# Odd Animal News **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528 "2008-08-28T08:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/21 "2008-12-08T01:37:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > [Rare monkeys spotted in Vietnam](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/04/rare.monkey/). And cute little buggers they are, too. The monkeys were “very sensitive to the presence of people, giving warning signs to one another and fleeing” whenever biologists approached, the group said in a statement. …an unattractive but annoying…Slow and sullen, and yet dull, they prefer to lead simple lives of pastoral squalor. They don’t like machines more complicated than a garrote, blackjack or a Luger, and they have always been shy of the “Big Folk”, or “Buggers” as they call us. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/22 "2008-12-08T02:32:59Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > [Rare monkeys spotted in Vietnam](http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/04/rare.monkey/). And cute little buggers they are, too. Though I have a deep and abiding respect for all our wild brethren, and wish nothing but the best for the survival of the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Langur, there’s no avoiding the fact: [it’s an ass-ugly monkey.](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44891000/jpg/_44891071_tonkin226nadler.jpg) “Cute” is not a description often used when observing the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Langur in the wild; much more common phrases are “vomitous beyond description,” “possibly undead,” and “Get it the hell away from me.” Seriously, I’ve seen cuter burn victims. I find it hard to believe that even starving Vietnamese would eat that thing if they had absolutely any other alternative. Even Guy Dollman, the naturalist who discovered the animal, formally described it to the Royal Academy as “a F—ing Night-Mare to look upon… I pray that no attempt be made to name this hideous Abomination after me, or as G-d be my witness, I swear that I shall hunt down the cad responsible and send him on to his Reward.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/23 "2008-12-08T02:35:35Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Though I have a deep and abiding respect for all our wild brethren, and wish nothing but the best for the survival of the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Langur, there’s no avoiding the fact: [it’s an ass-ugly monkey.](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44891000/jpg/_44891071_tonkin226nadler.jpg) Nah, that’s a little cutie. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/24 "2008-12-08T02:46:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Nah, that’s a little cutie. Well, to each their own. _De gustibus a simiae non est disputandum._ Personally I tend to equate the concept of “cuteness” with a relative paucity of facial gristle. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/25 "2008-12-08T02:51:44Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Well, to each their own. _De gustibus a simiae non est disputandum._ Personally I tend to equate the concept of “cuteness” with a relative paucity of facial gristle. Well, I’m not saying I’d French-kiss the damned thing. A little hand-holding would not be out of the question, though. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/26 "2008-12-09T02:45:44Z")
I give you [20 more strange and exotic endangered species](http://webecoist.com/2008/12/02/strange-and-bizarre-endangered-animal-species/). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/27 "2008-12-13T03:08:10Z")
176-year-old Jonathan the tortoise has been named the world’s oldest-living animal, on the island of St. Helena. What’s especially cool is that [here](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3545540/Worlds-oldest-living-animal-discovered-after-he-is-pictured-in-1900-photograph.html) you can see him today and photographed in 1900 with a Boer War prisoner. Excerpt: “Despite his old age, locals say he still has the energy to regularly mate with the three younger females.” Good ol’ Jonathan. _I_ should be so lucky. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/28 "2008-12-16T04:37:04Z")
And now for some [animal camouflage](http://conservationreport.com/2008/11/08/can-you-see-me-animal-camouflage-leaf-mimics/). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/29 "2008-12-17T03:48:58Z")
[1000 new jungle species](http://www.thestar.com/News/article/553127) discovered in the Greater Mekong Region over the past decade. We’re just a little hothouse laboratory over here, aren’t we? With all the news of disappearing species, it cheers me to read about this sort of thing. I just hope they can conserve them. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/30 "2008-12-17T05:57:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And now for some [animal camouflage](http://conservationreport.com/2008/11/08/can-you-see-me-animal-camouflage-leaf-mimics/). > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I give you [20 more strange and exotic endangered species](http://webecoist.com/2008/12/02/strange-and-bizarre-endangered-animal-species/). Fascinating stuff. And the links at the bottom of the second one are well worth a click. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/31 "2008-12-17T06:06:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > [1000 new jungle species](http://www.thestar.com/News/article/553127) discovered in the Greater Mekong Region over the past decade. We’re just a little hothouse laboratory over here, aren’t we? With all the news of disappearing species, it cheers me to read about this sort of thing. > > I just hope they can conserve them. “Cryptozoology” has a bad connotation, but the people going out and finding new species that are attributed to folklore are doing good work and fit the name rather nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/32 "2008-12-17T08:05:45Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Impressive, but that penguin’s still extinct; so it hasn’t really been ‘rediscovered’ in the same sense as the tarsier. > > That article deserves some kind of award for most unintentionally confusing penguin-related news feature. The picture is of a different species of penguin that relocated to New Zealand after the locals finished off the earlier penguin species. Now that replacement species is also endangered. > > Seriously, New Zealand: what the hell? You kill off one penguin species, Mother Nature sends you another, and you immediately begin eradicating the surrogate penguin. What is it with New Zealand and mass avicide? Listen, New Zealand: _Haast’s Eagle is dead._ You killed it. You don’t need to be afraid of birds anymore. Nothing is going to come screaming out of the sky and eat you. You can stop killing the birds now. You forgot a few: Little Bush Moa _Anomalopteryx didiformis_ Upland Moa _Megalapteryx didinus_ Heavy-Footed Moa _Pachyornis elephantopus_ Crested Moa _P. australis_ Mappin’s Moa _P. mappini_ Eastern Moa _Emeus Crassus_ Stout-Legged Moa _Euryapteryx geranoides_ Coastal Moa _E. curtus_ Slender Bush Moa _Dinornis struthoides_ Large Bush Moa _D. novaezealandiae_ Giant Moa _D. giganteus_ New Zealand Pelican _Pelecanus novaezealandiae_ New Zealand Swan _Cygnus sumnerensis_ South Island Goose _Cnemiornis calcitrans_ North Island Goose _Cn. Gracilis_ Chatham Island Duck _Pachyanas chathamica_ Finsch’s Duck _Euryanas finschi_ Scarlett’s Duck _Malacorhynchus scarletti_ De Lautour’s Duck _Biziura delautouri_ Blue-Billed Duck _Oxyura australis_ Eyles’ Harrier _Circus eylesi_ Chatham Island Sea-Eagle _Haliaeetus australis_ New Zealand Eagle _Harpagornis moorei_ Snipe-Rail _Capellirallus karamu_ Giant Chatham Island Rail _Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi_ Hodgen’s Rail _Gallinula hodgeni_ Yaldwyn’s Wren _Pachyplichas yaldwyni_ Grant-Mackie’s Wren _P. jagmi_ New Zealand Coot _Fulica chathamensis_ Adzebill _Aptornis otidiformis_ Giant Chatham Island Snipe _Coenocorypha chathamica_ New Zealand Owlet-Nightjar _Aegotheles novaezealandiae_ New Zealand Crow _Palaeocorax moriorum_ North Island Takahe _Porphyrio mantelli mantelli_ New Zealand Little Bittern Ixobrychus novaezelandiae\* Auckland Island Merganser _Mergus australis_ Chatham Island Rail _Rallus modestus_ Laughing Owl _Sceloglaux albifacies_ Bush Wren _Xenicus longpipes_ Stephens Island Wren _Traversia lyalli_ Chatham Island Fernbird _Bowdleria rufescens_ Huia _Heteralocha acutirostris_ Piopio _Turnagra capensis_ New Zealand Quail _Coturnix novaezelandiae novaezelandia_ Dieffenbach’s Rail _Rallus philippensis dieffenbachii_ Stewart Island Snipe _Coenocorypha aucklandica iredalei_ Little Barrier Snipe _Coenocorypha aucklandica barrierensis_ Chatham Island Bellbird _Anthornis melanura melanocephala_ South Island Kokako _Callaeas cinerea cinerea_ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/33 "2008-12-18T03:54:39Z")
It seems those 1000 new species actually number 1068. _National Geographic_ has some good photos of some of them, including the 4-foot Gumprecht’s green pit viper, discovered in northeastern Thailand in 2002. See [here](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/photogalleries/greater-mekong-new-species-photos/). I’m not a big snake fan, but I have to admit that is one gorgeous snake. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/34 "2008-12-18T04:03:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It seems those 1000 new species actually number 1068. It’s a binary thing, like 1K vs 1024. I don’t see any damn elephants in those 1024. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/35 "2008-12-18T04:39:27Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t see any damn elephants in those Not many places a new elephant species could hide. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/36 "2008-12-20T01:43:16Z")
A little something on the [Samkos bush frog](http://chattahbox.com/science/2008/12/18/scientists-discover-green-blooded-frog/) recently discovered in Cambodia. Has green blood and turquoise-colored bones. Cute little bugger. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/37 "2008-12-20T01:57:59Z")
[60,000 Sturgeon at the base of Bonnevile Dam.](http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/05/_when_sonar_surveys_spotted.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/38 "2008-12-20T02:26:47Z")
He looks a bit like the little green tree frog I saw on a water plantain leaf who now graces my PC desktop. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/39 "2008-12-20T13:34:49Z")
[Farting gorillas force Brussels sprouts off zoo’s Christmas menu](http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157157175032?packedargs=aid%3D1157157175032%26suffix%3DArticleController) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528/40 "2008-12-20T13:41:31Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > the locals finished off the earlier penguin species. I read this as “the _lolcats_ finished off the earlier penguin species.” No, animal news is not odd enough already, so I made it odder. I can has pengy burger? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-animal-news/461528.md?page=3)