Wierdosity off the scale, captain

[andrewducker]

Cheers to laserboy for sending me a link to this article about conservation efforts for the wierdest animals (i.e. those with the least close relatives).

Comments

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

GAH!!! my brain didn't see that as a *thumb* for a whole 20-30 seconds. I thought "that's DEFINITELY weird..."

hmmm, yeah Ok, I have a one track mind, I admit it...

[ninox.livejournal.com]

So will be most of the Australian wildlife then and numerous invertebrates, that don't look so cuddly on the news.

[drjon.livejournal.com]

Ex-cellent!

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

That thing looks like it possesses horrible, ancient secrets.

[ninox.livejournal.com]

Just don't meet it is small dark alleys or feed it after midnight!

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

It's lucky some of the animals are cute. People don't generally like helping animals that aren't cute.

[ninox.livejournal.com]

I know - this generally annoys me. Giant land snail is the most successful success story of non furballs but who would help a land leech or tape worm?

With age and years of arguing common sense into many animal rights protesters I have known, I have a somewhat cynical attitude. Some animals die out naturally and other species will rise to take their place, sad but necessary to maintain balance. Humans are the irritant and so I will have a greater tolerance of animals driven to extinction because of man's ignorance and greed. I have less of a tolerance of do gooders that barge in and go about things all the wrong way.

It's rare I quote the bible (think this is Isiah), but I always liked "Woe unto those that join house to house,lay field to field until there is nothing." Or something like that. Used to be a favourite quote of Cosmetics to Go before the settled into shops and became Lush.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I reserve a special hatred for vegetarians who won't eat "cute" animals but will eat others.

Object to the taste (game - a lot of people don't like the gamier meats) , the treatment of certain animals (veal), object for religious reasons to certain animals (pork, beef, whatever), object on health grounds (beef or chicken depending on the current media hype) but don't just object to (for example) rabbits because they're cute, but still eat pigs or cows. Objecting to dog, cat or even horse is more understandable, since that is very much a cultural thing. It is odd to eat those, coming from the culture that I do.... It's certainly not something I'd definitely say no to. I've eaten horse, and snail. And both tasted fine, though the texture of the latter was a bit weird.

I mean, objecting to eating a chunk of meat because of how it looked when it was alive seems weird to me. *shrug*

If you haven't, you should read "Evolution" by Stephen Baxter. It's one of the best books that I have ever, ever read.

[andrewducker]

Why, exactly, should I care about any particular animal? Is there a reason why I shouldn't prefer cute animals to non-cute ones?

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Because then you're not a vegetarian, that was my point.

If you say you're a vegetarian, but you just pick and choose based on how cute they are, you're not a vegetarian. You're someone who eats meat.

[ninox.livejournal.com]

Amused by the cultural arguement. Some people see killing their pet for food a great honour. Others it is the cute attachment arguement that creeps back in. Why is there the problem with dogs over eating rabbit, guinea pig or vegans?

Ok maybe people don't eat vegans!

Will add Evolution to my to read backlog - thanks for the recommendation.

[andrewducker]

If I feel an emotional attachment to something then I don't want it being killed. Is that _really_ such a hard thing to understand?

I don't like spiders, and would happily see them eradicated from the planet. I like kittens, and wouldn't like bad things to happen to them. It's really not terribly complicated...

[ninox.livejournal.com]

No it isn't a hard thing to understand.

I own a guinea-pig & rabbit, I have eaten rabbit before and if in Peru I might consider eating guinea pigs. I would never consider stewing Bungee & Merlot, because of personal attachment.

It wasn't precisely what I was getting at. More having a whine that humans like playing god with species.

Why save one species over another?

Cuteness or should I say media image, to me doesn't seem the best or most logical way to decide a fate of a species; but in reality it very often does. I would prefer more balanced condsidered choice.

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't eat duck because I like ducks. I enjoy hand feeding them when I can, and personally wouldn't want to eat one.

Still, I'm a happy omnivore. Bring on the rest of the meat.

[andrewducker]

Why, exactly, should I care about any particular animal? Is there a reason why I shouldn't prefer cute animals to non-cute ones?

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, what was the other half of my point, and I'm pretty sure I said it was "I mean, objecting to eating a chunk of meat because of how it looked when it was alive seems weird to me. *shrug*"

It was an opinion. I'm explaining why -I- think what I do, not why you should agree. If you didn't see the reasoning in there, you don't have to agree.

To be honest, I don't really mind how food looks when it's on my plate, let alone when it was in its natural state. As many have said, it all ends up the same anyway.

It's like the way that lots of fruit juices/jams/gooey dishes etc get colourings added to stop them being an unappealing-to-many brownish colour. If I get a vegetable, or a chunk of meat, or some jam on toast... I am going to put it in my mouth, cover it in saliva, chew it into little bits, swallow it, then it will slowly dissolve, merge with everything else and I think you know the rest. Even before that, I will take it from the plate, probably cut it up and so forth. Taste, for me, is a part of eating. I've never really found sight to be the most important part.

I guess if it helps, and you don't like eating cute chickens, or cute rabbits, you could maybe think of the one you're going to eat as one that had a terrible life, in a tiny cage, force fed and in constant pain. It wasn't one of the happy ones out in a field playing with farmers and singing cheery songs voiced by a hollywood star. Heck, if you -don't- eat the force-grown animals, you're making their entire short miserable existence meaningless ;-)

[ninox.livejournal.com]

That was kind of my point but statistically people will protect creatures dependant on the degree of relatedness, hence mammals come top of the list and spiders are viewed more alien and way out.