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3 weeks ago in Genomics, Medicine, and Pseudoscience
Field of Science
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RFK Jr. is not a serious person. Don't take him seriously.
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The Site is Dead, Long Live the Site2 years ago in Catalogue of Organisms
Tortoise defends its territory from cat
There's also a sick video on Youtube named "Killer Bite" in which a warped mind has a video of his pet boa strangling and consuming two of his pet rabbits who are minding their own business, eating carrots and grass. I thought that the video was incredibly cruel, and it's quite clear that its sole purpose is entertainment, especially considering the ostentatious ominous sounding battle music in the background. The pervert has blocked comments, but if you find the video offensive, please do flag it as inappropriate.
However, what was even more appalling than the video were the comments. Some said "O it's ok, this is exactly what happens in nature". Well, once in a while lions also kill human beings in the wild. Should we feed convicts or normal human beings to lions and say that that too is "natural"? Others said that "It's the rabbits who were too stupid...why didn't they dodge the boa?". I don't even want to respond to these gits. Also, rabbits are not exactly the 'natural' food of boas (not that feeding birds would have been any more humane). Who knows if the boa was deliberately starved before letting him loose on the rabbits, which is perfectly possible.
In any case, quite apart from the fact that nature is indeed red in tooth and claw, this kind of deliberate setup shows an extraordinary apathy and condescension towards nature and animals. This pompous human being needs to be summarily condemned.
Even when such a thing is natural, there are limits. I always recount a story about Charles Darwin which indicates that it is possible to be an objective observer of nature as well as a humane person. Darwin was treading through some forest in South America, when he saw a wasp repeatedly stinging a spider and flying away. The spider was desperately trying to get back at the wasp, flailing and steadily faltering. Darwin the dedicated naturalist could have documented the entire episode in his diary dispassionately, but he did not; he put the spider out of its misery by instantly killing him.
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Jesus.. you shouldn't have mention the other video...
ReplyDeleteSorry Andrew, but I just thought somebody has to bring that sick moron to other people's attention. I can completely understand what you must have felt...it's terrible.
ReplyDeleteThe video sounds fine from your description. Humans have a tendency to overreact over these things.
ReplyDeleteMitch
I'm sorry but I think you have gone a bit overboard there. Whilst it is perhaps a bit low to revel in the rabbits' demise in such a manner we have to appreciate that small to medium mammals do make up the diet of such snakes. what would you suggest the snake eat instead? As for your story about Darwin, as much as the great man has done for science, he missed what many entomologists would observe today. The wasp was probably disabling the spider in order that its young could feed on its paralysed body while its life support kept it "fresh" for the duration. Simply blatting it as he did serves no purpose as the wasp was denied her chance to further her genes, and the spider was inevitably already dead.
ReplyDeleteMitch, northers: that's the point about Darwin. he probably understood what you are saying, but he killed the spider out of humanism.
ReplyDeletemitch, perhaps i am overreacting, that's possible. but we cannot deny that humans get sadistic pleasure from watching both other animals and human beings die, that's the real point.