Woman stalked by one-eyed emu (and cat/possum lagniappe)

January 26, 2015 • 3:30 pm

Here’s a total wuss freaking out about a hungry, one-eyed emu in a safari park in Tennessee. She even calls it “dude,” an offense for which she should be roundly pecked.

Why didn’t she just roll up the window?

Here’s a cat with its head stuck in a plastic cup. A d*g comes by and apparently rescues the moggie from its predicament. Question: was the dog really trying to help? Nearly 500,000 YouTube views in the last two days suggest “yes.”

As a extra special treat, here are baby opossums eating watermelon:

h/t: Larry

49 thoughts on “Woman stalked by one-eyed emu (and cat/possum lagniappe)”

  2. Did she call the buffalo “water moccasins”?

    And why didn’t the person with the camera help the cat and instead leave it for the dog to do the right thing?

    b&

  3. Geeze – some people just dopey and should not be allowed near non-humans. Confusing cape buffalo with water moccasins is fairly amazing.

    2. You got it all wrong, it’s what water buffalo’s wear on their hooves! Tch, I thought everyone knew that.

  7. Is it just me? I really can’t stand people who carry on like the person in the emu video. They drive me up the wall! Poor animals.

    And like Ben, I thought the person with the camera should have helped the cat instead of leaving it for the dog – good thing one animal in the family had some kindness.

    The possums are very very cute.

    2. How does someone that stupid find their way home? And why post a video to show how stupid your are? Perhaps because I grew up in farm country, I’ve always been very careful about putting my hand near the mouths of animals — especially wild ones!

    3. I was just hoping the person with the camera hadn’t put the cup there in the first place!

  9. I was running through the woods today and two squirrels (they’re evil I tell you!) ran between my feet, causing me to trip and do a header into the ground. I swear I heard the little bastards high-fiving and giggling behind the bushes.

    1. Well, they were probably rushing in to protect you from the bear that was chasing you.

  10. Usually Emus are just really curious and like shiny things like jewellery. I remember being chased by some emus when I was young.
    They are really fast, you can’t outrun them but they are no real threat. Cassowaries on the other hand are mean bastards.

  11. Emus are surprisingly easy to deter.
    They defer to the tallest.
    You put one arm straight up thus becoming much taller,and they will back off…you must keep it up until they are well away.

    1. Good thing one arm will do the trick. That saves the other arm for steering the car. (snicker…. I can just picture that screeching banshee woman now….)

    2. My mom was chased by one in an open park several decades ago (she was on foot and could not simply roll up a window: think petting zoo, only with emus and such). I think she would’ve been very, very interested in that info, because from her stories I gather being rushed by a 5′ tall bird is not a pleasant experience.

  12. The possum parents must have told their kids to chew each bite 40 times. I’ve never seen watermelon masticated quite so thoroughly.

    Tangentially, ever since PCC’s posting about seedless watermelons (some months ago), I’ve taken enormous perverse pleasure in holding them up as an example of a GMOS when I’m around a foodie purist who goes off on the evils of GMOs. Thanks, Dr. Coyne!

  13. Many years ago, I read a “piece of humor” that imagined “making” wild animals out of domestic animals when we had killed off all the wild animals. For example: an elephant was made of four cows strapped together with a piece of hose on the top front cow with a chicken attached to the hose that is taught to eat peanuts. I can’t remember all the other ones.
    Extreme black humor, right?!

    Based on the actions of this person at the Safari Park in Tennessee, I’m imagining such a park in which certain humans are selected to be the animals.

  14. So far as animals of different species really helping one another, there was a program that showed a hippopotamus chasing a crocodile in a river. Not so unusual; hippos regularly go after crocs when the crocs get too close. But in this case, the hippo went after the croc when the croc tried to grab a migrating gnu (wildebeest) that was having trouble getting out of the water onto the opposite bank after swimming across the river. What was really surprising was to see the hippo, after getting the croc away from the gnu, turn and swim over to the gnu and actually use its snout to lift the gnu onto the bank! It’s not clear why the hippo would do this, but it did.

        1. Smokedpaprika, thanks for the video and article–yes, that’s the one. It is not surprising that the hippo drove away the croc–after all, that’s good for the hippos as well as the gnu–but what is startling is how the hippo tries to help the gnu get safely onto the riverbank. It seems clear that the hippo really is out to help the gnu and that is something you don’t see very often.

          1. It’s only surprising because hippos usually act like total dicks. They’re probably no dumber than pigs or dolphins (extant phylogenetic bracket).

    2. That’s not that surprising; many herbivores will attack carnivores if they can do it safely, regardless of what the carnivore is doing and regardless of whether they are immediately threatening. Wildebeast will kill unattended lion cubs without a thought. Elephants will travel out of their way to chase sleeping lions or cheetahs off On the small scale, birds will dive bomb cats just for hanging around.

      I think instinctually it doesn’t matter whether the carnivore is eating something else or not: they see the carnivore’s very presence as a threat and so seek to drive it away (if there’s little or no danger to the herbivore).

      1. I should add that humans do this too. We drive away wolves regardless of whether they do any property damage or not, and (on the more less pleasant side), parents regularly object to convicted child molesters even living within a several mile radius of their house. In all cases its the same basic thought process: faced with an animal you expect will be a threat to you in the future, you drive it off before it becomes a threat.

  15. I think the camera operator intentionally put the cup on the cat’s head and the cat and dog are his (or rather, he’s the cat’s). Staff shouldn’t act that way.

    I bet Cyrus would save Hili if Andrzej was foolhardy enough to violate Her Majesty’s dignity for youtube notoriety.

    1. “I think the camera operator intentionally put the cup on the cat’s head ”

      That was my thought. The dog went to the cat with a pretty clear intention as if he had been trained to grab the cup.

  16. It’s really poor form to hold food in the tips of your fingers and alternately poke it at/withdraw it from an animal who’s trying to eat it. My horses have all been very gentle and friendly, but nevertheless I’m always careful to feed them apple noms and range cubes from the palm of my hand, with my fingers held out of the way. When the kids in the therapeutic riding program want to feed treats to the horses they’ve been riding, we put the noms in a small plastic tub for the child to hold, and pretty much eliminate chances for nibbled fingers.

    1. Every animal I’ve ever encountered can also tell the difference between the food they’re eating and the hand that’s holding it. Yes, of course — open palm and all the rest, not just to reduce the chances of getting accidentally nipped, but because it’s easier and more comfortable for the animal. But, even if they get exuberant and miss the food, they figure it out right quick and don’t do it again.

      b&

      1. But some can do a bit of damage before they figure it out!

        Also, some may learn that it’s a good method of getting the human to drop the food.

  17. I think the d*g was helping. It looks like a Newfoundland. Big, gentle souls, every one.

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