Carnivorous Swamp Beast Discovered In Madagascar 157
crudmonkey writes "Researchers have identified a previously unknown species of carnivore lurking in one of the world's most endangered lakes. Durrell's vontsira, named in honor of the late conservationist and writer Gerald Durrell, was first photographed swimming in Madagascar's Lake Alaotra in 2004. Subsequent surveys confirmed the mongoose-like creature was indeed a new species. Durrell's vontsira is the first new carnivorous mammal discovered in Madagascar in 24 years. Little is known about the species, which is roughly the size of a cat."
I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:5, Informative)
and then... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:First things first (Score:5, Informative)
Chicken.
Re:We are so quick to label it a 'beast' (Score:5, Informative)
I mean, the discovery of even 8 digits to a limb would be quite the curiosity.
I hereby present you the Acanthostega [wikipedia.org], which has eight digits per arm. The number of toes per limb is yet unknown. But the Ichthyostega [wikipedia.org], which has seven digits per arm, has also seven toes per limb, so I would not be surprised if newly found fossils would show eight toes per limb for the Acanthostega.
An orange is just a carrot of unusual size (Score:5, Informative)
> Obviously it's a Rodent Of Unusual Size.
The most obvious feature defining rodents are their teeth.
The most obvious feature of the newly discovered animal to see in the picture(s) are its teeth which are about as non rodent as an animal's teeth can be.
Re:and then... (Score:5, Informative)
The uncompacted soil absorbs most of the water which previously remained standing on a thick, compacted and sludgy lake bottom. The soil has also raised the lake bed, which allows the water to drain off more easily into the denuded land surrounding the lake - soil which is less tightly bound together thanks to the increasing absence of deep rooted vegetation.
Durrell (Score:3, Informative)
For what it's worth, Durrell wrote a number of fun books about Zoology and his explorations of the natural world. I'd recommend them as good beach reading or for young people interested in animals or natural sciences.
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:1, Informative)
I've had that issues with Firefox under windows.
Try tapping the 'windows' key. It usually fixes it (for some reason firefox gets into an odd keys-have-a-different-meaning mode that isn't carrot browsing.) It involves combinations of the windows key and [ctrl], and possibly the multiple-desktops addon.
Re:First things first (Score:3, Informative)