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Jerry Freeman
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Post by Jerry Freeman »

jim stone wrote:Gertrude wasn't venomous, being a female
platypus, but fickle, and unstable in her
political affiliations. Venom attacking my
pain receptors would be welcome,
after what that duck-billed strumpet
did to me...
I feel your pain, Jim.

Best wishes,
Jerry
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herbivore12
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Post by herbivore12 »

Nano: it's "platypuses". Also, "octopuses", not "octopi". (Actually, I think it's technically "octopodes" and "platypodi" or something, but people will look at you funny -- I mean, more than usual -- if you use those . . .)

Although they may break your heart when they spurn you for the affections of a powerful politician, there's never been a documented human death from a platypus attack, according to my toxins text here, but there are a couple of cases of very, very bad pain ("exquisite pain", is how it's described). A number of dogs killed, though.

There's actually several other venomous mammals aside from the platypus: the solenodon, the slow loris, at least one shrew. There have been a couple deaths reported as possibly due to slow loris bites. I don't know that any human's ever been bitten by a solenodon (they're either very rare or very secretive, or both).

There's even a couple poisonous birds: the pitohui, eurasian quail, and the (extinct) Carolina parakeet.

The world's a dangerous place . . .
Last edited by herbivore12 on Tue Feb 24, 2004 11:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
TelegramSam
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Post by TelegramSam »

What on God's green Earth is a slow loris???

*runs off to Google*
<i>The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.</i>
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glauber
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Post by glauber »

Untamed shrews can be lethal.
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!
--Wellsprings--
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slowair
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Post by slowair »

What on God's green Earth is a slow loris???


I ran off to Goggle too. My God those are about the cutest little creatures I've ever seen.

How come we don't have things like that in this country?

Oh that's right...WE KILL EVERYTHING!!! :sniffle:

Mike
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herbivore12
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Post by herbivore12 »

Here's a pic of a loris doing something interesting:

Image

The loris is the hairy one. The bald thing is the Deputy Director of the Australian Venom Research Unit.

Although the position that loris is in, arms crossed over its head, is incredibly adorable, it's also a warning: it does that to gain ready access to the venom it produces from sebaceous glands on its arms. It takes the venom into its mouth, then delivers it with a bite. Thus those heavy gloves.

That said, when I worked with primates as part of my anthropology degree, there was a loris in San Diego I loved; she'd sit on my arm and snack happily on a banana or a locust. Sometimes, though, I'd have localized itching and irritation where she touched me, presumably from venom traces left on my skin. Really neat animals. Much nicer to work with than the apes or other monkeys (langurs, macaques) I dealt with: those guys were scary and sneaky and mean. A lot like people.
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Post by jim stone »

Herbi, you're back! What a lovely day.
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Post by Nanohedron »

glauber wrote:Untamed shrews can be lethal.
Tell me about it. The divorce nearly killed me.
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herbivore12
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Post by herbivore12 »

Glauber and Nano should have read Shakespeare's manual on taming the creatures *before* their marriages.

Me, I just nod and say "Whatever you like, love," and "*Nothing* could make you look fat, dear." . . .
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Nanohedron
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Post by Nanohedron »

Shrews are bad enough. Jim's reports on his platyputial amours have been most instructive. No monotremes for me!
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Post by Nanohedron »

herbivore12 wrote:("exquisite pain", is how it's described)
This would explain much about our Jimbo.

First, clamps: now this. :D
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