Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#96249 02/19/03 11:28 AM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Hey, wwh (and anybody else who's interested)! I gotta question for you--something I just ferreted out of Britannica:

What are the two carnivores best known for their burrow- building abilities?

I was surprised by the answers. I would have never guessed either to be a master builder.


#96250 02/19/03 12:05 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
D
dxb Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
D
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
The prairie dog is a persistent and extensive burrowing carnivore, their towns can run for miles. Otherwise I can only think of the usual badgers, beavers, moles and so on.


#96251 02/19/03 03:04 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Hardly a fodient carnivore, I once in Virginia saw a snake over three feet long come
up out of the turf from a ground squirrel tunnel at base of a big splitleaf maple,
that had a very large cavity in which snakes had laid eggs for many years, which
was shown to me when the tree had to be cut down before it fell on the garage.
The man who cut the tree down was a moonllighting biologist, who showed
me some unhatched eggs, and some newly hatched snakes about the size of a
bllpoint pen, which he said were "field moccasins" capable of injecting enough venom
even that young to be dangerous. So the snake was foe of the fodient groundsquirrels.


#96252 02/19/03 03:14 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
One of your "usual" ones, dxb, is one of the two best mentioned in National Geograhic: the badger.

The other one--and quite a surprise to me--is the skunk. Whudda thunk?


#96253 02/19/03 03:42 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Deaar WW: Speaking of badgers, did you see the stories on BBC News not long ago
about plan to "cull" 4000 badgers, because they carry bovine tuberculosis, and there
has been recrudescence of bovine TB in; British dairy cattle, which makes it harder for
British dairymen to sell the cows overseas?


#96254 02/19/03 04:04 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
No, wwh, I hadn't heard about the culling of British badgers. Badgering the badgers over there. I know nothing about badgers. Will take a look on the National Geographic site to see whether they've included badgers in their animal list.

Didn't you find it surprising that the skunk is such a great burrower, malodorous fodient skunk?


#96255 02/19/03 04:35 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
My impression is that skunks evict owner of any hole they fancy, for which they are so
well equipped. Skunks only spray as a last resort. I had an amusing experience with one.
I had made a house visit just down the street away one night. On my return home, I saw
what I thought in the dim light was a balled up page of newspaper blowing across the
lawn. As I got closer, I saw it was a skunk. It was standing on its front paws, with its tail
hanging down its back, out of the way of the perfume projector. It was peeking around its
front legs, and dancing on its forepaws, calibrating its aim, should I get within firing range.
Fortunately the wind was from me to the skunk, so the skunk knew it could not hit me with
spray unless I got very close. It was so close to the door that I had to wait until it dropped
its tail back, went down on all fours and departed, in only very moderate haste.
The skunk perf;ume is a mercaptan, a sulfur compound series, or which asparagus contains
the least noxious precursor, readily noted when urinating a few hours after eating asparagus.
Which reminds me of a lecturer in biochemistry telling us Roman ladies used to drink small
amounts of turpentine, because it gave their urine the odor of lavender. I asked him "For whose
benefit?" For which he had no answer.


#96256 02/19/03 05:27 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
D
dxb Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
D
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Oh, well. Badgers are good diggers with very powerful forelimbs and claws. There has been this demand for a cull of badgers from the farming community, but there is a lot of resistance to it. Many people feel that the farmers are exaggerating the case. As far as I am aware no one has started gassing yet, and I hope they never do. There must be a better if more expensive, and therefore farmer-unfriendly, answer.

Why aren't prairie dogs carnivores, Dr Bill?


#96257 02/19/03 06:46 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Dear dxb,

Excuse me for stepping in before Dr. Bill, but I can reply that prairie dogs are not included the the order of carnivorous mammals. What's interesting about this order is some types of bears that have mostly a vegetarian diet are still considered to be carnivores, and the Rodentia order, of which the prairie dog is a member, includes mostly vegetarian members, although members of the order do eat beyond vegetation.

Here's a little from the Smithsonian that may be of some interest to you:

The family Sciuridae belongs to the largest and most diverse order of mammals, Rodentia, containing about 1,620 species. There are about 250 species of Sciurids currently recognized around the world. Eleven of these species can be found in North Dakota.
There are three basic groups of squirrels. These are the flying squirrels which are active mostly at night, the tree squirrels which are active during daylight hours, and the ground squirrels. The first two groups spend most of their time in trees and build their nest above ground; the third group are ground dwelling, as the name implies, and nest in underground burrows. Because flying and tree squirrels are dependent upon mature trees, their distribution is limited to rivers, streams, woody draws, and urban areas where trees are plentiful. Ground squirrels are more widespread and often abundant in grassland habitats. Members of this family that can be found in North Dakota include the northern flying squirrel, gray squirrel, red squirrel, fox squirrel, eastern chipmunk, least chipmunk, woodchuck, Richardson's ground squirrel, thirteen-lined ground squirrel, Franklin's ground squirrel, and black-tailed prairie dog.




#96258 02/19/03 07:12 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
W
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
I think this might be worth posting in response to dxb's question about prarie dogs and carnivorouness. Prairie dogs aren't included in the order of carnivorous animals--and neither are we , although some of us are carnivorous at times. Anyway, here are the 18 orders of mammals gleaned from the Net:

"Order Artiodactyla (even-toed hoofed animals)
Hoofed animals with an even number of toes include those that ruminate, or digest their food in four-chamber stomachs and chew cuds, and those that do not ruminate. Those that ruminate are the families Girrafidae (giraffes). Cervidae (deer, moose, reindeer, elk). Antilocapridae (pronghorn antelope), and Bovidae (cattle, bison, yaks, waterbucks, wildebeest, gazelles, springboks, sheep, musk oxen, goats). Nonruminators include the families Suidae (pigs), Tayassuidae (peccaries), Hippopotamidae (hippopotamuses), and Camelidae (camels, llamas).

Order Carnivora (meat-eaters)
There are two suborders of these toe-footed creatures. They include the Canidae (wolves, dogs, jackals, foxes), Ursidae (bears, giant pandas), Procyonidae (coatis, raccoons, lesser pandas), and Mustelidae (martens, weasels, skunks, otters), all part of one superfamily that is characterized by long snouts and unretractable claws; and Felidae (cats, lions, cheetahs, leopards) Hyaenidae (hyenas), and Viverridae (mongooses, civets), all of which have retractable claws.

Order Cetacea (whales and purpoises)
Two suborders of Order Cetacea are the toothed whales, which have regular conical teeth, and the baleen, or whalebone, whales, which have irregular whalebone surfaces instead of teeth. Toothed whales include the families Physeteridae (sperm whales), Monodontidae (narwhals, belugas), Phocoenidae (porpoises), and Delphinidae (dolphins, killer whales). Baleens are in the family Eschrichtiidae (gray whales), Balaenidae (right whales), or Balaenoptridae (fin-backed whales, hump-backed whales).

Order Chiroptera (bats)
There are two suborders of bats, the only mammals that can fly. Suborder Megachiroptera contains one family, the Pteropodidae (flying foxes, Old Worm fruit bats). Suborder Microchiroptera contains 17 families, including: Rhinopomatidae (mouse-tailed bats), Emballonuridae (sheath tailed bats), Craseonycteridae (hog-nosed or butterfly bats), Noctilionidae (bulldog or fisherman bats), Nycteridae (slit-faced bats), Megadermatidae (false vampire bats), and Rhinolophidae (horseshoe bats).

Order Dermoptera (colugos or flying lemurs)
These gliding tree mammals from Asia do not fly and are not lemurs, but they are known as flying lemurs, or Family Cynocephalidae .

Order Edentata (toothless mammals)
Three families of mammals get by without teeth: Dasypodidae (armadillos), Bradypodidae (sloths), and Myrmecophagidae (hairy anteaters).

Order Hyracoidae (hyraxes, dassies)
Order Hyracoidae is one of three orders that has only one modern family remaining. Procavia capensis (the African rock hyrax) is one of nine living species in the Family Procaviidae .

Order Insectivora (insect-eaters)
The three members are the families Talpidae (moles), Soricidae (shrews), and Erinaceidae (hedgehogs).

Order Lagomorpha (pikas, hares, and rabbits)
Two families make up this order: Ochotonidae (pikas) and Leporidae (hares and rabbits of all sorts).

Order Marsupialia (pouched animals)
Included among these are the families Caenolestidae (rat opossums), Diddeelphidae (true opossums), Dasyuridae (native cats, native mice), Notoryctidae (marsupial moles), Myrmecobiidae (numbats), Peramelidae (bandicoots), Phalangeridae (koalas), Vombatidae (wombats), and Macropodidae (kangaroos and wallabies).

Order Monotremata (egg-laying mammals)
These more primitive mammals make up the families Tachyglossidae (echidnas, also called spiny anteaters) and Ornithorhynchidae (platypuses).

Order Perissodactyla (odd-toed hoofed animals)
The two suborders, Hippomorpha and Ceratomorpha, include creatures that have an odd number of toes. Families in this order are the Equidae (horses, donkeys, zebras), the Tapiridae (tapirs), and the Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses).

Order Pholidata
Family Manidae (pangolins) is the sole family in this order.

Order Pinnipedia (seals and walruses)
In the fin-footed order there are Otariidae (eared seals, sea lions), Odobenidae (walruses), and Phocidae (earless seals).

Order Primates (primates)
The order to which people belong is divided into two suborders: The Prosimii , who have longer snouts than their relatives, and the Anthropoidae . The first group includes the families Tupalidae (tree shrew), Lemuridae (lemurs), Daubentonlidae (aye-ayes), Lorisidae (lorises, pottos), and Tarsiidae (tarsiers). The anthropoids include the families Callitrichidae (marmosets), Cebidae (New World monkeys), Cercopithecidae (baboons, Old World monkeys), Hylobatidae (gibbons), Pongidae (gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans), and Hominidae (human beings).

Order Proboscidea (elephants)
Large enough to have an order all to itself is Family Elephantidae .

Order Rodentia (gnawing mammals)
The most prolific mammals, Order Rodentia includes three suborders. It takes in the families Aplodontidae (mountain beavers), Sciuridae (chipmunks, squirrels, marmots), Cricetidae (field mice, lemmings, muskrats, hamsters, gerbils), Muridae (Old World mice, rats), Heteromyidae (New World mice), Geomyidae (gophers), and Dipodidae (jerboas).

Order Sirenia (dugongs and manatees)
The families Trichechidae (manatees) and Dugongidae (dugongs and other sea cows) make up the Order Sirenia .

Order Tubulidentata (aardvarks)
Another mammal in an order by itself is Family Orycteropodidae."

http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/OTHERREFERENCE/ANIMALWORLD/OrderMammals.html




#96259 02/19/03 08:45 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Dear dxb: a hort excerpt from recent BBC News:
February 08, 2003 - 12:11 GMT


The closed season for killing badgers has finally
arrived after the relentless slaughter over the past 9
months. Now that activists have 3 months before the
killing resumes, much needed funds are being raised
in time for the next onslaught of killing.


#96260 02/20/03 03:44 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
D
dxb Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
D
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
after the relentless slaughter over the past 9 months

Yes, I knew about this but I feel the item from the BBC is somewhat emotive, even though I favour the badgers! I don’t agree with the culling – or killing if we don’t want to mince words – but to call it relentless slaughter is to over-egg the pudding. My concern is what happens after this phase is finished; that it could then degenerate into something worse.

As I understand it, there is a government funded £34 million, 3 year programme targeted to 30 areas to establish if badgers do indeed spread tuberculosis to cattle. The intent of the programme is to kill 10,000 badgers and carry out a post mortem on each, plus any road-kill they can get, to determine whether the animal carries the disease. This needs to be put in the context of a total UK badger population currently around 400,000 and growing, of which about 50,000 a year are killed on the roads (seems a hell of a high proportion, if true, but I think I have commented before that I do see a lot of dead badgers on the road).

Some views:

Sir John Krebs, the scientist who drew up the original plans for the cull, says the killing is vital to find out first of all whether or not badgers are responsible for transmitting TB to cattle, and then whether culling badgers is an effective way of controlling the disease.

Dr Elaine King, from the National Federation of Badger Groups, claims that the experiment is simply too grandiose and too complicated to work, partly because many landowners are refusing to cooperate. The National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPCA, for example, are against the culling and have said that they will not allow it to happen on their land. The Federation is actively urging Ministers to spend the £34m instead on cattle vaccine and improving cattle health.

Jeff Rooker, the Food Safety Minister, has said the idea of eradicating the badger species "would not be countenanced" (glad to hear that!!) but added that the problem of TB in cattle was growing. He says that the problem of preventing widespread disease in cattle herds that are used for milk and meat to feed human beings must be tackled now before it becomes unmanageable. (Well, amen to that.)



#96261 02/20/03 04:50 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Dear dxb: Thanks for the information. Ye Gods, if 50K badgers are road kills, I should think
that would provide an entirely sufficient sample to determine percentage of badgers infected.
I have also seen warnings that the cute little hedgehogs all have tubercle bacillus in their stools,
and are a genuine hazard to children playing where they may get their hands soiled.
A hell of a problem, so large even drastic and expensive solutions are liable to fail.


#96262 02/20/03 04:52 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
D
dxb Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
D
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Gosh, WW!

Thanks for that wealth of information - I shall save it, because it is nicely condensed. I did learn about that lot when I was in my mid-teens. Not at school, but as a hobby that involved frequent visits to London Zoo to take photographs. It was a bit depressing to see how much I had forgotten - including that prairie dogs did not eat other critters! I was putting them in with weasels and stoats (mustelidae). Haven't been to a zoo, per se, for years and years. Think I would find them depressing places now for all but the smallest animals, and even then...I remember the hamsters my girls had; always looking for a way out of the cage, and then out of the room, and then out of the house.


#96263 03/01/03 03:37 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
badgers? we don' need no steenking badgers!

http://www.darryl.com/badges/

[the book, the movie, and everything..]



#96264 03/01/03 02:27 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Maybe the movies should have a steenkin badge cull.


Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 444 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5