That's right! Useful adaptation when you're a climbing mongoosecatwhatever!

Oh. nvr mind about the hyenas.

quote:

Originally posted by youssarian_whiskers:
Their probably on the show so much b/c they have a bunch of weird adaptations b/c they've been seperated from the mainland for so long. Aye ayes are so cool. Isn't there a myth that if you see one you'll die within 24 hours or something?

Curse my habit of talking too much! =P
That would probably explain it! There really are a lot of amazing animals there!

Haha, yeah, that's a tribal legend. The natives will kill an Aye-Aye on sight, because they believe that if it points it's skeletal finger at you then you are doomed to die! But, of course it isn't true, and most of the locals are starting to understand this and won't kill them. (:

quote:

Originally posted by youssarian_whiskers:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't hyenas in the Viverridae family also? I heard that they are more closely related to cats than to dogs, and that they're also very closely related to meerkats!

Odd, because, don't hyenas sometimes eat meerkats?

I would probably be kinda mad if it pointed at me with its finger tho! (it is its middle finger, right)

Wait a minute, I just looked up the fossa on wikipedia and it said "Though most still classify and accept that the Fossa (along with its close relative the Falanouc) is part of the family of viverrids, some have recently reclassified it in a new family of Malagasy civets and mongooses: Eupleridae."
I thought you said it was classified in something seperate from the civets? Anyway, I'm gonna go find out what the heck a Falanouc is...(think I heard of it before somewhere...)

quote:

Odd, because, don't hyenas sometimes eat meerkats?

They aren't closely related to Meerkats, no, but they are related. Hyenas are in their own group, which is a kind of 'branch' off of the Mongoose family. Which would make them related to cats, not dogs!
As for Hyenas eating Meerkats.. I don't even think they live in the same area, but I bet they would eat them.

Youssarian- Haha, yeah, it's the middle finger! If an Aye-Aye flips you the bird, you're going to die! Ha! That somehow makes me think of some kind of mafia/gangster-type thing! =P

Now I looked up Falanouc and it said that its closest relative was the Falanoka (which I've also heard of somewhere...)

Yes, I think so. Just to prove I know stuff too... Aye ayes use that boney finger to excivate grubs from trees and bamboo sticks. Most of the time, Zookeepers will give captive aye ayes bamboo sticks with grubs inside them, to incourage foraging behavior!

If we ever get to Madagascar, we'd better watch out! We might get set upon by a crowd of gangster-type aye ayes giving us the finger!

quote:

Originally posted by youssarian_whiskers:
Wait a minute, I just looked up the fossa on wikipedia and it said "Though most still classify and accept that the Fossa (along with its close relative the Falanouc) is part of the family of viverrids, some have recently reclassified it in a new family of Malagasy civets and mongooses: Eupleridae."
I thought you said it was classified in something seperate from the civets? Anyway, I'm gonna go find out what the heck a Falanouc is...(think I heard of it before somewhere...)

"In a new family of MALAGASY civets and Mongooses"
Malagasy is the key word! It is ONLY the 'civets' from Madagascar. They just found out that they aren't really a civet, and so they grouped all the non-civet-civets and non-civet-mongooses into a whole new group, because they are so different. Does that make any sense? =P
Falanoucs and Fanalokas are different names for some types of Malagasy Civet/Mongooses/Euplerids. xD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Aye-aye_%28Daubenton...ascariensis%29_2.jpg

Those things are creepy.

Zookeepers give them bamboo w/ bugs stuck in it? Tht's a good idea...I wonder who came up with it...

quote:

Originally posted by watchchannel63:
Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you had any suggestions for my story. The only thing I'm building on is the big fight with Aster [Shiba Inu; New leader of the decieced Missile (Great Dane)'s group; evil leader] and a big forest fire. I need something else to work with!

Any ideas?

Wow you know a lot, EdenLemur! While we're on the subject, I went to a program thing called Zoo Crew during summer, and we got to feed some ringtails grapes! It was fun!

quote:

Originally posted by watchchannel63:

quote:

Originally posted by watchchannel63:
Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you had any suggestions for my story. The only thing I'm building on is the big fight with Aster [Shiba Inu; New leader of the decieced Missile (Great Dane)'s group; evil leader] and a big forest fire. I need something else to work with!

Any ideas?

How about they get attacked by humans or something? Or they get caught in a flood? That's all I can think of right now.

Wow. This is great. All kinds of new stuff to learn! I heard meerkats were mongeese, mongoosians, of the mongoose family, anyway, but i somehow jumped to lemur from there. i always loved that mongoose types would kill snakes, like in the Jungle Book. Have to see if lemurs can do that, too.

And hyenas! Wow. i bet most people would link them with the dog family--that is so cool that they are totally not. wow.

Also, you can get some great images from Google Images.

I'll keep those ideas in mind. Since they have that little brat with them, I figure he could get himself in some trouble. Though Kurotora, Tim and Choko proubly won't be any help, and the little titch fired an arrow into Sniper's leg... I don't think Fuuga would be much help either. Or her pups, Hichionosuke, Hichi and Ginga. Yamabuki, Sasuke, Shigure and Muku it is!
You probly don't know who most of them are. I added a lot more characters since I posted it on here!

Woah! There are a lot more!

are you going to post the story so far?

quote:

Originally posted by watchchannel63:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Aye-aye_%28Daubenton...ascariensis%29_2.jpg

Those things are creepy.

They compete with the Platypus for the "Weirdest animal on Earth", but many people agree that it's probably one of the CREEPIEST and/or Ugliest animals alive! =P
Once you get used to them, though, they are kind of cute! The one in that photo is just a really old one. I used to have some cute photos of them from magazines, etc. (:

Youssarian- Thank you! I've devoted my life to Lemurs, and just animals in general, and one of the main things I do at Sharkarosa (where I volunteer) is teach them about our animals! I've done a lot of research on Malagasy animals in particular. :B That's so cool! Sharkarosa has 4 species of Lemurs (5 if you count both of our Black and White Ruffed Lemur subspecies.), which I get to interact with, as well as hold while doing public events. Guests get to pet them, interact with them, sometimes we'll give children some treats so they can feed them, and occasionally one of the Ring-Tails will even leap onto people's shoulders! If you're ever in the D/FW or Denton TX area, you should check it out! (:

oh yeah, that's something I never got. How com there's a goose and some geese but with mongooses its mongoose and mongooses but not mongeese?

What kinds of lemurs do you have at Sharkarosa?

quote:

Originally posted by trazom4:
Wow. This is great. All kinds of new stuff to learn! I heard meerkats were mongeese, mongoosians, of the mongoose family, anyway, but i somehow jumped to lemur from there. i always loved that mongoose types would kill snakes, like in the Jungle Book. Have to see if lemurs can do that, too.

And hyenas! Wow. i bet most people would link them with the dog family--that is so cool that they are totally not. wow.

Also, you can get some great images from Google Images.

Haha, if you ever want to learn something about Lemurs, I'm your girl! =P
Oh, no, Lemurs wouldn't kill a snake. Lemurs are herbivores- They are a prey animal. So their instinct is to retreat, or mob, when they are faced with danger. I don't know exactly what predators they are known to mob, but it seems likely they would try it on a snake. But they wouldn't get physical- They'd just use scare tactics. Lemur mobbing is not quite as dramatic as Meerkat mobbing, but it's still funny to watch! =P

Characters? Yes there are. Yamabuki also met Kabuto and Jet [Tosa Dogs] after she got away from being a fighting dog. Ken [Tosa] lost to her, and never forgave her. He followed the three of them up to Futago where they were supposed to meet Tora [leader of the pack in Yamabuki's absense]. There, Kabuto and Jet broke Ken's neck, but Kabuto dies shortly after from his wounds. I used a picture of Robert from the Ginga: Densetsu Weed image gallary as Ken. Moss and Musashi pass as Kabuto and Jet.

quote:

Originally posted by youssarian_whiskers:
What kinds of lemurs do you have at Sharkarosa?

Currently we have Ring-Tailed, Red Ruffed, Black and white Ruffed (Varecia Variegata Variegata), Southern Black and White Ruffed (Varecia Variegata Editorum), and Red-Fronted Brown Lemurs. But we actually are talking to another zoo that has Black Lemurs and White-Fronted Lemurs, so we might get some of those soon! I'm not sure if either of those will be brought out for education and interaction purposes, but guests will at least be able to watch them in their enclosures! (:

quote:

Originally posted by trazom4:
are you going to post the story so far?

Youssarian's story? Or mine? Or what story?