planetdan

Friday, May 02, 2008 :::

Animated Friday (Critters & Vamints Edition)!

Some people might think that this is cruel, but I think it is perfectly acceptable:

Who ever said only certain kinds of squirrels can fly?

Speaking of critters, I watched this mouse run in circles for nearly twenty minutes the other day. I wasn't sure which one of us was more pitiful: the mouse, who couldn't figure out how to stop himself from turning right, or me, who watched him for twenty minutes with utter delight:

::: posted by dan at 11:54 PM :: [ link ] :: (9) comments

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9 previous comments:

I KNEW the squirrel would come back.... *snip* and *swoooooooshhh*!!! XD perfect indeed!!
well I guess the owner of that catapult had a score to settle with this guy.

The mouse is cute, though. Hope it didn't get run over..

By

European Dream, at 4:22 AM

It would appear that a lot of trouble was taken to set this trap. The guy must have had two cameras set up to get the two angles. Patience is a virtue...

By

Anonymous, at 3:38 PM

I saw a mouse do that exact thing..leaving a trace in the snow..round and round and round and round....

We figured out later that this "circling" is due to poisoning. We left traps and poison out to kill our small but annoying "rat" infestation. The poor mouse that ate the small green/yellow pellets lost its mind, was dying of thirst and ending up running circles in our driveway until it finally collapsed.

Hahaha Funny video. Oh, sorry, was that not funny?

By

Anonymous, at 2:13 AM

I was going to comment that maybe the mouse had a parasite. But anonymous' poison comment is probably more on target.

By

Scooter, at 6:49 AM

Man you guys are debbie downers. Up until now I had just assumed he was participating in his own imaginary may pole. :(

By

dan, at 12:35 PM

Yay, that squirrel video was taken by a friend of mine. He had cancer at the time, so yes, he had lots of time on his hands to set up the trap and get the camera angles just right.

By

Zoe, at 1:28 PM

I kind of enjoy the mouse video even more knowing that the damn mouse is probably in its dying minutes. Sorry, but I effing hate mice. And well, squirrels for that matter. Why people think they are cute, I have no idea. They are just fluffy vermin. Ugh.

By

Anonymous, at 4:11 PM

I found a possum a few weeks ago sort of running in circles in the street. I was on my way to work but early so I parked and ran over while dialing animal control, who I know from work. I then tried to herd him out of the street, and up on the sidewalk and out of harm's way as best i could. I first thought he was poisoned (which he may well have been) but also noticed a gash on his po head, so he had been hit. I had to leave eventually and animal control let me know they safely picked him up and took him to a vet or a shelter or something.

By

Anonymous, at 1:02 AM

When I was in college, I did research on mice that had "shaker/waltzer syndrome." They had a genetic defect that caused the eighth cranial nerve or inner ear to disintegrate, and they spent the rest of their lives running around in circles like that. Supposedly, the genetic defect was cultivated through selective breeding, and such mice became pets for royalty in the middle ages. I would expect that this mouse had the trait, which appears occasionally in a population of mice, and it wasn't caused by poisoning. The inner ear problem causes the mouse to be unable to sense side-to-side or up-and-down motion.

I spent the summer doing "serial" sections of the brains of these mice, so that the progression of damage to the inner ear could be better understood.

The mice were kept in cages, each cage containing siblings, one normal and one with the syndrome. The syndrome mouse would run around and around in the cage, each time whacking its brother or sister in the face with its tail, until the normal mouse would get fed up, and attack the syndrome mouse. The syndrome mouse would quickly end up pinned on its back, catch its breath for a minute, and then get up and start the routine over again. Very silly stuff.

By

Brian, at 3:01 PM

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