Meet the Chinese "vampire" deer

[dnealy]

Originally published at: Meet the Chinese "vampire" deer | Boing Boing

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[anon59592690]

[1000YearBan]

But… they don’t hop?

[aethercowboy]

If you’re in the Northeast Ohio area, the Akron zoo has a Siberian musk deer exhibit (it’s related to the water deer and also has fangs). They’re pretty neat to see in person.

[mallyboon]

@dnealy

Do you know how much easier dating would be if we could actually smell pheromones?

I had always just assumed that humans could detect pheromones, but it appears the science on this is far from settled:

Are Human Pheromones Real?

[PsiPhiGrrrl]

Please tell me that’s not one of the places where they’ve found coronavirus in deer…

[Papasan]

[Otherbrother]

@mallyboon

I had always just assumed that humans could detect pheromones, but it appears the science on this is far from settled

Whether or not the scents of fellow humans meet the technical definition of pheromones might be a distinction without a difference based on what effects have already been proven. From your article:

So far, scientists have had some success in demonstrating that exposure to body odor can elicit responses in other humans. As in rodent research, human sweat and secretions can affect the reproductive readiness of other humans. Since the 1970s researchers have observed changes in a woman’s menstrual cycle when she is exposed to the sweat of other women. In 2011 a Florida State University group demonstrated that the scent of ovulating women could cause testosterone levels to increase in men.

[adamrice]

I have a casting of a muntjac skull, which is similar. I was very confused when I first saw it. “A deer…with fangs?”

[anon61221983]

It’s cute… but it’s no dik-dik…

y so smol I r dik-dik

[SirLoinOfBeef]

If one of these animals were to be hunted down and a keepsake trophy made of its taxidermied head, in consideration of fairness, I wonder if a different system of counting need be employed for what hunters refer to as “points.”

[GulliverFoyle]

@dnealy

Having opposable thumbs and unparalleled grey matter between our ears is pretty sweet

I dunno, I’m gonna go with mixed blessing there.

[Otherbrother]

I dunno, I’m gonna go with mixed blessing there.

Especially for those moms who need to birth babies with one of the largest skull-to-body-size ratios in the animal kingdom, combined with the pelvis that’s narrow enough to facilitate bipedal locomotion.

[HappyHead]

@dnealy

Do you know how much easier dating would be if we could actually smell pheromones?

No, wait, I take that back. That would probably be a nightmare for everyone.

As someone with a ridiculously over sensitive nose, I say this with authority: yes, it is, and no, you don’t want to.

[hecep]

I now expect these to show up in some Disney animation, with funny voices due to the tusks.

@anon61221983

It’s cute… but it’s no dik-dik…

The dik-dik’s tiny horns are cute. Imps!

[anon61221983]

@hecep

The dik-dik’s tiny horns are cute.

[hecep]

Defend the Dik-Diks!

(I see a custom tee shirt in my future.)

[Brainspore]

I guess this is officially a dik-dik pic thread now…

[anon61221983]

[Brainspore]

Beside the fact that it looks menacing, it is unclear as to why evolution chose fangs over antlers for the musk deer.

God be like: “Let’s try something different here…”