This is a very niche complaint, but recently there’s been another thylacine sighting photo which is very fucking obviously a fox. But cryptid hunters aren’t interested in familiarizing themselves with the basic anatomy of the animal they’re trying to prove exists, they’d rather just spread misinformation and willfully ignore correct information.
Case in point: a thylacine’s metatarsals are short, very much so! as the photos in the bottom row show. Compared with the hock of a fox, the differences are obvious.
A fox with mange does look weird. When we see animals without fur they can sometimes seem alien. That’s why people still go on about the montauk monster, even though it’s very obviously a racoon. That’s why that sloth with mange was described as a strange alien creature instead of a sloth with mange.
So when one of these thylacine photos pops up, I immediately look at the hock. And 10 times out of 10, it’s a fucking fox. Mange and wishful thinking won’t make a fox into a thylacine. End of story.
We’ve talked about the potential Thylacine sightings before on the blog (I’m still pretty sure they’re truly extinct, given all current evidence) but this is a great bit of information about what you want to look for when new video or photographic evidence from a presumed sighting comes out.
shoutout to the person who cared enough to save the burrito bird bois from a major hurricane
this isn’t related to the birds but a Florida resident decided to take 40 stray cats into her home ahead of the monstrous hurricane. she provided plenty of food, water, and other resources for the cats to be safe and sound. Miami beach is apparently home to a lot of stray cats and it’s sad how not all of them can be saved, but 40 is a lot of damn cats to be one home.
so overall, shoutout to all the people who are taking in stray animals they don’t even know for the sake of their lives and safety. these generous acts of humanity is what we need in times like this
