How complex and sensitive animals can be! And it’s a big reminder that we have a huge responsibility for their well-being when we bring them into these kinds of spaces.
Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
71–80 of 91 posts
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#72During the pandemic / lockdown I was lucky enough to visit one of the reef pontoons off Cairns (Australia, on the Great Barrier Reef) that had been shut for several months. The resident Maori wrasse (a very large fish) at this pontoon, and others, has been known to have a relationship with some of the regular staff - often rubbing up against them in the water. When we jumped in the water that day the fish's reaction…
At the zoo’s seal exhibit, there’s a spot where you can watch them underwater. There was one seal that was literally waiting for us to show up so we could play with him. The guide told us that we could show him keys, and he would act like a cat. And that’s exactly what happened. It was unforgettable. He chased after my keys and seemed so happy with all the attention!
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#73During the pandemic / lockdown I was lucky enough to visit one of the reef pontoons off Cairns (Australia, on the Great Barrier Reef) that had been shut for several months. The resident Maori wrasse (a very large fish) at this pontoon, and others, has been known to have a relationship with some of the regular staff - often rubbing up against them in the water. When we jumped in the water that day the fish's reaction…
While I was scuba diving in Belize with some friends we encountered some Goliath Grouper which would follow us around. Later we were amazed when we saw another diver hold out her arms to one and it swam right up to her so she could hold it and pet it. Keep in mind this was a massive fish that probably weighed as much as a person. We asked her about it afterwards, turns out they just like being petted :). Eventually g…
Goliath Groupers are massive! It must’ve been surreal to interact with something like that up close.
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not sure if it applies with all birds, but many seem to become fixated on humans. This can happen if you care for very young, sick or injured birds. My wife cares for various sad cases and if she isn’t careful they stay with with us. We have 4 pigeons at the moment, with various issues. I call them our rehoming pigeons. Do you want a pigeon?
Funny enough, my late father was a veterinarian and we had a pigeon that we raised from a chick (we weren't sure what this thoroughly ugly bird was and it turned out it was a pigeon). It was very tame and lived in a hutch on the back porch, and would watch for us to come back from the electric pole out the front. Unfortunately its knowledge of cats was limited to our extremely lazy ones and one day it disappeared; we…
Sadly, nature can be harsh...
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#75I'm surprised to see so many comments solely about how aquariums/zoos are cruel and feeling sorry for this particular fish, when it's a species that is regularly hunted. I wouldn't want to be locked in a cage/tank either, but by ending up in a well run aquarium this sunfish is doing better than 99.999% of sunfish that have encountered humans. This isn't a screed against eating fish or meat; I eat both. There are a lo…
Being cared for by conscientious humans, providing enrichment and variety, can be better than living in the wild. For any animal, living in the wild, life span tends to be short, and life tends to be brutal. Prey animals are hunted, and they scrounge for food; finding a steady, reliable, nutritious, and tasty source of food in the wild is vanishingly rare. Dealing with parasites, illness, injury, predation, and all t…
And sure, cutouts aren’t a perfect replacement for real social interaction, but it’s clear the staff are doing their best to address its emotional needs
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#76We "met" a king penguin at Singapore Bird Paradise that would follow people around at the edge of the tank (an acrylic sheet separated you from their enclosure) and try to interact. It swam up to my wife and followed her around, then went to another bunch of people and did the same. It seemed to enjoy watching people watching it and waving to it. Not every animal does, but this one did.
I’m not sure if it applies with all birds, but many seem to become fixated on humans. This can happen if you care for very young, sick or injured birds. My wife cares for various sad cases and if she isn’t careful they stay with with us. We have 4 pigeons at the moment, with various issues. I call them our rehoming pigeons. Do you want a pigeon?
Famously there is a kakapō named Sirocco who imprinted on humans to the point of being sexually attracted to them rather than to other kakapō. Which is both a problem because with only 244 individuals left, the species needs as many mating pairs as it can get; and a blessing because his international fame and fondness for humans makes him an effective "spokesbird" for conservation.
Here he is mounting and having a go at Mark Carwardine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY
"You are being shagged by a rare parrot!"
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#77Any article about cardboard standees in japanese aquariums is incomplete without reference to Grape-kun, a penguin who fell in love with a cardboard cutout from an anime promotion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape-kun
Unbelievable. A penguin found himself a waifu.
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
The interesting thing is predator and prey both die when they get too slow. Not sure which side has a worse ending there! Then there's disease or even a simple scratch getting infected. The world's a brutal place, probably all worlds. Because the very nature of evolution means species that exploit the most thrive the most. The obvious exception of things like a solar feeding plant isn't even an exception. The great o…
Predators tend to have a thinner margin. Even a slight injury to a predator can mean a slow death by starvation. That's why videogame predators are so ridiculous. They keep coming after you, even when half their ass is blown away. A real predator will bugger off, as soon as it figures out that there might be a cost to attacking you. That's a big reason that many herbivore defenses seem kind of ridiculous, but work. T…
Certain prey animals, especially gazelles, engage in dramatic leaps known as stotting. This behavior makes them highly visible to predators. One theory for why they do this is as a fitness signal to predators, who generally want to go for the easy pickin's, not the ones who present a challenge, and represent taking on more effort and risk of injury or just wasted energy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stotting
Most lions also know not to prey on humans, for similar reasons: if a lion took a human, it risks being hunted down by other humans related to their prey. Most "man-eating" lions or tigers are starving or injured, therefore desperate, and lions are largely seen in Africa as pest creatures who take livestock.
(Hippopotamuses, by contrast, give absolutely no fucks and will kill you on sight. Africans consider the hippopotamus to be the fiercest animal by far, even more so than the lion.)
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny enough, my late father was a veterinarian and we had a pigeon that we raised from a chick (we weren't sure what this thoroughly ugly bird was and it turned out it was a pigeon). It was very tame and lived in a hutch on the back porch, and would watch for us to come back from the electric pole out the front. Unfortunately its knowledge of cats was limited to our extremely lazy ones and one day it disappeared; we…
I became friends with a mallard while living near a pond, he would follow me when I walked to the bus stop, and greet me while on my way home (closer to home, he wouldn't typically leave the apartment complex, thankfully). one year, he disappeared, which added a lot of sadness to my life. that summer, he reappeared and walked up a hill to greet me, with his mate and ducklings in tow. his mate had had a shattered (and…
My stereotype of ducks is that they're bastards who will fight you for a crust of bread. Lovely to see you met a friendly one.
Re: Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
False dichotomy. If we wanted to, we could do both preservation and not lock them up.
It’s highly questionable if wildlife and habitat protection had the same level of political support if most people would only knew the affected animals from photos and nature documentaries. Zoos can have a lasting impact on people.
Poppycock. I could make the exact inverse argument. Perhaps animals being easy to access in a city makes people care less about them. "Who cares if it goes extinct in the wild, I can still see it at the zoo." Without any kind of practical evidence, you cannot know what effect zoos have. The only effect zoos have had on me is that I went to a local aquarium one time and saw a giant sea turtle swimming round a very small tank. The sheer cruelty of that stays with me. A creature which migrates thousands of miles in nature confined to a cage perhaps ten meters long. It is, without a doubt, one of the saddest things I've ever witnessed. I don't think anyone who can tolerate zoos actually cares about animals.