The Emu and The Weasel
October 10, 2018 3:56 PM   Subscribe

 
Oh, sorry, forgot to add that viewing with the volume up is recommended.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:58 PM on October 10, 2018 [6 favorites]


EMUS

my nemeses
posted by poffin boffin at 3:59 PM on October 10, 2018 [7 favorites]


I know your username is based on the pokemon food but now I really want to see a Puffin’s reaction to a weasel ball
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:07 PM on October 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


They're scared out of their minds and are trying to intimidate the weasel ball into running away.

Pretty hilarious assuming one of them doesn't drop dead from whatever the avian equivalent of adrenaline is.
posted by GuyZero at 4:08 PM on October 10, 2018 [4 favorites]


Was hoping for real weasels. Was disappont.
posted by Caduceus at 4:18 PM on October 10, 2018 [6 favorites]


oh, this is a classic! thank you for posting this, it has been years since I've last seen it and now I'm in tears from laughter.
nature, what have you done!
posted by bigendian at 4:21 PM on October 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


Old and tired: Dance like nobody is watching.

Up and coming: Dance like an ostrich being poorly recorded on a GoPro.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:22 PM on October 10, 2018 [6 favorites]


I regret to inform you that the weasel is dead.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:23 PM on October 10, 2018 [5 favorites]


All I can think of is Mark McKinney as the Chicken Lady.
posted by sevenless at 4:24 PM on October 10, 2018 [6 favorites]


Dance, dinosaurs, dance!
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:24 PM on October 10, 2018 [4 favorites]


Do not fuck with emus - they can rip you apart.
posted by awfurby at 4:43 PM on October 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


Four comments until deadgoated. MetaFilter! You're slipping!
posted by Scattercat at 4:43 PM on October 10, 2018 [18 favorites]


Let Them Perish For They Are Monsters
posted by poffin boffin at 4:47 PM on October 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


I can't believe Australia lost a war to these things. All they needed was a weasel ball.
posted by edheil at 4:51 PM on October 10, 2018 [5 favorites]


I love their stupid backwards knees. They make it extra funny when they hop.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:52 PM on October 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


> awfurby:
"Do not fuck with emus - they can rip you apart."

Not if I've got a weasel ball they can't.
posted by adamrice at 4:59 PM on October 10, 2018 [22 favorites]


I was afraid it was going to be mustelid testicles, and wondered...
posted by notsnot at 5:25 PM on October 10, 2018 [3 favorites]


My guess is they go absolutely ballistic.

*watches vid*

I was correct.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:29 PM on October 10, 2018


absolutely ballistic

I see you, you scamp.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:31 PM on October 10, 2018 [8 favorites]


I love their stupid backwards knees.

I have bad news.
posted by sysinfo at 6:42 PM on October 10, 2018 [6 favorites]


backwards knees fancy ankles
posted by ChuraChura at 6:43 PM on October 10, 2018 [26 favorites]


Oh no, we pedanted at the same time!
posted by ChuraChura at 6:44 PM on October 10, 2018 [9 favorites]


Tired: cankles
Wired: fankles
posted by Cogito at 6:46 PM on October 10, 2018 [7 favorites]


ChuraChura, I believe that Pedant's Rules of Order decrees that you owe me an Emu-Cola, once someone creates such a thing. Henry Martyn Pedant was... not a well man.
posted by sysinfo at 6:52 PM on October 10, 2018 [5 favorites]


Previously. But still good fun.
posted by Johnny Assay at 8:19 PM on October 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


SHHHH! WE NEED THIS NOW, NOT FIVE YEARS AGO
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:51 PM on October 10, 2018 [12 favorites]


The Previously links to the original video, which I had come here to post (since animal/"cool stuff!!" twitter accounts with no sources drive me up a wall)

The CamelsAndFriends website seems a bit defunct, but their Facebook less-so. Their Youtube channel seems to be relatively active, at least, with a lot more animals than just emus and ostriches.
posted by lesser weasel at 10:16 PM on October 10, 2018 [4 favorites]


I was not familiar with the phrase "weasel ball" and feared it was something akin to "rat king" (don't google it unless you want your day ruined). This is much better.
posted by duffell at 1:16 AM on October 11, 2018 [4 favorites]


I'm not sure that those birds are terrified so much as they're trying to intimidate the weasel ball into running away. Getting big and making feinting charges are animal behaviors that to me read as, "Fuck off before I fuck you up." It would be fair to say they're alarmed though, for sure.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:46 AM on October 11, 2018 [6 favorites]


Like, if these were rhonoceri behaving this way, we'd be saying that they looked pissed off and ready to stomp that weasel ball to bits. It's not an attitude we typically associate with birds, but big ratites can be powerfulky cantankerous creatures.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:50 AM on October 11, 2018 [5 favorites]


I was in touch with the Camels and Friends lady for YEARS because camels are my other favorite animal. She’s been having kind of a hard time. I really love seeing her films of Baby and Nessie. Nice to see her on The Blue! Thanks for posting this!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:50 AM on October 11, 2018 [3 favorites]


Oh Guy Zero, emus and Ostriches tend not to die of combat related stress. They are used to simply gutting their opponents and moving on. Preventing them from gutting an opponent causes them way more stress than weasel balls.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:55 AM on October 11, 2018 [4 favorites]


Okay, but, SERIOUSLY, they make chocobo squeaks? Really?
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 6:03 AM on October 11, 2018 [5 favorites]


(and, yes, I think it's very good that we stop to wonder nowadays if the animal in the video is stressed out unhealthily, that poor slow loris, but these girls don't seem any more stressed out than a few cats would be.)
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 6:05 AM on October 11, 2018 [2 favorites]


They protecc, but they also attacc.
posted by briank at 6:07 AM on October 11, 2018 [3 favorites]


Do not fuck with emus - they can rip you apart.

Curious if anyone has tried this with a Cassowary...
posted by zakur at 6:48 AM on October 11, 2018 [1 favorite]


Let's see how they react to a cucumber.
posted by SonInLawOfSam at 8:18 AM on October 11, 2018 [5 favorites]


emailed link to tweet to Boston Dynamics because I want to see that.
posted by klarck at 3:03 PM on October 11, 2018


So basically they do the same thing I do when I find myself locked into a bathroom with a mouse that runs over my feet.
posted by RedEmma at 3:11 PM on October 11, 2018


I recently heard an interview with a scientist who studies bird behaviour and intelligence. Unsurprisingly, the corvids are considered to be the most intelligent birds. The dumbest birds without question? Emus.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 4:43 PM on October 11, 2018 [2 favorites]


These two started life with far less graceful movement skills:
posted by twoplussix at 12:18 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


They are not having fun, it seems to me, rather they are stressed by seeing a little egg-stealing thing with a funny egg. I feel bad for them. Leave the giant flightless birds alone.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:09 AM on October 12, 2018


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