'Vampire' Squirrel Has World's Fluffiest Tail 54

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @02:04AM from the in-the-dead-of-night-squirrel-bites dept.

sciencehabit (1205606) writes Few scientists have ever seen the rare tufted ground squirrel (Rheithrosciurus macrotis), which hides in the hilly forests of Borneo, but it is an odd beast. It's twice the size of most tree squirrels, and it reputedly has a taste for blood. Now, motion-controlled cameras have revealed another curious fact. The 35-centimeter-long rodent has the bushiest tail of any mammal compared with its body size.

'Vampire' Squirrel Has World's Fluffiest Tail

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Vampire Squirrel Overlords (Score:5, Funny)

by Hallucienda ( 893346 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @02:25AM (#47357927)

I for one welcome our new Vampire Squirrel overlords.

- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by Anonymous Coward writes:
  
  they're so FLUFFY!
  - Re: (Score:3)
    
    by Rei ( 128717 ) writes:
    
    Given that their automated camera happened to snap pictures of an adorable-looking but viscious killer squirrel, did it also happen to also snap a picture an evil jester, a whiny prince, or at least someone eating a fish cream sandwich?
    - Re: (Score:3)
      
      by azav ( 469988 ) writes:
      
      Everyone knows that the jungle is not natural habitat of evil jesters.
      Duh.
      - Re: (Score:2)
        
        by LifesABeach ( 234436 ) writes:
        
        I think we have a new candidate for an IgNobel?
    - Re: Vampire Squirrel Overlords (Score:3)
      
      by jd2112 ( 1535857 ) writes:
      
      Or a woolly mammoth, a sloth, and a saber toothed tiger.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by azav ( 469988 ) writes:
  
  I, for one, welcome our new vampire squirrel overlords.
  FTFY
- Re: (Score:3)
  
  by Alorelith ( 118865 ) writes:
  
  Aha...Joss Whedon is not a genius. It turns out he just plagiarized his ideas from Fluffy the Vampire Slayer :(
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by azav ( 469988 ) writes:
  
  My 100% heterosexual and male marine biology degree wishes to contest your postulation.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Anubis IV ( 1279820 ) writes:
  
  https://www.linkedin.com/pub/m... [linkedin.com]
  She provides plenty of reasons for the research there. Moreover, the article says nothing about the Smithsonian paying for this research. She just happens to be a world expert on these squirrels and is working there, likely because they have a collection of preserved specimens that she is using in her studies. Given that the Smithsonian is providing their collection of preserved specimens from this species for her research, I wouldn't be surprised if what the universities an
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by thunderbird32 ( 1138071 ) writes:
  
  Fair enough, but if you get to pull out of funding the Smithsonian, I get to withhold my tax dollars from military spending.
Time to remake and update (Score:2)

by future assassin ( 639396 ) writes:

Gonads and Strife https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] with this new Squampire
- Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Rei ( 128717 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @06:00AM (#47358541) Homepage
  
  Quit your yappin. When I was your age, we used a wood-burning Slashdot. Old Tindery, we called it. Of course, back in those days, we didn't have the internet, we had to connect to it with a couple pieces of copper wire and some old fishing line, which back in those days was known as "trout twine". You could pick up a coil of trout twine and a shiny red apple for a nickel down at Bailey's Drug, but there was a nickel shortage due to the war, so I had to use five red cents which I got from picking a barrel full of cucumbers down in Birchton. "Greeny Sausages", we called them. I could eat a greeny sausage all day. Maybe two, but never three, because then my aunt would give me a whooping with her hickory switch for being greedy. And oh, you don't want to see Aunt Margie's hickory switch. It was a mule's leg in length and made of the most knotty hickory a lad ever did see...
  
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by Muad'Dave ( 255648 ) writes:
    
    You sound like the "Grumpy Old Man" [thebigshow.com] character on "The John Boy and Billy Big Show".
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by frank_adrian314159 ( 469671 ) writes:
    
    Did you wear an onion on your belt, too? Or was that just the fashion up around Springfield [imdb.com]?
- Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by agentgonzo ( 1026204 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @06:10AM (#47358573)
  
  It's in the science section. It's news about science. Slashdot is more than just maths and computers. Science is more than just Physics.
  
News for Nerds... (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward writes:

I guess we have to discuss any way we can of getting a little tail.

Its not like it comes easy for us.
Hmm, let me guess... (Score:3, Funny)

by alexhs ( 877055 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @02:50AM (#47358039) Homepage Journal

Hmm, let me guess...
News for nutters, stuff that squeaks?

- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) writes:
  
  Hmm, let me guess...
  News for nutters, stuff that squeaks?
  There are options for you. You can block what you don't want.
  It's News for Nerds, not News for computer programmers only.
I shall hold off on my usual rational comments. (Score:4, Funny)

by queazocotal ( 915608 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @03:05AM (#47358083)

Fulffffffffffffffffffffffffffeh!

Holy Crap!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

by quantaman ( 517394 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @03:29AM (#47358145)

Local legends suggest that Rheithrosciurus, which is thought to mostly eat giant acorns, can be savage. Hunters say that the squirrels will perch on low branches, jump onto a deer, gash its jugular vein, and disembowel the carcass. "It sounds pretty fantastical," says a skeptical Roland Kays, a zoologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. "Even more than its fluffy tail."
This sounds far too awesome to be fact checked.

- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Thanshin ( 1188877 ) writes:
  
  Clearly none of the deer lived to tell the tale.
So fluffy (Score:5, Funny)

by Shadyman ( 939863 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @03:40AM (#47358199) Homepage

Squirrel with huge, fluffy tail and a taste for blood?

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

- Re: So fluffy (Score:1)
  
  by Anonymous Coward writes:
  
  He vants to suck your nuts!
Hey look, a squirrel (Score:3, Funny)

by Jonathan Hart ( 2984995 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @05:05AM (#47358415)

In a forest in Borneo, a small group encounters a surprisingly large squirrel with an exceedingly bushy tail. It is grooming itself. 1: "Its soooo cute." 2: "Hey look... Another one." 3: Looking tense, he firmly grasps 2's shoulder, and in a muted growl, "Look in the trees." The camera pans up and around showing what could be thousands of squirrels perched on branches in and around the small group. The squirrels stare at the group motionlessly. The camera starts to slowly back up and away from the scene, and just as the squirrels become difficult to individually distinguish, they descend in brown furry waves upon the hapless group, whose screams scare up a number of birds from a distance tree.

- Re: (Score:3)
  
  by Megane ( 129182 ) writes:
  
  I *warned* you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you *knew*, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little *squirrel*, isn't it?
World's fluffiest tail (Score:2)

by azav ( 469988 ) writes:

Oh yeah, finally some real science.
R.O.U.S.'s (Score:5, Funny)

by PrescriptionWarning ( 932687 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @07:46AM (#47359015)

Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist...

I'm warning you! (Score:2)

by nitehawk214 ( 222219 ) writes:

He's got huge, sharp... er... He can leap about. Look at the bones!
When you go to Borneo... (Score:2)

by tomhath ( 637240 ) writes:

...be sure to bring the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
It's the Cuteacabra. (Score:4, Funny)

by ScentCone ( 795499 ) writes: on Tuesday July 01, 2014 @08:25AM (#47359337)

'nuff said.

Fluffy the Vampire Squirrel Hunter (Score:2)

by Nyder ( 754090 ) writes:

New series on the WB coming to you this fall:
Fluffy the Vampire Squirrel Hunter.
Join Fluffy and her team of misfits battle the increasing population of Vampire Squirrels.
Ya, sorry, I know it's stupid, I'm out of weed currently.
It's no match (Score:2)

by jpellino ( 202698 ) writes:

for the San Acitos Dirt Shrew.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by iggymanz ( 596061 ) writes:
  
  they're extinct, the hoop snakes would run them over, then eat them

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'Vampire' Squirrel Has World's Fluffiest Tail 54

'Vampire' Squirrel Has World's Fluffiest Tail More Login

'Vampire' Squirrel Has World's Fluffiest Tail

Vampire Squirrel Overlords (Score:5, Funny)

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Re: Vampire Squirrel Overlords (Score:3)

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Time to remake and update (Score:2)

Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)

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Re:Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:5, Insightful)

News for Nerds... (Score:1)

Hmm, let me guess... (Score:3, Funny)

Re: (Score:2)

I shall hold off on my usual rational comments. (Score:4, Funny)

Holy Crap!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

Re: (Score:2)

So fluffy (Score:5, Funny)

Re: So fluffy (Score:1)

Hey look, a squirrel (Score:3, Funny)

Re: (Score:3)

World's fluffiest tail (Score:2)

R.O.U.S.'s (Score:5, Funny)

I'm warning you! (Score:2)

When you go to Borneo... (Score:2)

It's the Cuteacabra. (Score:4, Funny)

Fluffy the Vampire Squirrel Hunter (Score:2)

It's no match (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

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