Strange Animals

[eredien]

rax needs to know the names of more strange animals for Anthrocon. I gave her a long list but if you can further help her out that would be awesome.

In other news, both of us woke up late this morning because we were awoken by a hideous animal screeching at around 4 am, coming from the backyard. We didn't bother getting up to see what it was; it sounded sort of like that time I heard a rabbit screaming while getting killed by an owl, but went on for longer in a repeating pattern, twice, so I think it was a bird. "Eastern Screech Owl" was my first thought too, but that is definitely not it; the Screech Owl is much too melodious. Any ideas?

Oolong, slightly less than a month after her well-cat visit to the vet, has hives and is licking all her fur off again. Her skin causes new problems approximately every 6 months. Selene, of course, seems fine. We're going to the new vet today. Yay?

Edit: Fleas. Now we get to mop and vaccum everything! And I need to find somewhere less expensive to buy the special by-prescription cat food!

Comments

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

Are you going to Bloomington Cat Hospital? They're the best in town (though maybe not the cheapest). I hope your kitty feels better soon!

[wormulus.livejournal.com]

Echidna? Platypus? Older monotremes that are now just fossils? Naked mole rats? Kangaroo rat? Aye-aye? Tapir? Sea pig?

I hope your cat feels better!!

[q10.livejournal.com]

could we have a little more clarification on what kinds of strange animals, and what access of strangeness, we're looking for? or even just a few examples of animals exemplary in their strangeness? the question as it stands is a little to open-ended for me to know where to start.

[q10.livejournal.com]

sammka often mentions tardigrades in this kind of context.

chameleons have a pretty good assortment of special features, as do cuttlefish.

many of the extant rhinoceros species are weird in one way or another - here are examples of three: the one-horned Javan and Indian varieties are among the animals historically most mistaken for unicorns (in this connection the narwhal also deserves special consideration), and that may be the basis of some classical accounts of unicorns (certainly the one-horned beast described in Pliny the Elder's natural history sounds more like an Indian rhinoceros than like anything else we know about), and they both have (different) ridiculous skin textures giving them a mythic feel. the Sumatran rhinoceros, meanwhile, is prettymuch the dwarfed version of the extinct woolly rhinoceros.

the last point brings us to the various extinct dwarf mammoths associated with various islands. the population on Wrangel Island in Siberia is believed to have survived until less than 4000 years ago, which really shockingly recent.

armadillos are always good. aside from their inherent weirdness, some varieties have a reproductive biology that involves always bearing litters of identical quadruplets, which must be good for some extra weird points. there's also the special case of the pink fairy armadillo, which has a ridiculous name and which is genuinely very small and sort of pink.

kiwis are a classic, of course.

prosimians generally are pretty good. the excellent aye-aye has already been mentioned, and the mouse lemurs get some points for being tiny.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

other real animals, of varying degrees of weirdness:
Gerenuk
Pronghorn (actually not that weird but funny anyway)
Lyrebird
Tamaraw
Jerboa
Zorro
Spiny Dog Fish
Sea Slug
Spectacled Bear
Daphnia
Aye-aye
Slow Loris
Dik-dik

Mythical animals:
Monocerus
Camahueto (mythological bull-unicorn)
Indrik
Qilin
Shadhavar
Quinotaur
Rompo
Lamashtu
Really anything here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mythological_hybrids) or here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Legendary_mammals) or here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Legendary_birds).

[eredien]

I *think* she was looking for mythological animals though I guess live or extinct real weird ones would be good too.

[zdenka]

aardwolf!
hyrax!
chupacabra!
rust monster
Jabberwock
umber hulk
floating eye
owlbear
quasit
hydra (either the one from Greek mythology or the weird nifty sea creature)
chimaera

The list of "I have no idea what these things are but what the heck":
rothe
leucrotta
titanothere
baluchitherium
wumpus

What's that creature in nethack that stabs your shins with a pin? A xat?

I'll let you know if I think of any more.

Oh no, poor cat. I hope the vet is able to do something for her.

[rax.livejournal.com]

I believe the monster that makes you unable to kick and lowers your carrying capacity for a bit is called a xan. (Not to be confused with xorn, who walk through walls.)

I wish I could forget these things.

[zdenka]

A xan! That was it!

I remember the xorn, because they also show up in Angband, which I've played more recently (meaning fewer than fifteen years ago). :-)

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the new vet!

Also: The huma-huma-nuka-nuka-pu-a-a. It's a fairly normal fish, but it has a great name!

[q10.livejournal.com]

i think the standard spelling is humu­humu­nuku­nuku­āpuaʻa.

but yeah, it is pretty good.

Wikipedia suggests lauwiliwilinukunukuʻoiʻoi as another candidate for best Hawai'ian fish name.

[ab3nd.livejournal.com]

I hope Oolong is better soon.

In the strange animals category, the Okapi and Coatimundi (which has the advantage of being really cute, also smart and dexterous) spring immediately to mind. Quick searching reveals that the Coati is related to the Cacomistle, which is just fun to say. Pangolins look kind of like ambulatory pinecones, but are probably already on your list.

If you want to get really obscure, there are a ton of weird things that only exist as fossils now, like Marrella Splendans, Opabinia Regalis (5 eyes! Bitey snout!), Anamalocaris, Wiwaxia, etc. Those are all Cambrian critters from the Burgess Shale, and all look like oversized bugs from space.

[eredien]

You can see both the Coatimundi and the Cacomistle at the Stone Zoo.

Er, well, you can see the Cacomistle if you are lucky.

The Coatimundi is really adorable and suprisingly nimble/dextrous.
The Cacomistle is adorable, but we've only seen it once in all the times we'd been to the zoo. It mostly comes out at dawn or dusk.

Strange animals

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

kakapo and takahe -- two flightless birds from New Zealand
hoopoe -- another bird with a fun name
star-nosed mole
elephant shrew
elephant seal
thylacine
thylacoleo
tuatara
archer fish
peccary, a.k.a javelina

How about invertebrates?
peripatus, a.k.a. velvet worms, phylum Onychophora -- freakishly strange
hydra polyps that asexually bud jellyfish that sexually spawn more hydra
sphinx moths
ant lions
horseshoe crabs

[sovay]

more strange animals for Anthrocon. I gave her a long list but if you can further help her out that would be awesome.

Strange like falanouc, fossa, and colugo, or strange like afanc, leokampos, and mušḫuššu?

[eredien]

Wow! Out of six animals I had only heard of one, and that was because I was seriously considering going on a fossa-tracking trip in 2011 before I remembered that I had no money. That is serious animal knowledge cred!

Also, the German-language wikipedia page that appears to be the only thing on Wikipedia about the mušḫuššu seems to think that the dragon in Disney's "Mulan," one Mushu, is named after the Babylonian creature. I would correct it, but I don't know German; moreover, I would kind of be sad to have to correct what was an *awesome* assumption to say, "no, sorry, it's not Babylonian mythology--it's, um, a kind of pork pancake that you generally see on menus at Chinese restaurants in the states."

[sovay]

I was seriously considering going on a fossa-tracking trip in 2011 before I remembered that I had no money.

I hope you can get some, however, because a fossa-tracking trip would be awesome.

That is serious animal knowledge cred!

Welcome to my brain!

moreover, I would kind of be sad to have to correct what was an *awesome* assumption to say, "no, sorry, it's not Babylonian mythology--it's, um, a kind of pork pancake that you generally see on menus at Chinese restaurants in the states."

Yeah. I prefer German Wikipedia's version.

[doma.livejournal.com]

I am sorry. My brain only has room for Pokemon.

I hope Oolong feels better. :/

[zeeth_kyrah]

I do energy work for animals as well as humans; both primarily as an add-on to other forms of medicine. It might not stop the problem entirely, but it should make Oolong more comfortable.

The fleas are vicious this year, it seems, though that may not be what's going on with her.

[thoughtsdriftby.livejournal.com]

Almi'raj, Anggitay, Karura
===
Likely I'm willing to go a bit more toxic, fogging the house and putting flea/tick stuff on the dog and the stray cats in the front yard. The strays have also been broken by the vet, got their shots, and get worming stuff added to their food annually (I don't call it fixed if it no longer works).

Haven't tried a UV light over a sticky pad yet, but I haven't had to. It's supposed to work.