Category: Animals
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Immaculately conceived turkey
BBC Science article on parthenogenesis (virgin birth).
I’ve long-known about Komodo (and other reptile) parthenogenesis but didn’t know it occurred in birds:
Perhaps the best understood ‘virgin’ vertebrate is the common domesticated turkey. In the 1800s, reports started appearing of virgin births among chickens. Then researchers started studying similar events among turkeys, finding that these large fowl could lay unfertilised eggs that produced live young.
The baby turkeys were always male, however, which was put down to a quirk of bird genetics in which male sex chromosomes are dominant. Soon a parthenogenetic strain of the domestic turkey was developed in which most males appeared normal and reproduced successfully.
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Corrections
Some highlights from The year in media errors and corrections:
This post originally quoted photographer Tom Sanders as saying it takes him five years to get on the dance floor. It takes him five beers.
– Slate
– Columbia, S.C. Free-Times Weekly
And possibly the best from The Argus:
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Alpacas and Llamas
Alpaca are kinda like a cross between a sheep, a kitten, and a giraffe. By which I mean they’re furry, friendly, and they have long necks.
Llamas, on the other hand, are apparently like a cross between a sheep, a camel, and Viking berserker. By which I mean they’re furry, they hate you, and they will fucking destroy all things that oppose them.
As it stands, Pat Rothfuss is almost certainly kissing a llama.
(Also raising a shit-ton of money to help end poverty and hunger around the world).
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The pigeons of Westeros
There are many ASOIAF AUs roaming the interwebs but this Pigeon AU by Thrumugnyr did make me smile. Until I realised that the ridiculous Lannister pigeons are real breeds:
As the post says:
Cersei and Jaime are both fancy pigeon breeds. Jaime is a Cropper and Cersei a Jacobin. Yes these breeds actually exist.
I’m pretty sure I’ve ranted before about how dog breeds are pretty fucked up and while pigeon fancying doesn’t look like it’s quite as cruel it’s still bloody weird:
Humans don’t half do some weird old shit with animals.