So a coyote walks into a restaurant...

Started by Cvstos, April 07, 2007, 12:24:19 AM

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GabrielsThoughts

   clickity click click click. Quote in personal text is from Walter Bishop of Fringe.

Cvstos

#61
Foxes simply cannot interbreed with canines.  They're just too different.  Vertical pupils, semi-retractable claws, all kinds of physical differences.  The differences between wolf, dog, and coyote are far less drastic.  Although supposed dog-fox hybrids have been reported there has never, ever been a confirmed hybrid.  Most of the so-called "hybrids" have actually just been purely dog.  The cosmetic changes the canine species can go through are so vast that it's possible to make them kinda look like a fox - but so far no one has put forth a confirmed dog-fox hybrid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canid_hybrid
http://ozfoxes.com/aafoxes.htm#DogFox
"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." -Albert Einstein

Zorro

Large Cats, mainly Tigers and Lions are known to become Man-eaters in the wild.

Destina Faroda

#63
I thought sharks were colorblind.

Although probably humans don't smell or taste good enough to warrant killing en masse, I wouldn't trust any relatively large hungry predator or scavenger around me, even a coyote.  (Edit: Then again, I don't trusts larges hebivore around me either, since they'd probably trample me to death.  That makes killing them a pre-emptive strike.)  I don't think it's right as a society that we build up all this crap about not scaring or offending animals.  If a person were to attack another person, he'd go to jail -- and most people would agree with that's right.  But when an animal attacks another person, it's the human's fault.  Sometimes it is, of course (Roy Horn, Steve Irwin, etc) , but the worst part about it is thar even people who supposedly "know" the animals they're working with get injured, if not killied by them.  That's what makes animals dangerous.  Unlike humans, you can't communicate with them.  When an animal actually talks to me in intelligible, clear English and tells me its demands, then I'll change my stance.   Until then, I feel cities are a human habitat that disease-ridden animals have taken advantage of for far too long.

See the thing is that I value all human behings, including that of a terrorist.  That doesn't mean that terrorists may not have to be killed as a result of their actions against me or someone else, but that does mean that if there were a terrorist in the room chained to the wall, and a dog in the same room chained to the other wall and I had to kill one, I'd kill the dog without hesitation.  Any life other than human life means nothing to me.  The act of murder is nothing more than determining that a person is an animal.

And here's the saddest thing of all.  We're not supposed to provoke animals and such.  However, we don't dare extend that same courtesy to people.  When we're offended or brutalized, other people tell us to get a thicker skin and deal with it.  Why dismiss a person who is your equal and elevate an animal that is your inferior?
Sig coming...whenever...

superluser

Quote from: Destina Faroda on April 12, 2007, 09:43:20 AMI thought sharks were colorblind.

I don't know what sort of colorblindness sharks are supposed to have, but they are probably able to see differences in value.

Quote from: Destina Faroda on April 12, 2007, 09:43:20 AMI don't think it's right as a society that we build up all this crap about not scaring or offending animals.

I make it a point to startle off any sizable non-domesticated animal that I see in an urban setting.  Mainly because I'm afraid that they'll run into people like you who might kill them.  Any animal that has lost its fear of humans is a danger to itself and to humans.


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xHaZxMaTx

Quote from: Destina Faroda on April 12, 2007, 09:43:20 AM
...I feel cities are a human habitat that disease-ridden animals have taken advantage of for far too long..
Well what do you expect when people invade their home and make their own home over it?  Relocating isn't always an option; a lot of animals are very particular about the surrounding environment.  So it's either stay where they are and be forced to interact with humans at one point or another, or die.  Though I'm sure you'd say the latter is more beneficial, since the animals are 'inferior' and apparently don't deserve a second thought.

Cvstos

Didn't you just get through saying animals are hard to communicate with?  Humans are smarter than animals, and can reason.  Humans have a higher expectation of self control because we're, you know, humans!  That's why provocation isn't a very good defense for a human attacking another human, but a very logical defense for a human attacking an animal, wild or not.

And many animals do us a huge favor by living in cities.  Foxes and coyotes alike have settled into our urban areas, and feed mainly on things like rats, mice, and other small rodents that we find to be a much larger nuisance than the predators.  Foxes in particular are very good at working behind the scenes.  Most people in the US don't realize that they're now present in almost every major city, having a range of nearly the entire US and Canada, excepting the arctic circle (which belongs to the arctic fox), as well as nearly all of Eurasia!  (The coyote and red fox are a couple of animals who have adapted extremely well to human expansion.  Foxes in particular.  It's done so well that it's grown to have the widest range of any terrestrial carnivore!)
"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." -Albert Einstein