Interesting page for animal powers

[Drhoz]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Long tongue - anchored in the hip bones of its body, the pangolin's sticky tongue extends more than its own body length, and is prehensile. They will use this tongue to climb trees and swing, as well as to eat ants and termites from up to 18" inside their own nests and catch flying insects.

 

Tail - long in comparison with its body length, the pangolin's armored tail is prehensile and the scales it is plated with are sharp enough to amputate the paw of a leopard -- the pangolin's primary predator. Using their tails for climbing makes the pangolin one of the most mobile arboreal mammals known. Using their tails for swimming makes them by far the fastest primarily land animals in the water.

 

Patagea - not enough that they cling to surfaces with their claws and scales, swing, leap extreme distances, swim, burrow, sprint either quadrupedally or bipedally and are named for their habit of curling into balls and propelling themselves by lashing with their lethal tails to roll substantial distances, pangolin have skin flaps that allow them to glide.

 

hope you have evidence for these claims, since I'm fairly familiar with the Pholidota and i'm highly doubtful they're gliders (and the word is patagia, BTW ) and that they swing by their tongues.

 

on the other hand, they are unusually well-developed in problem-solving, and are notorious for escaping captivity.`

[The Main Man]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

This thread really shouldn't go much farther without mentioning the pangolin.

 

Ranging from the size of squirrels to the size of large hares, pangolin have the following extraordinary qualities:

 

Armour - possibly the toughest armour of any animal, pangolin scales routinely deflect bullets, and protect these small ant-eaters from predation by the big cats of Africa.

 

Extended breathing - by storing air in their stomachs, pangolin can remain submerged in water for over 20 minutes.

 

Long tongue - anchored in the hip bones of its body, the pangolin's sticky tongue extends more than its own body length, and is prehensile. They will use this tongue to climb trees and swing, as well as to eat ants and termites from up to 18" inside their own nests and catch flying insects.

 

Tail - long in comparison with its body length, the pangolin's armored tail is prehensile and the scales it is plated with are sharp enough to amputate the paw of a leopard -- the pangolin's primary predator. Using their tails for climbing makes the pangolin one of the most mobile arboreal mammals known. Using their tails for swimming makes them by far the fastest primarily land animals in the water.

 

Burrowing - The hooked claws of the pangolin can dig extremely quickly and through harder substances than any other burrowing creature. They easily crack termite colonies, and for their size are the fastest burrowers of any animal.

 

Patagea - not enough that they cling to surfaces with their claws and scales, swing, leap extreme distances, swim, burrow, sprint either quadrupedally or bipedally and are named for their habit of curling into balls and propelling themselves by lashing with their lethal tails to roll substantial distances, pangolin have skin flaps that allow them to glide.

 

Stink - what mammal is complete without powerful scent glands in its defensive arsenal?

Yes! Finally, another person who knows of that animal!

 

I swear, everyone that I describe it to has never heard of it.

 

I owe you rep for that.

[Spidey88]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Sorry, Comic - I hate to break it to you, but Drhoz is right. Pangolins do not have patagia, nor do they swing by their tongues.

 

For that matter, they aren't very fast (in any environment, water included), they aren't astounding jumpers, they certainly can't swing through the trees at any speed (though they are decent climbers), their sharp scales are nasty (but won't amputate a leopard's paw unless that leopard is astonishingly persistent and stupid), they are not bulletproof (their armour is composed of the same material as our fingernails, and generally less than 1" thick), etc.

 

 

I'm sorry if I seem hostile - it's certainly not my intent.

 

They are very cool animals, but they're not some kind of "super-animal".

[The Main Man]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Sorry' date=' [b']Comic[/b] - I hate to break it to you, but Drhoz is right. Pangolins do not have patagia, nor do they swing by their tongues.

 

For that matter, they aren't very fast (in any environment, water included), they aren't astounding jumpers, they certainly can't swing through the trees at any speed (though they are decent climbers), their sharp scales are nasty (but won't amputate a leopard's paw unless that leopard is astonishingly persistent and stupid), they are not bulletproof (their armour is composed of the same material as our fingernails, and generally less than 1" thick), etc.

 

 

I'm sorry if I seem hostile - it's certainly not my intent.

 

They are very cool animals, but they're not some kind of "super-animal".

 

That'll teach me not to skim a post... but still at least I now know that I'm not the only one...

[Bloodstone]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

You are not alone. They're not that obscure really, just hard to keep in captivity. I've read about em, even seen one once at a show, but they're not something you are likely to see at your local zoo.

 

But, since someone mentioned patagia I shall bring up the The Colugo, Terror of the Philippines! Mind you, actual Colugo's are not terrors, but anthropomorphic pirate Escrimador ones are

 

That was a character in a TMNT game that imploded on itself... rapidly...

[Drhoz]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

You are not alone. They're not that obscure really, just hard to keep in captivity. I've read about em, even seen one once at a show, but they're not something you are likely to see at your local zoo.

 

But, since someone mentioned patagia I shall bring up the The Colugo, Terror of the Philippines! Mind you, actual Colugo's are not terrors, but anthropomorphic pirate Escrimador ones are

 

That was a character in a TMNT game that imploded on itself... rapidly...

 

here's another obscure mammal - the slow loris - a prosimian with poisonous elbows and the least threatening threat posture of any animal.

[Spidey88]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Ha ha - I was going to bring up aye-ayes, and lo and behold! Right there, on your linky, is one decked out in pirate regalia...

[Drhoz]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Ha ha - I was going to bring up aye-ayes' date=' and lo and behold! Right there, on your linky, is one decked out in pirate regalia...[/quote']

 

that's nothing - check out my userpics for Aye-Aye Cthulhu Fthaghn, and many others

 

http://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=drhoz

[Comic]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Slow?

 

Sure, if they get their own way. They're about the size of a baseball to the size of a football, so a 'nature photographer' with a strong throwing arm can fix that.

 

Swing by their tongues? Not so much, if they get their own way. But a cunning 'nature cameraman' can arrange that, too, with cunning use of hammer and nails.

 

Spelling counts? Meh.

 

And it's true, they don't legitimately have skin flaps and willingly leap from trees to glide placidly on updrafts. But if you're shooting a documentary and want some decent funding, you better know how to toss a mammal so it looks like its leapt out of a tree. The animal's natural tendency to spread its arms and legs and flail its tail in such a circumstance takes over, and it does a fair impression of a glider. Not like the cameraman has to focus on those areas of skin flap that aren't there.

 

The 5 lb anteater defeating the 120 lb jungle cat, also a claim I expect has been beefed up in translation, much like the bouncing bullets thing.

 

But if you're only going for legitimate claims, you'll have to stick with textbooks and direct evidence, which sadly are lacking on pangolins, as they appear to be losing habitat so rapidly that they may not survive in the wild -- or in captivity, since they do badly when caged -- for much longer.

 

So I like my version better, even though it is based on nature reels that are as fraudulent as the ones about lemmings diving into the sea.

 

But, I thought the scales were modified hair?

[Spidey88]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

But, I thought the scales were modified hair?

 

They are - hair and fingernails are both made out of keratin.

[Comic]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

It's all Jello to me!

 

More seriously, pangolin are fascinating and strange.

 

There are seven extant divisions (most sources list only five, dunno why), with enough diverse features between the arboreals thru the giant -- nevermind individual variation -- that I couldn't say for sure that pangolin are fast, or slow, leap like bunnies or cling like sloths, move rapidly through water or float like logs.

 

What they do have in common is armor scales formed from keratin with rudimentary fibrous hairlike microstructure.

 

That structure makes the scales allegedly stronger and tougher by weight -- and capable of being far thicker -- than chitin, and some say more resilient than horn or bone for similar thickness. "Bullet bouncing" is a remarkably unreliable measure (I don't imagine the pangolin would enjoy being shot to demonstrate how well-armoured it is, in any event) and it's as likely the sort of yahoo that'd shoot a pangolin with any sort of firearm might mistake a rock for one.

 

That might be where the speculation started, but these stories are out there.

 

Most of what most people 'know' about animals is myth, and much of it is false.

 

Another commonality is that all pangolins do curl up into balls.

 

While they may accidentally or in an emergency flail their tails to escape a threat by rolling, stories of them traveling miles in this way at great speeds are no doubt exagerated.

 

They have long tongues, but nature is full of longer tongues compared to body length -- nectar bats, chameleons, Gene Simmons, for example. Still, a tongue as long as its own torso or more, gotta give it creds. I understand this ratio varies somewhat depending on diet.

 

They're all insect eaters, mostly living on termites or ants, but animals eat to live, so they might devour other things, too. Who knew, for example, that herbivores like giraffes eat eggs and birds if they can get them? Or that cattle have been known to scavenge off of the bones of their own fallen kind, for calcium? I expect pangolin might include any insect in their diets, as well as anything they can crack open and feed on that won't run, swim or fly away, given the chance, the need, and the really narrow tiny mouth and fragile teeth they're equipped with. (Except the teeth in their stomachs. Those don't look fragile.)

 

The non-arboreals are excellent burrowers, generally. I'd be prepared to stand by the claim that it's unlikely other mammals or even vertebrates burrow through harder materials or faster as a ratio of size, just looking at the shape of their digging appendages.

 

Do all pangolins have patagia? (Patagium?) No. Do any? No clue. There is at least one report of it, and the report began with the words, "After thirty years observing animals in the wild, I was struck speechless to see..." So, not like it's an important or common feature of the kind.

 

They're certainly historically widespread enough, and of the right size, general behavior pattern and skeletal structure to potentially develop this feature in some branch, so I'm also not going to dismiss the possibility because there are people who've only ever seen the kinds that don't have it.

 

I don't mean to sound unkind. I'm sure you're sincere, well-read, well-informed and dedicated, and no doubt your knowledge exceeds my own. But I've seen too many tree-climbing dogs to believe dog handlers who tell me dogs don't climb trees, as well.

 

The storing air in their stomachs is a claim that puzzles me.

 

I don't know how anyone arrived at the conclusion pangolin do this, or of how one would demonstrate the structure capable of using this feat to store a meaningful amount of air for use while submerged, particularly for a creature that isn't even remotely aquatic. Part of the problem is that pangolin had at one time been so widespread, and cultural iconography about them is so diverse, that mythic tales like this emerge.

 

Still, wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be true. Just saying. It's an odd animal, by any stretch of the imagination.

 

And it excretes a powerful stench, if given a chance. Did I mention that?

[Spidey88]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

More seriously, pangolin are fascinating and strange.

 

Very true!

 

They're all insect eaters, mostly living on termites or ants, but animals eat to live, so they might devour other things, too. Who knew, for example, that herbivores like giraffes eat eggs and birds if they can get them? Or that cattle have been known to scavenge off of the bones of their own fallen kind, for calcium? I expect pangolin might include any insect in their diets, as well as anything they can crack open and feed on that won't run, swim or fly away, given the chance, the need, and the really narrow tiny mouth and fragile teeth they're equipped with. (Except the teeth in their stomachs. Those don't look fragile.)

 

I suspect that an exclusive insectivore like a pangolin might concieveably eat other insects - but actively seeking out anything other than colonial insects wouldn't be worth their time! Can you imagine how many normal-sized insects a 70 lb. giant pangolin must need to eat every day?

 

I don't mean to sound unkind. I'm sure you're sincere, well-read, well-informed and dedicated, and no doubt your knowledge exceeds my own. But I've seen too many tree-climbing dogs to believe dog handlers who tell me dogs don't climb trees, as well.

 

Don't worry - you've been quite polite and reasonable (I hope the same can be said of me). I still stand by what I've said - no brachiation (linguation?), not built for speed, hard time amputating leopard paws, etc. - but I freely admit that pangolins aren't my area of expertise!

 

For example: I've never shot one, so they may be more bulletproof than I assume (I'd certainly be willing to give a giant pangolin some leeway in this area over a little armadillo-sized one)!

 

On that particular issue, I'd certainly believe that their scales might help deflect, and reduce the damage from, a glancing blow without needing to be convinced.

 

The storing air in their stomachs is a claim that puzzles me.

 

I don't know how anyone arrived at the conclusion pangolin do this, or of how one would demonstrate the structure capable of using this feat to store a meaningful amount of air for use while submerged, particularly for a creature that isn't even remotely aquatic. Part of the problem is that pangolin had at one time been so widespread, and cultural iconography about them is so diverse, that mythic tales like this emerge.

 

This one is odd enough that I can't really comment on definitively one way or the other - it seems totally out of left field, but I admit that I really can't back that comment up with knowledge - just assumption.

 

(BTW - I was quite sincere with the comment I gave with your rep. I thought your rebuttal was quite clever!)

[Bloodstone]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

here's another obscure mammal - the slow loris - a prosimian with poisonous elbows and the least threatening threat posture of any animal.

 

Dude, don't mock the threat display!

 

That's a butterfly grip, so CLEARLY the Loris knows Greco-Roman wrestling. With his hands raised over his head like that, it's as if he's saying "Get any closer and I WILL suplex you!"

[Drhoz]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

Dude, don't mock the threat display!

 

That's a butterfly grip, so CLEARLY the Loris knows Greco-Roman wrestling. With his hands raised over his head like that, it's as if he's saying "Get any closer and I WILL suplex you!"

 

*grins*

[Comic]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

A pangolin would have to find a stupidly persistent feline, one obstinate past the point of obsession, to remove claws, toes or paws with its scales.

 

Which.. you've seen cats, right?

 

There's also the odd bit about the pangolin's scent defense. It acts in reverse sometimes -- for instance, for civet cats -- attracting and pacifying predators so that the pangolin becomes a sort of rolled up, hard shelled ball of catnip. Which from time to time lashes out with its razor-edged tail. Because animal defenses can be odd.

 

This brings up the generally given cause of widespread pangolin decimation. Although it's a popular form of bush meat, needs a huge territory to wander to sustain itself (five square miles or so, apparently), will dehydrate itself to death marking territory if successfully caged in a lesser sized space (which, not easy to do), and it's not immune to roadkill, despite its armor.. the big pangolin killer out there is the electric fence.

 

Because the main pangolin defense is to curl up into a ball. Around the electric wire. Until it cooks in its own shell. Allegedly.

[Drhoz]

Re: Interesting page for animal powers

 

A pangolin would have to find a stupidly persistent feline, one obstinate past the point of obsession, to remove claws, toes or paws with its scales.

 

Which.. you've seen cats, right?

 

There's also the odd bit about the pangolin's scent defense. It acts in reverse sometimes -- for instance, for civet cats -- attracting and pacifying predators so that the pangolin becomes a sort of rolled up, hard shelled ball of catnip. Which from time to time lashes out with its razor-edged tail. Because animal defenses can be odd.

 

This brings up the generally given cause of widespread pangolin decimation. Although it's a popular form of bush meat, needs a huge territory to wander to sustain itself (five square miles or so, apparently), will dehydrate itself to death marking territory if successfully caged in a lesser sized space (which, not easy to do), and it's not immune to roadkill, despite its armor.. the big pangolin killer out there is the electric fence.

 

Because the main pangolin defense is to curl up into a ball. Around the electric wire. Until it cooks in its own shell. Allegedly.

 

but,.... the electric wire is well off the ground... and not that strong....

 

but I can see why stress would dehydrate iot in captivity, but don't see why they couldn't just put in more water.