UTMC

This is really awesome and proof that we, as a species, kind of suck.

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Wow.
Yes. I am indeed stunned.

Working down at Palmer station had its perks. On our day off if the weather was good we could take the kodiaks out (two person minimum of course) to some of the many islands around the base. So one Sunday a few of us went out to one of the islands with tons of birds and Elephant Seals. As we got out of the Kodiak boat and just felt watched. Once on the little island I turned around and a Leopard Seal was watching us..... not in a good way. One of the only times I've felt hunted...............

Then there was the time a penguin snuck up on me while I was working, when it screamed I tried to jump out of my skin.

Some cool stuff in Antarctica

I really need to get off this couch.

That vid is one of the neatest things I've seen/heard in a long time.

The seal's reaction is identical to a cat's, really -- and the seal apparently is likewise annoyed with human's lousy hunting skills. Ha!

--Jaeger

Mother nature just never ceases to amaze me.

DerGolgo wrote:Mother nature just never ceases to amaze me.

And apparently our predatory incompetence never ceases to amaze Mother Nature.

--Jaeger

Jaeger wrote:

DerGolgo wrote:Mother nature just never ceases to amaze me.

And apparently our predatory incompetence never ceases to amaze Mother Nature.

--Jaeger

Actually, altruism is a successful survival strategy for a species as a whole. That photographer just bummed a ride by conning himself into the confidence of the seal.

Jaeger wrote:That vid is one of the neatest things I've seen/heard in a long time.

The seal's reaction is identical to a cat's, really -- and the seal apparently is likewise annoyed with human's lousy hunting skills. Ha!

--Jaeger

ROFL - this is exactly what I was thinking as I watched this...

I once lived in an apartment-complex where I kinda got to be friends with an alley-cat... one morning, as I'm getting ready for work, There is this *terrible* racket and screaming/gasping out in the hallway - I open my door to my neighbor with a pale, disgusted look on her face, and a dead possum on my doorstep (on the 2nd-floor) and a very proud-looking tomcat, with a fresh notch in his ear, and about half the mass of the possum. ...I'm sure he often wondered how I ever managed to survive without him. - thin skin, unimpressive teeth, and slow-as-molasses - I'm sure I didn't make much of an impression on the cat as a predator.

...I did manage to get a garbage-bag and haul the possum out to the dumpster... that cat never brought me anything to eat again! LOL

FC--

I shit you not, our cat (Charlemagne) brought us a bird right in the middle of Passover dinner last year.

We guessed he didn't like the brisket. (To be fair, it was a little tough...)

--Jaeger

Jaeger wrote:FC--

I shit you not, our cat (Charlemagne) brought us a bird right in the middle of Passover dinner last year.

We guessed he didn't like the brisket. (To be fair, it was a little tough...)

--Jaeger

In the first few months of having a baby in our house, our cat has brought in 3 birds and two rats. Since putting a bell on our cat, two birds have flown into one of our windows and died (HE KILLS THEM WITH HIS MIND!). I can't help but think he wants to pitch in with there being another mouth to feed in the house.

As for our incompetence as a predator, is there an animal that humans are incapable of killing in mass numbers? We may not be terribly graceful about it, but I'd say we're pretty effective.

Rabbit_Fighter wrote:

Jaeger wrote:
...
As for our incompetence as a predator, is there an animal that humans are incapable of killing in mass numbers? We may not be terribly graceful about it, but I'd say we're pretty effective.

That's only because we're tool-users.

If cats had opposable-thumbs, I'm convinced that we would NOT be at the top of the food chain! LOL

FastCat wrote:

Rabbit_Fighter wrote:

Jaeger wrote:
...
As for our incompetence as a predator, is there an animal that humans are incapable of killing in mass numbers? We may not be terribly graceful about it, but I'd say we're pretty effective.

That's only because we're tool-users.

If cats had opposable-thumbs, I'm convinced that we would NOT be at the top of the food chain! LOL

Yeah, but then they'd be spending all day at work and feeding me when they get home. I think I'd be ok with that.

calamari kid wrote: Yeah, but then they'd be spending all day at work and feeding me when they get home. I think I'd be ok with that.

It's a cat -- they'd only be feeding you to fatten you up.

--Jaeger