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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 01/17/2009 : 22:26:38
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Thought I can't parse the Japanese commentary, this owl's ability to alter its appearance is both amazing and smile-inducing. I especially liked when it made itself narrow and squinky-eyed.
Hat-tip to the Bleiman Brothers' Zooillogix.
Edited to add:
This video gives some idea of the kind of social use pre-flight feathered dinosaurs could have gotten from feathers, in addition to their utility in temperature regulation. Flight itself probably evolved as just a fortunate later side-effect of feathers.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/17/2009 22:40:05
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2009 : 22:38:38 [Permalink]
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Wow, that second one was crazy. I think it was trying to make itself look like a gray squirrel. At least, I thought it could pass as one from a distance.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2009 : 23:28:19 [Permalink]
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My wife says that she's getting about 60% of what's said in the video. It's the descriptive 60%, though, so she can't tell us more than what we can see for ourselves (the color of the owl's eyes, that it can make itself thin, etc.).
Except that it's a female owl named Popo. Re-watch the video, and listen for "Popo-chan."
By the way, H., I think that mimicking prey is a bad idea. I think she's trying to look like a tree trunk. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2009 : 23:35:05 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
By the way, H., I think that mimicking prey is a bad idea. I think she's trying to look like a tree trunk.
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Yeah, that did occur to me later as well, so you're right. It's definitely a camouflage thing. Squirrel was just that first thing that struck me.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2009 : 00:05:38 [Permalink]
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Okay, a commenter on Cute Overload linked to a post on JapanSugoi which reads in part:When Popochan sees a larger barn owl, it will raise its wings high and pump up its plumage to increase its volume to increase its aggressiveness. However when it was presented with a much larger Eagle owl, Popochan tries to hide its presence and decreases its volume by contracting its plumage. (By the way, check out the website effect in the upper-right corner of JapanSugoi. Pretty neat-o looking.) |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2009 : 02:58:53 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
By the way, H., I think that mimicking prey is a bad idea. I think she's trying to look like a tree trunk.
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I think it's trying to emulate Satan, and succeeding.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/18/2009 : 07:16:54 [Permalink]
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What a neat, little owl! I have a fondness for owls that I acquired over a half-century before Harry Potter went to Hogwarts.
This sort of defensive/aggressive behavior is very common in nature. Everything from many arthropods to, well, our selves do it in one way or another.
But what a neat, little owl!
Edit: I also like vultures....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 01/18/2009 07:19:35 |
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2009 : 07:44:47 [Permalink]
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| From what I can gather, Popo is a Southern white-faced owl. |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/18/2009 : 08:31:28 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by tomk80
From what I can gather, Popo is a Southern white-faced owl.
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I think that you are correct, although I'm not sure if it's the Northern or the Southern.
Anyone who has ever handled an owl knows how it gets that "squirrel" look. There's nothing to them. They're all plumage; the bird itself is downright scrawny. This one has simply flattened out it's feathers. But still: what a neat, little owl!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2009 : 09:01:07 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
I think that you are correct, although I'm not sure if it's the Northern or the Southern.
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Me neither. However, the Japanese story featured South Africa in its story. The idea I got from the timing in the video was that this was the country of origin of the owl. That's why I'm guessing it's the Southern instead of the Northern. |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2009 : 09:20:35 [Permalink]
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| I think I've seen him referred to as Southern White-faced Scops-owl on other sites |
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| Edited by - On fire for Christ on 01/18/2009 09:24:10 |
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The Rat
SFN Regular
Canada
1370 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 06:53:00 [Permalink]
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| Originally posted by Dave W.I think she's trying to look like a tree trunk. |
I haven't watched the vid yet, but the Long-eared owl, Asio otus, will do that. They tend to blend in with the bark, and will often perch at a slight angle with one 'ear' tuft raised and the other down, making them look like the base of a broken tree limb. |
Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.
You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II
Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590 |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2009 : 14:12:09 [Permalink]
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Velly intralesting! Owl feels threatened, kicks in defensive mechanisms... either to look more threatening or to camo itself. Either way to make itself unattractive for prey. Not unlike some creatures 'playing dead' when feeling threatened by a predator?
Great little video and interesting animal behavior. |
"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Video: Shape-shifting South African owl
