Holy sweet mother of swamp monkeys.

See this thing in my user icon? It's a baby Paraguayan anteater- a giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla. I made an icon of it because it was funky and strange and looked like it would provoke response, and it has.

I have just found out some thoroughly disturbing facts about the beastie:

Length: 67 - 83 inches
Weight: 44 - 86 lbs
Gestation: 130 - 150 days
Offspring: 1
Life Span: 26 years
Top Speed (Ground): 31 mph

Let me repeat that: we are looking at an anteater that can grow to the size of a friggin' bloodhound, weigh as much as a really kickin' Siberian husky, and in short sprints outdo your average horse. Furthermore:

The mother anteater carries her single offspring on her back for a considerable length of time, even though the baby anteater is capable of a slow gallop four weeks after birth. Docile and inoffensive by nature, the anteater’s principal enemies are the puma and the jaguar. These large predators must be careful in their attacks, however, as an embrace by the anteater’s powerful forelimbs can sometimes prove fatal.

Y'see that? Piss 'em off, and they can kill JAGUARS.

Anteaters rule.

(no subject)

Today is Memorial Day, and there will be many and many people who will be going to the beaches, and others who will be going to parades with muffled drums, and others who will be protesting because names are being added to the rolls of those who must be remembered on this day.

A moment of silence, please...

( Thank you. )

That having been said, on this day I normally go down to Cape May and do a three-hour whale watch trip. I won't be doing that this year; the buses down to the southern end of my state are a bit awkward to manage, at least at the moment. Instead, I plan to spend today doing the New York Area Tourist thing. Liberty State Park has a ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island; I should like to go to the islands, but the statue itself was quite hot and smelly the last time I went inside during the summer, so I'll just be getting a look from the outside. And then I'm going to Manhattan proper, maybe finding myself something to eat in Chinatown, and hitting small museums or parks or things like that for a while. Maybe the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space museum, as it seems vaguely appropriate to the day.

Did not go to Intrepid today.

Too much of a line. But oh, how many other things I got to do...

( Read more... )