned her lesson about handling potentially dangerous animals.

"And I'm still in pain," Bisceglia said. "I'm on three different antibiotics. This can come and go, the swelling, for months they say."
SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/0...topus-bitten-twice-on-the-face/1951565193206/
 
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