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)
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beast , Any animal other than a human (Score:1, Insightful)
for some reason you're assuming beast has a different meaning
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That's no vontsira, that's a water fox.
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That's no vontsira. It's a space station.
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:5, Funny)
I don't usually complain about the summaries (because I know they're all bad) but this one was a real disappointment to me. Carnivorous swamp beast?? I'm looking for this bad boy [travelpod.com]. But no, it's just a little cute furry guy, a little irate because someone is holding him by the throat. I would be irate too. OK, I know it's news, but such a disappointment.
If it was a slashdotter vs that cute little guy, I'd put money on the beaver like thing. You're forgetting what years of living in a basement does to muscle. To most of us that is a BEAST.
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:4, Funny)
I don't usually complain about the summaries (because I know they're all bad) but this one was a real disappointment to me. Carnivorous swamp beast?? I'm looking for this bad boy. But no, it's just a little cute furry guy, a little irate because someone is holding him by the throat. I would be irate too. OK, I know it's news, but such a disappointment. If it was a slashdotter vs that cute little guy, I'd put money on the beaver like thing. You're forgetting what years of living in a basement does to muscle. To most of us that is a BEAST.
I think the average slahdotter living in his basement would have no problem choking something of the size of a small rodent...
I tried to resist but it was just too easy. I feel like I should also state I live in a basement, post on slashdot and have a girlfriend... ;-)
S.
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:5, Funny)
Haha...Palmela Handerson?
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I don't usually complain about the summaries (because I know they're all bad) but this one was a real disappointment to me.
But you aren't even complaining about the summary, you're complaining about the title.
If you'd read the summary you wouldn't have been disappointed by the pictures because of the following.
mongoose-like creature
roughly the size of a cat.
So stop complaining about the summary when you didn't even read the summary.
Also, heh. The captcha was "retorts".
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be careful about describing a previously unknown carnivore as cute. It might have been unknown because nobody met one before, but it could be because nobody who met one lived to tell about it.
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...
Have you, uh, looked at the pictures of it in the article?
Re:I don't usually complain about summaries (Score:4, Funny)
On a side note: is copy paste somehow destroyed on
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I agree that rabbit should generally not be part of a trifle. That said, it's originally a British dish, so who knows.
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Are there those that call you ... "Tim"?
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copy paste seems to be destroyed for chrome on linux at least for me.
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I will give you my mom's siamese to hold.
It is roughly the same size, is very old for a cat (17y), frail, slow and has terminal cancer.
Wanna try? I am happy to call the ambulance afterwards.
Never judgde a creature solely by its size. That is a very fine set of fangs and razorblades I see there...
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I caught a cute little possum by the tail when I was a kid, it was a mistake I won't make again!
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Indeed. Anyone who considers something the size of a cat not dangerous, has never tried to bathe a cat.
I tried. Once. He is 23lbs of gentle, loving, lazy tomcat with a permanent dander problem. That was five years and some odd months ago. I still have scars. I have the section of denim jeans I was wearing, that he tore four ragged six inch rips in (and the flesh underneath, 20 stitches). He didn't bite me, wasn't even after me in any serious manner, he just wanted to get the hell out of
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Looks can be deceiving. The beast guarding the Cave of Kyle Banor in The Holy Grail was furry and cute, too.
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As long as we're picking nits, it's not new. It's just new to us. It's probably been around as long as, or longer than, we have.
Also dissapointed... (Score:2)
"Carnivorous swamp beast"... Oh, come on! I was expecting something close to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal and all I go is a groundhog with better dental hygiene and a temper...
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R.O.U.S. (Score:3, Funny)
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More like a Rodent Of Usual Size. It's not much larger than a rat. :P
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I don't believe they exist.
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.
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Indeed... it seems closer to an otter (non rodent) than a beaver (rodent).
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It's not even classified as a Musteloidea. According to the Wikipedia article, the Salanoia durrelli is from a completely different family [wikipedia.org], endemic to only Madagascar. If you look careful at the teeth, you'll see they don't resemble Musteloidea in the least.
Poor thing looks absolutely terrified.
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quote: Poor thing looks absolutely terrified.
It's not scruffed and the person is holding the feet up. If that animal were unhappy (like some of my ferrets get) there would be some serious blood from bites and claw rips.
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The look of this creature is very similar to that of a badger or a wolverine - I'd not be surprised if it were related.
It also has a tail and shares a lot of characteristics with the lemur; I wonder if it might not be related to the lemur and have a marsupial heritage?
Depending on its age, it may be young (ie not full grown). It looks like a younger creature.
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Obviously it's a Rodent Of Unusual Size.
So is your mom.
Re:R.O.U.S. (Score:5, Funny)
Look, which is a more sensible size for a Carnivorous Swamp Beast? "Roughly the size of a cat", or "roughly the size of a car"?
I can get a poet to testify under oath if necessary.
Re:R.O.U.S. (Score:5, Funny)
Roughly the size of Cthulhu.
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Roughly the size of Cthulhu.
But Cthulhu can change size at will...
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Carnivorous swamp beasts often make a very good meal of visiting tourists.
FTFY
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Carnivorous swamp beasts often make a very good meal of forty visiting tourists.
FTFY
FTFY
and then... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:and then... (Score:5, Insightful)
it went extinct.
Oh come on, that's not trolling. The creature in question lives in a single lake. The land around the lake, which used to be heavy forest has been cut down. This now causes all the soil to get dumped into the lake whenever it rains. Even this article itself said that so much soil has been dumped into the lake that during the dry season, the level of water drops to a depth of 2 feet!
The comment there isn't a -Troll. It is merely prematurely +Informative.
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The land around the lake, which used to be heavy forest has been cut down.
The land has been cut down? Weird
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.
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Which is it? Or is it both? (Score:3, Interesting)
Durrell's vontsira is the first new carnivorous mammal discovered in Madagascar in 24 years.
Elsewhere in the article, twice, is this:
The first new carnivorous mammal to be discovered for 24 years
Was the last carnivorous mammal that was discovered, discovered 24 years ago in Madagascar? I don't know about anyone else, but I would infer from the qualifier "in Madagascar" that a carnivorous mammal was discovered less than 24 years ago somewhere else in the world.
Re:Which is it? Or is it both? (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess they assume that having written "in Madagascar" once, you would understand the point and they would not need to keep repeating it. OTOH, why pass up an opportunity for being unnecessarily pedantic.
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We're all vulnerable to pedantic jerks, so let's all just start letting some crap slide.
First things first (Score:4, Insightful)
what does it taste like?
Re:First things first (Score:5, Informative)
Chicken.
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Re:First things first (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First things first (Score:4, Insightful)
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Tuna tastes pretty good to me. Lots of other reasons for not eating it all that often, though.
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I'd not be surprised if it tastes like pork, which tastes like cat, bear, and beaver (of type rodentia - the other kind tastes like fish).
Quite possibly, it has a stringy, dark meat which is bitter unless stewed (and then becomes quite savory).
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Doubtful. Carnivorous animals tend to taste awful.
Many of the fish species that we eat are carnivores though
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what does it taste like?
It probably tastes, like whatever it ate.
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Had Charles Darwin discovered the animal, he'd probably have tried it. (ref [google.co.uk]).
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They've just started playing the Goodies again here in Australia. I'm hanging out for the Dodo episode :)
We are so quick to label it a 'beast' (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:We are so quick to label it a 'beast' (Score:4, Funny)
20-fingered
Inbreed much? :)
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The...'beast'...has most probably NEVER encountered humans before...
I wouldn't say so, as this region is quite populated. I bet that this species was already well known amongst local natives, but simply not to our scientists.
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.
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In some languages toe [wikipedia.org] uses same noun as finger. 10 fingers + 10 toes = 20.
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8 fingers + 2 thumbs + 10 toes = 20 digits
Fixed.
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.
species (Score:1)
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Maybe they can bomb it with the collectives crop duster.
Sjezus Christ! (Score:2)
Nessie (Score:1)
See .... the lochness monster is not that improbable ...
I was hoping.... (Score:3, Funny)
It seems very nervous in the pictures. (Score:3, Funny)
Did they try wrapping towels around their heads to calm it down?
New film anyone (Score:2, Funny)
Madagascar 4 the wild beast of the lake - a homecoming story.
Its head looks a bit weasel-like (Score:2)
Minus the ears.
Explanatory You Tube Link (Score:1)
For those who didn't get the reference above to Jozin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aqM_wu6Ns [youtube.com]
Debianicus Ice Weaselius (Score:2)
Endangered Lake??? (Score:1, Funny)
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A critter with only one living individual left isn't endangered, it's functionally extinct.
Is it Old Greg? (Score:2)
I imagine that whatever this is, it must be Old Greg [youtube.com].
He doesn't like people playin' in his waters. He's gonna hurt you, he likes you, what do you think of him? Don't lie to him boy!
He knows what you're thinking, he's Old Greg, he's a scaly man fish!
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.
Size of a cat? (Score:2)
Dang. Reading the summary, I was all excited until they ruined it at the end by revealing that it was only "the size of a cat." Mondays are filled with disappointment.
There are cats and there are cats (Score:2)
they are talking about cats overseas which weigh 6 to 10 lbs not those supersize 20 lb cats that live in the usa.
Im not talking about the superfat overfed cats in the US im talking about the generally larger breeds here in the US. The domestic
cat breeds in Africa and asia tend to be quite a bit smaller and slender.
When the article says that animal is as large as a cat, they mean a smaller african domestic cat.
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One other thing might be contributing greatly - this is an aquatic animal. Cats are furry; they become much slender and smaller when totally soaked.
Good news, everyone! (Score:2)
It lives only in Madagascar, so no matter how nasty it is, it will be extinct in ten years.
Another reason... (Score:2)
Hell... (Score:2, Funny)
And in this slide.. (Score:2)
We have a close-up of a feature of the animals jaw we call the "durellitzer" after the late Gerard Durrell. *shudder* poor man.
New Carnivorous Beast Discovered? (Score:4, Funny)
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Chuck Norris
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* Bandwidth of Optical Fibers
* Transistors based on Graphene
* New Display Technology
* New Input Devices
* Image Recognitions Techniques
* Encryption Algorithms
* Computer-powered Mathematics
* Computer-powered Physics
* New Processor Designs
* Laser technology (data transmission)
* Integrated Optics
* Magnetic (and optical) storage
* Solar Cells and other alternative energies
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Not one of those things should be under the 'Science' heading, which is what the question was in reference to. Besides, just because the only subject you care about is technology doesn't mean that biology isn't interesting science to a lot of other people. Discovering a carnivorous mammal for the first time is quite rare, as the article says, the last time it happened was 24 years ago.
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And, btw, it was the first time in 24 years in Madagaskar that they found a new carnivore (at least according to the summary). So it may not be as rare an event considering how many countries and islands there are around the globe...
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All of the listed areas practically didn't exist a mere century ago, most not really even half of that time (and some can be easily looked at more as areas of engineering)
I didn't realize science was such a young thing...
An example of a newfound beast which will be soon extinct, prompting is (perhaps... slightly...) to take a closer look at holocene extinction event - a very transformative thing - is decently notable.
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Hm, so not only humans in the US are overfed...