Giant Raptor Terrorizes Alaskan Village

An anonymous reader writes "A giant raptor, rumored to have a wingspan of 14 feet, has been spotted by a number of Alaskans in the general vicinity of Manokotak. There is speculation that the beast could be a Steller's sea eagle, but Phil Schempf, of the Fish and Wildlife Service, is dubious: He says that no creature that large has flown in more than 100,000 years. Read about it in this Anchorage Daily News article, which notes that residents have been warned to keep their children indoors."

Taste like chicken.

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

Man...just the idea of 13 foot wing span makes my lips start to twitch. UMMM....wings....hot sauce...FIRE UP THE GRILL!!!

Re:Taste like chicken.

[monthos]

How does people finding this funny relate to the extinction of animals.... do you really think someone is going to see that post and go,

OHH NOW THATS WHAT I WANT FOR DINNER!

i doubt it, it was a joke, everyone see's it as a funny comment that has no real meaning, except for you of coarse. lighten up pal, for your own good

Re:Taste like chicken.

[Anonymous Coward]

This thing eats babies. Maybe it's a result of evolution that those who think too long about killing animals which devour their offspring are not the majority of people.

kid eating bird

[uncoveror]

When I was a little kid, three or four years old, my Aunt Lucy told me to stop crying, or the giant kid eating bird would hear me, and then I was done for. I was terrified for over a week. I was such a basket case that my Grandpa had to go outside with his shotgun, and pretend to shoot the kid eating bird, which he claimed was in a tree in the front yard. I am dismayed to learn that this ratptor from hell actually exists!

Re:Taste like chicken.

[ceejayoz]

I think we need a sense of humor transplant here, stat!

Sheesh... go into your preferences [slashdot.org] and set Funny moderations to -6, then you won't have to see funny things again on Slashdot.

Re:Taste like chicken.

[TechnoGrl]

Thank you for the funny modifier hint!!!!!!!
It *was* getting tedious - I took your advice

Re:Taste like chicken.

[Baikala]

You stole that sig from a ThinkGeek shirt!
shame on you!

Re:Taste like chicken.

[monthos]

yes i did becouse the quote rocks

Re:Taste like chicken.

[jericho4.0]

did the 'thinkgeek' type word after the quote tip you off??

Re:Taste like chicken.

[hatchet]

We kill mosquitos because they are pests
We kill chickens because we are hungry
We kill lions because it's fun
We kill humans because they are pests...
... and because it's fun!
by George Carlin

Re:Taste like chicken.

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

Your kidding right? I guess saying that I was thinking some Manetee jerky would be good the other day is wrong also.

I am sure I am going straight to hell for that one.....weeeee.

damn hippies...

[Cyno01]

save a plant, eat a cow

Re:Taste like chicken.

[Baikala]

Bah! It's only a promo for the next lord of the rings movie.
Next week news:
"In a follow up of the giant eagle sightings. A climber claims to have seen a black rider on top of the bad-ass bird"

Why don't birds taste like chicken?

[Valdrax]

Isn't it funny -- you ever notice that other bird meats don't taste like chicken? I mean, duck doesn't taste like chicken. Quail doesn't taste like chicken. Turkey doesn't taste like chicken. Ostrich doesn't even resemble chicken.

I'm thinking that chicken just tastes like reptile.

Move along people, nothing to see here..

[tedDancin]

.. it's just our friend Steve Ballmer practising his new conference routine.

obviously...

[prw404]

It got frozen during the last ice age. Lucky for it global warming thawed it out...

Heard it all before

[jeblucas]

Sounds [washington.edu] familiar... [100megsfree4.com] Don't it? [fiu.edu]

Invest in some skepticism.

Okay

[0x0d0a]

Invest in some skepticism.

Fair enough.

"In our next story, the economic downturn hasn't been affecting everyone. Manokotak, a tiny village [state.ak.us] in Alaska has been experiencing a huge tourism boom, after villages reported sightings of a "fucking huge, pterodactyl-like beast". Asked whether he feels the creature will show itself soon to any tourists, the village mayor responded, "Sure, and you can make your chances even better by investing in a pair of official Manokotak beast-spotting binoculars. And perhaps you'd prefer to do your watching through the enormous plate-glass windows of our comfortable beast-themed Manokotak restauraunt."

Claims that the beast is a hoax have been violently rejected by villages. One man said, "That's stupid. Who would have anything to gain in making up a story about a giant bird?"

I am completely speculating here...

[krinsh]

but could we have ourselves a Godzilla-movie-like event? Could something have been frozen, or trapped inside a cave or mountain or underground cavern with a liveable ecosystem and now is suddenly exposed to the outside? Its reaction may be because of the light or the feeling its territory is being encroached upon. I will contradict myself twice - if it were an earth-dweller it would have likely evolved like other creatures do and not have any wings; and even I think it is not likely that the stuff of 50s science fiction would appear in real life outside of a hoax; but you never know. (shout out to the Fish and Wildlife Service though they did me wrong the EIGHT years I slaved for them)

Re:I am completely speculating here...

[ceejayoz]

but could we have ourselves a Godzilla-movie-like event? Could something have been frozen, or trapped inside a cave or mountain or underground cavern with a liveable ecosystem and now is suddenly exposed to the outside?

No.

Dammit Scully!

[kvn299]

What is it going to take to make you believe!?

Re:I am completely speculating here...

[MartianKillerBarbies]

It's Rodan! [rodansroost.com]

11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatross

[Bob Bitchen]

Diomedea exulans has the largest wingspan, capable
of spending several months aloft hunting the ocean
and never touching land. They don't weigh as much as the Steller's but they are big. But they are
exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere. Maybe one got very lost. Possibly blown off course by a hurricane. Maybe the russians have been busy with genetic experimentation. Or perhaps it's a Chernobyl migrant.

Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros

[Theom]

Maybe the russians have been busy with genetic experimentation.

Or the chinise or the USA.

Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros

[Cyno01]

maybe we've expanded our GM foods research from just veggies, great, now i have to worry about humongous chickens

Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros

[tid242]

Yea except the Albatross isn't the same color as a Bald Eagle AFAI've heard...

Although if someone kills it to see what it is, and it is in fact an Albatross, they'll have bad luck...

-tid242

Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros

[taphu]

Possibly blown off course by a hurricane.

heh. blown 10000 miles off course? that's one heck of a hurricane. :)

Giant bird HOWTO:

[Unknown Poltroon]

1: Feed pigeon massive steroid doses.
2:
3: Big assed bird!!!

Re:Giant bird HOWTO:

[miller701]

What, no profit???

Big Pigeons and the economy

[0x0d0a]

I'd say that making profit with a giant, pumped up pigeon is about as plausible as the .com business strategies.

Re:Giant bird HOWTO:

[Bodhammer]

Can you imagine a Beowolf cluster of these things? (sorry...)

profit!!!

[klparrot]

1: Feed pigeon massive steroid doses.
2:
3: Big assed bird!!!
4: ???
5: Profit!!!

The end is near!

[Anonymous Coward]

The top of the food chain no longer belongs to mankind! Pray! Repent!

Re:The end is near!

[Penguinoflight]

ACK! no more fried chicken!

Re:The end is near!

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

The top of the food chain no longer belongs to mankind!
No worries, mate. We haven't been on the top of the chain for a while.
Pray! Repent!
Methinks you mean: "Repent, prey!"

Re:The end is near!

[dasunt]

There was a very large eagle that was native to New Zealand. It used to pray on the large flightless birds. Tended to break their legs and their necks.

When humanity arrived, the bird went extinct. However, it might have been self defense. After all, from a bird's perspective, what's the difference between a large flightless bipedal mammal and a large flightless bipedal bird? Especially when both die when you break their neck?

Just my 2 zorkmids,
Dasunt

Easy

[Hektor_Troy]

The flightless bipedal mammal, that will hunt you down, kill your offspring and try to make you extinct if you hunt it is NOT, repeat NOT, the smartest thing to hunt - not if you're interested in your species' survival ...

Now - we just need to tell this to the rest of humanity.

Raptor

[Cyno01]

i know it means bird of prey, but did anyone else think of this [nhm.ac.uk] when they read the headline about a giant raptor?

Re:Raptor

[monthos]

thats how i read it at first, then after i checked the date making sure its not april first, i actually read the article and said "ooohh"

Re:Raptor

[p3d0]

I was thinking more like this [nba.com].

Manokotak

[rehannan]

Visit the Alaska Community Database for more info on Manokotak [state.ak.us] (including a better location map).

The solution to this problem....

[mshiltonj]

This is how I'd deal with the problem: Listen [aol.com]

Alternate link

[Foss]

More here (in case it gets slashdotted) - http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BIGBIR D-10-15-02&cat=AN [knoxstudio.com]

Re:Alternate link

[Some Guy]

Or here [nwsource.com].

Or a short one here [ananova.com].

more alternate links (damn slashdot)

[diesel_jackass]

(yay news.google!)

Southwest Alaskans say bird is the size of a small plane [nwsource.com]
Seattle Post Intelligencer,WA
A super-sized bird in Alaska [knoxstudio.com]-Scripps Howard News Service
Raptor-like bird spotted in Alaska [ananova.com]-Ananova
Southwest Alaskans say bird is the size of a small plane [peninsulaclarion.com]-Kenai Peninsula

Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot)

[diesel_jackass]

Here is a site with some pics of a stellar's eagle:

http://www.muratasystem.or.jp/~dbjack/nbirds.htm [muratasystem.or.jp]

Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot)

[diesel_jackass]

here's a good article on them:

http://www.nwf.org/internationalwildlife/2000/seae agso.html [nwf.org]

Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot)

[diesel_jackass]

Important Stuff:
...

Try to reply to other people comments instead of starting new threads.
...

Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot)

[GregWebb]

Southwest Alaskans say bird is size of a small plane?

OK, has anyone been observed looking up at the sky and asking 'Is it a bird? Is it a plane?'

Sorry...

Actually they'd say

[Hektor_Troy]

Is it a plane? Is it SuperMan? No! It's a BIRD!

When Raptors Fly!!

[blandthrax]

IANAP (i am not a paleotologist) but last time I checked, raptors didn't fly. Granted my knowledge of raptors is limited to Jurrasic Park movies and BBC specials but c'mon. Regardless of whether it actually looks like a raptor it would most likely resemble a pterodactyl since it has that massive wingspan and, oh yeah, it flies.

Re:When Raptors Fly!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, stop believing what you see in movies.

A dictionary [dict.org] is sometimes useful.

raptor n : any of numerous carnivorous birds that hunt and kill other animals [syn: bird of prey, raptorial bird]

Re:When Raptors Fly!!

[tpv]

Moderation Totals: Informative=1,

Hello? McFly?
The only thing "informative" about this post is that it shows us that people posting to slashdot

1. don't read the damn article
2. think that TV + Movies provide useful information
3. need to invest in a dictionary

And we all knew that already!
Informative, my arse.

Re:When Raptors Fly!!

[0x0d0a]

He gets an Informative tag, but no Funny?

The raptor ate my baby!

[Darth Pondo]

eom

It's Big Bird

[Anonymous Coward]

So says the Chicken Lady --

"No, but I want to meet him, because the bearded lady says they call him Big Bird cause he's got a really big---"

Re:It's Big Bird

[diesel_jackass]

hahaha!
(I know, I know, -1 Offtopic, I'll take it)

"Like those eggs? I made them myself! ...Right out of my body and onto your plate!"

What if...

[Anonymous Coward]

...it isn't a live bird at all?

Ok, I'll put on the tinfoil hat and ponder crazy things:

In the past couple years someone made a model pterodactyl that flew. Add a camera and a(nother?) radio and you might have an interesting unmanned spy craft. You'd have to test this someplace before deployment of course... and if it scared people away from it might be better yet. (Though if it was too different/big it could attract attention... but then that is also useful - it can distract from something as well.)

Re:What if...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh come on!

Before anything like that could happen we'd have to be living in a country country where our privacy rights were routinely ignored, where our government would lose total trust in the public and begin trampling their civil rights to proactively stop crime, and where the Armed Forces would begin using their intelligence assets to observe our own public.

Oh wait...

Oh yeah ...

[freek_daddy]

.. the first rule of aerial surveillance is to make yourself look like a huge flying lizard. That's also why you saw all those CIA guys in Afghanistan dressed up in the Tyranasaur suits.

Incidentally, I assume you're talking about the 18-foot pterodactyl captured in the IMAX film On the Wing [imax.com] in 1986. It was built by Paul McReady [mit.edu], who also built the Gossamer Condor, the world's first human-powered aircraft.

You can buy (somewhat) similar models here [randrmodelaircraft.com]

Wesley Willis sang about this giant raptor...

[John Biggabooty]

The Chicken Cow by Wesley Willis

This beast comes out when it is 25 degrees below zero
It can rip your head off
It can fly as high as a bird
It can bite your face
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
This beast killed as many as 100,000 people
Its wings can flap like a bird
It can break a glass
It can also stab you in the ass
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
This beast attacked my brother
It stabbed him in the ass while he was in the cold
His hands were frostbitten
His hands were also numb
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
The Chicken Cow
Rock over London, Rock on, Chicago!
Blockbuster Video, wow, what a difference!

Delta flyer

[tsa]

Someone with a modified delta flyer has the time of his life now.

Much Needed Relief

[kvn299]

As a resident of the Washington, DC area and someone who wonders if I'll live long enough to make it to my car after leaving work, I can say I needed a story like this.

Part of me is fascinated that there might be a bird out there this large, another part of me is thinking YEAH -- BRING ON GODZILLA!

Look!

[Dannon]

Look! Up in the sky!

It's a bird!
It's a plane!
No, it's a bird the size of a small plane!

</WeakJoke>

The truth is HERE

[Scaebor]

Our many varied theories over the past have been wrong. All of our studies and science have not yielded the truth. Bigfoot as the cultural myth we know does not exist, for we now have proof that it is not a furry guy in the woods, but rather this creature.

Re:The truth is HERE

[Cyno01]

the most plausible explanation for bigfoot, as well as the skunk ape and the yeti and all the rest, is Gigantopithecus [wynja.com] that crossed over the land bridge from asia

Re:The truth is HERE

[great om]

actually, the most plausible explanation for the yeti and big foot is RMS :)

I belive it

[Perdo]

You only need to see one 300 pound halibut, 2000 pound moose, pumpkin the size of a truck, cabbage that you could roof your house with, ravens 4 feet tall, 30 pound king crab with 6 foot long legs and ouf course foot long buds to belive a story like this. I lived in Alaska 18 years and I do not doubt this one bit.

Everything is bigger there.

Re:I belive it

[Anonymous Coward]

You only need to see one 300 pound halibut, 2000 pound moose, pumpkin the size of a truck, cabbage that you could roof your house with, ravens 4 feet tall, 30 pound king crab with 6 foot long legs and ouf course foot long buds to belive a story like this. I lived in Alaska 18 years and I do not doubt this one bit.

Everything is bigger there.

Stop bragging. My penis is bigger than yours anyway!

Thunderbird

[Jahf]

I don't remember which channel or the name of the program, but awhile back there was a documentary that discussed the Native American legend of the "Thunderbird" that correllated it to reports of a large bird that has supposedly snatched a couple of children in the last few decades.

They theorized that a large bird may have survived extinction, but have extremely few members left alive. The bird was thought to have a wingspan betwen 12 and 20 feet.

Might be the Nessy of the Americas, but it would be interesting to find proof. It sounds to me like these could be the same bird.

Big birds and pink mastadons

[the_skuncle]

I think it's more than just a coincidence that the sighting of this giant bird perfectly coincides with this year's harvest of the world-famous Alaskan Thunderfuck [hempbc.com].

/back

[Lord Omlette]

Citizens demand slashback for this story...

Bird of Jove.

[s0l0m0n]

David Bruce (a pen name for a british falconer named Sam Barnes) wrote a book a number year called 'Bird of Jove.' It's represented as a true account of Sam's experiences with a very large himalyan eagle, Aquila Chrysaetos Daphanea, also called the berkut eagle. Although the authors use of a pen name to write about his own expereinces makes the book seem somewhat fraudulent, a number of respected falconers suggest that it is a true account, although self agrandizing. Mr. Barnes Berkut had a reported wieght of about 26 pounds for a female bird. The California condor has a a body wieght of about 20-24 pounds and a wind span of 9-9.5 feet.. It just doesn't seem that unlikely that there are birds that are slightly larger floating around out in the wilderness of Canada/alaska/russia.

josh

square cube law

[geoswan]

There is a practical limit to the size of animals. Their weight goes up as the cube of their dimensions. But the strength of their bones goes up only by the square of their dimensions. It puts a practical limit on the size of flying creatures.

Isaac Asimove wrote one of his science essays on this. I remember reading it as a kid. I remember he calculated that a winged horse, like Pegasus, would need a wingspan of 200 feet -- just like the Gossamer Condor.

One of the Alaskans compared the mystery bird to a Twin Otter [noaa.gov].

"At first I thought it was one of those old-time Otter planes," Coupchiak said. "Instead of continuing toward me, it banked to the left, and that's when I noticed it wasn't a plane."

The bird was "something huge," he said. "The wing looks a little wider than the Otter's, maybe as long as the Otter plane."

The Otter's wingspan is 65 feet for crying out loud.

Re:square cube law

[Hinkkanen]

He said Otter [aero-web.org], not Twin Otter. Otter is somewhat smaller plane, altough not that much (winspan 58 feet).

Nothing here, move on people

[Tablizer]

It is probably just a UFO with an outdated disguise database.

Never saw this link mentioned

[hether]

International Working Groupfor the Steller's Eagle Conservation or "O-Washi-net"

http://fadr.msu.ru/o-washinet/

Tons of info and pictures of the birds. Though I would think that with the pattern the Steller's Eagles have, they would be easily identifiable.

I think...

[Bob Vila's Hammer]

Alaska has been playing a little too much Warcraft 3.