Ancient Megadrought Entombed Dodos In Poisonous Fecal Cocktail 55
sciencehabit writes: Nine hundred kilometers off the east coast of Madagascar lies the tiny island paradise of Mauritius. The waters are pristine, the beaches bright white, and the average temperature hovers between 22C and 28C (72F to 82F) year-round. But conditions there may not have always been so idyllic. A new study suggests that about 4000 years ago, a prolonged drought on the island left many of the native species, such as dodo birds and giant tortoises, dead in a soup of poisonous algae and their own feces.
Poisonous Fecal Cocktail? (Score:4, Funny)
Possibly do to low repeat sales...
Re: (Score:2)
That's not something you hear often...
...but you know what? ....it works.
Re:Poisonous Fecal Cocktail? (Score:4, Funny)
That's not something you hear often...
...but you know what? ....it works.
Especially as the name of a rock band.
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Does the bartender...uh...'prepare' it right in front of you?
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Does the bartender...uh...'prepare' it right in front of you?
That could set flare bartending competition back years...
On the upside sales of Clorox Wipes would skyrocket!
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The title is clickbait, if ever I saw it.
Re:Poisonous Fecal Cocktail? (Score:5, Funny)
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"That's not something you hear often..."
You've never spent much time around furries, I'd wager!
Oh shit (Score:1, Funny)
No further comments are necessary.
In other words (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In other words (Score:4, Funny)
The dodo was in doodoo.
Reminds me of my place of employment (Score:4, Interesting)
It all fits: From the outside, an idyllic travel brochure-worthy prospectus. On the inside, lots of soon-to-be-extinct beings poisoning their drinking water with their own shit, too dumb to move off the known path, trapping themselves.
Now just waiting for the Dutch to help them out of their misery.
All metaphorically speaking, of course.
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Sounds like a good thing to look at, with respect to our planet remaining inhabitable. We wont save the planet with fewer plastic bags, but, we can make it uninhabitable by doing stupid things in the name of progress. Yeah.. many things were out of the dodos control, but we fancy ourselves higher on the capabilities list. With that comes responsibility to envision the results of our actions. +1 for all Civil Engineers.
"The xxxx in yyyy years" (Score:5, Insightful)
Humans remember about thirty years back. Anything that's different today from thirty years ago we feel to be "unnatural". Most processes on earth work over much longer time scales than that - while still being completely natural.
The holocene, our current interglacial, is ~12000 years old. During that time the climate has both been a lot warmer (the Holocene optimum) as well as a lot colder (the Little Ice Age) than now. What we don't really know is how the climate has changed regionally during these thousands of years. We have some insight (the Sahara desert was a lush savannah around 8000 years ago) and there's a lot of research into how the rise and fall of civilizations might be correlated with natural regional climate changes much more than the popular image portrayed by, for example, Jared Diamond.
We do have written records from the last 2000 years (se the linked PDF). It's fascinating read into how heat waves, droughts, extremely cold winters and hot summers etc have affected our forefathers in a way I think we have problems grasping today. If anything, it seems the climate has been unnaturally stable over the last century - even including the famous dustbowl in the US.
http://www.breadandbutterscien... [breadandbu...cience.com]
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Denialist propaganda funded by Big Oil.
[citation needed]
overwhelming consensus
Ah, I see. No sense arguing with consensus reality. Remember that the overwhelming consensus was once that the earth was flat, and anything that went against that consensus was "denialist propaganda".
I don't consider myself to be a "denier" per se, but I can't stand uncited allegations from either side of the debate, especially since one side seems to think they have some kind of moral authority. There is no such thing in science.
Ah, Poe's Law! (Score:2)
And you got some folks with it, too.
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"Offtopic", moderators? It's the most on topic post in the whole thread.
Dodos are us! (Score:3, Interesting)
I've heard that Dodos were delicious. I'm for getting them unextincted and setting up a fast food chain. Gotta think of a good name though, something catchy.
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A box of dodo nuggets, small fries and a shake, please.
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How about PFC chicken?
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How about PFC chicken?
I guess that would be MFC = Mauritius Fried Chicken. Hopefully it tastes more like chicken than chicken does.
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Popplers.
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I've heard that Dodos were delicious. I'm for getting them unextincted and setting up a fast food chain. Gotta think of a good name though, something catchy.
Actually, no [quora.com] they weren't! Apparently thy were killed by dogs more than people for meant. And we all know that dogs will eat just about anything...
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which they called Walghstocks or Wallowbirdes being very good meat.
I read that passage a few times. Methinks that after a few days eating the 'very good meat' they got sick of it.
Here is another source:
"These we used to call 'Walghvogel', for the reason that the longer and oftener they were cooked, the less soft and more insipid eating they became. Nevertheless their belly and breast were of a pleasant flavour and easily masticated."
However "Some early travellers found dodo meat unsavoury, and preferred to eat parrots and pigeons, others described it as tough but good. Some hunted dodos only for their gizzards, as this was considered the most delicious part of the bird. Dodos were easy to catch, but hunters had to be careful not to be bitten by their powerful beaks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Apparently they were long lived - up to 21 years, so finding and eating a younger fowl may be the way to go, especially if they don't eat fish/crustaceans.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
California (Score:3, Funny)
AKA California in ten years.
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Kinds of sounds like Washington DC now, particularly Capitol Hill.
Best headline... (Score:2)
Interesting translation of Lagerstätte (Score:3)
Cocktail? (Score:2)
I wonder if the use of the word "cocktail" in the title was deliberate.
Very heartening to know this. (Score:3)
Bummer (Score:1)
So when my dad said: "You're in deep shit, you'll end like the dodos." he was right?
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Comment Subject: (Score:1)
Mauritius is the site of the "underwater waterfall [scienceblogs.com]", a beautiful optical illusion caused by the sand and water currents.
It didn't last long (Score:2)
Not my fault! (Score:2)
I didn't do it. I swear.
The best ever Slashdot headline? (Score:1)
I think so!
Title forcefully reminds me (Score:2)