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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 03-May-2007, 05:50 PM
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Default Mysterious animals

This could be interesting...
Unidentified sea serpent caught on tape
I wouldn't call a huge worm a sea serpent, but it is odd.

But compared to these, it's not hard...
Mystery Animals Roam Northeast Ohio
Mystery Animal in Geauga County
Mystery Animals Attract Worldwide Interest
And on the front page of the paper for a one month old story?
Never do they say that these exotic sheep/goat animals are roaming around an exotic sheep farm.
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Old 03-May-2007, 06:49 PM
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Quote:
Is it a goat? Is it a sheep? No, it's a what is that thing?
Wildlife experts haven't been able to positively identify at
least three animals spotted roaming the woods in Geauga County,
east of Cleveland, over the past few months.
Jeeze, I can't even go out for a stroll anymore without attracting national attention. It's getting baaa-ad
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Old 03-May-2007, 07:23 PM
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Cryptozoology. Interesting field.
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Old 04-May-2007, 05:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NEOWatcher View Post
This could be interesting...
Unidentified sea serpent caught on tape
I wouldn't call a huge worm a sea serpent, but it is odd.

I knew I shouldn't have gone skinny-dipping that day!
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Old 04-May-2007, 09:08 PM
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I have two words for cryptozoologists--"breeding populations."
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Old 04-May-2007, 10:06 PM
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I am going to hazard a guess at them being Dall Sheep. They are common in the mountains of Canada.
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Old 05-May-2007, 12:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NEOWatcher View Post
This could be interesting...
Unidentified sea serpent caught on tape
I wouldn't call a huge worm a sea serpent, but it is odd.

But compared to these, it's not hard...
Mystery Animals Roam Northeast Ohio
Mystery Animal in Geauga County
Mystery Animals Attract Worldwide Interest
And on the front page of the paper for a one month old story?
Never do they say that these exotic sheep/goat animals are roaming around an exotic sheep farm.
Don't know about the worm except that it doesn't appear to move quite like other sea worms I've seen.

The first of your other three links doesn't work.

The middle one, though, clearly shows pictures of two female bighorn sheep. The female horns are smaller and less curved than the male's horns. Some might think it's a Dall sheep, but the ears in the pics shown on the video are about twice the size of what they'd be if it were.

They range from Mexico to Canada, so I'm not sure why the park ranger is so unsure. At least he mentioned "goat, or sheep," though I don't know why he said "goat," as it doesn't look anything at all like a goat.
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Old 05-May-2007, 01:05 PM
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Statistically speaking there should be some fairly large critters in the oceans we haven't yet discovered. Of course it's possible we may have accidently wiped out some fairly large creatures before cateloging them.

On land you are much less likely to come across a new vertebrate bigger than a rat.
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Old 05-May-2007, 01:13 PM
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Old 05-May-2007, 03:05 PM
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Such as a new species of squid?

I'm not sure why they say "new species of anglerfish." If it can successfully breed with other anglerfish, I'd say it's just a variation within the species, not a new species entirely. Then again, I'm not a geneticist, so...

Exactly where is the line draw with respect to what's considered a "new species?" Caucasions look considerably different than Asians which look considerably different than Africans, but all can interbreed without issues, so different species, or merely a variation?
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Old 05-May-2007, 03:16 PM
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Quote:
Exactly where is the line draw with respect to what's considered a "new species?" Caucasions look considerably different than Asians which look considerably different than Africans, but all can interbreed without issues, so different species, or merely a variation?
Some people like to argue over these points very much. It's quite possible that one of these people will turn up and say that what I am saying is wrong. But I'll tell you what I learned anyway: In general animals are the same species if they produce fertile offspring in the wild. Although different groups of humans may not interbreed much "in the wild" it certainly does occur, even if some of the breeding occurs as a result of violence. So I would definitely say all humans are the same species. And when you look at how similar all human DNA is, that also makes it hard to avoid the conclusion that we are all the same species.

With the anglerfish you mentioned, the article says it's different looking. They probably don't know what it's mating habits are so they are probably assuming that it's a seperate species based upon it's anatomy.
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Old 06-May-2007, 04:33 PM
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Dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes can interbreed to varying degrees, though then normally don't.
Lions and tigers can, though only just.

Speciation is basically not a binary on/off thing where you can draw a line.
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Old 06-May-2007, 07:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HenrikOlsen View Post
Dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes can interbreed to varying degrees, though then normally don't.
Lions and tigers can, though only just.

Speciation is basically not a binary on/off thing where you can draw a line.
Quite right - the Liger - quite a monstrous, if rather interesting animal!
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Old 06-May-2007, 09:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HenrikOlsen View Post
Dogs, wolves, coyotes and foxes can interbreed to varying degrees, though then normally don't.
Lions and tigers can, though only just.

Speciation is basically not a binary on/off thing where you can draw a line.
A friend of mine said he once baby-sat a cat that was crossed with a raccoon.
I didn't have Darwin's cell number with me so I couldn't refute it. I assume it isn't possible.
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Old 07-May-2007, 01:46 PM
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I'm guessing it was a Maine Coon.with the right coloration
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Old 07-May-2007, 08:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HenrikOlsen View Post
I'm guessing it was a Maine Coon.with the right coloration
I think you've hit it right on. I've long wanted one of those but we wound up with two Himalayans and a Ragdoll instead.

While interbreeding with raccoons isn't going to happen, domestic cats have supposedly interbred with bobcats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixie-bob
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Old 07-May-2007, 09:45 PM
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I have wait until 2010 to get my "toy tiger"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyger

But I can get a Bengal or leopard now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_%28cat%29

Or a serval cross:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_%28cat%29

But a swamp lynx cross? A cat in a swamp go figure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chausie
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Old 07-May-2007, 11:09 PM
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It appears those may be actual hybrids too, unlike the Pixie-Bob.
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