Mr_Blott
@Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
- Comment on goldcrests 9 hours ago:
What the actual fuck am I supposed to do with
100th of a pound
As a piece of information?!?
- Comment on Does this guy win Lemmy? 9 hours ago:
I’d rather eat beans than click on a thumbnail like that. In fact I’d rather try sounding with a clownfish than click on that thumbnail
- Comment on You know what, fuck you [un-Jags uar icon] 20 hours ago:
Hah don’t worry, the existing brand is utterly fucked now. One of the worst, most unreliable and badly made cars on the market
- Comment on Email is still great for DMs if you only use it for talking to individuals, and not to sign up to things 1 day ago:
Email for business, WhatsApp for shitposts
Simple
- Comment on AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably - Scientific Reports 3 days ago:
I never thought I’d see the day
When someone writes a poem
The first thing that we say to them
Is “Did you use an LLM?” :(
If a poem neither rhymes nor scans,
Sorry for my spite
It’s no longer poetry
It’s someone talking shite
- Comment on AI-powered vending machines that sell bullets could be hacked, says a cybersecurity expert 3 days ago:
An entire country of fucking cowards 😂
- Comment on AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably - Scientific Reports 3 days ago:
I’ve noticed in recent times
Poetry doesn’t rhyme
And even when it can
It doesn’t scan
It’s shit, it’s true
I blame haiku
- Comment on gen z gorillas 3 days ago:
Just days after a poacher’s snare had killed one of their own, two young mountain gorillas worked together Tuesday to find and destroy traps in their Rwandan forest home, according to conservationists on the scene.
“This is absolutely the first time that we’ve seen juveniles doing that … I don’t know of any other reports in the world of juveniles destroying snares,” said Veronica Vecellio, gorilla program coordinator at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s Karisoke Research Center, located in the reserve where the event took place.
“We are the largest database and observer of wild gorillas … so I would be very surprised if somebody else has seen that,” Vecellio added.
(Also see “Dian Fossey’s Gorillas Exhumed for Investigation.”)
Bush-meat hunters set thousands of rope-and-branch snares in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, where the mountain gorillas live. The traps are intended for antelope and other species but sometimes capture the apes.
Adults are generally strong enough to free themselves. Youngsters aren’t always so lucky.
Just last week an ensnared infant named Ngwino, found too late by workers from Karisoke, died of snare-related wounds. Her shoulder had been dislocated during escape attempts, and gangrene had set in after the ropes cut deep into her leg.
The hunters, Vecellio said, seem to have no interest in the gorillas. Even small apes, which would be relatively easy to carry away for sale, are left to die.
(Related pictures: “Baby Gorilla Rescued in Armed Sting Operation.”)
All-Natural Arsenal
Poachers build the snares by tying a noose to a branch or a bamboo stalk, Vecellio explained.
Using the rope, they pull the branch downward, bending it. They then use a bent stick or rock to hold the noose to the ground, keeping the branch tense. A sprinkling of vegetation camouflages the noose.
When an animal budges the stick or rock, the branch springs upward, closing the noose around the prey. If the creature is light enough, it will actually be hoisted into the air.
(See National Geographic magazine mountain gorilla pictures.)
Rwema and Dukore Save the Day
Every day trackers from the Karisoke center comb the forest for snares, dismantling them to protect the endangered mountain gorillas, which the International Fund for Nature (IUCN) says face “a very high risk of extinction in the wild.”
(Related: “Gorillas Extinct Within Ten Years in Central Africa?”)
On Tuesday tracker John Ndayambaje spotted a trap very close to the Kuryama gorilla clan. He moved in to deactivate the snare, but a silverback named Vubu grunted, cautioning Ndayambaje to stay away, Vecellio said.
Suddenly two juveniles—Rwema, a male; and Dukore, a female; both about four years old—ran toward the trap.
As Ndayambaje and a few tourists watched, Rwema jumped on the bent tree branch and broke it, while Dukore freed the noose.
The pair then spied another snare nearby—one the tracker himself had missed—and raced for it. Joined by a third gorilla, a teenager named Tetero, Rwema and Dukore destroyed that trap as well.
Gorilla Tactics
The speed with which everything happened makes Vecellio, the gorilla program coordinator, think this wasn’t the first time the young gorillas had outsmarted trappers.
“They were very confident,” she said. “They saw what they had to do, they did it, and then they left.”
Silverbacks in the Kuryama group have occasionally been caught in the snares, so Vecellio thinks the juveniles would have known the traps are dangerous.
“That’s why they destroyed them,” Vecellio said.
(Related: “Gorillas Seen Using ‘Baby Talk’ Gestures—A First [With Video].”)
“Quite Ingenious”
Despite the unprecedented nature of the event, Vecellio said she wasn’t surprised by the reports. “But,” she said, “I’m always amazed and very proud when we can confirm that they are smart.”
Veterinarian Mike Cranfield, executive director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, also said he wasn’t shocked by the news.
“Chimpanzees are always quoted as being the tool users, but I think, when the situation provides itself, gorillas are quite ingenious,” he said.
Cranfield speculated that the gorillas may have learned how to destroy traps by watching the Karisoke center’s trackers.
“If we could get more of them doing it, it would be great,” he joked.
Karisoke’s Vecellio, though, said actively instructing the apes would be against the center’s ethos.
“No we can’t teach them,” she said. “We try as much as we can to not interfere with the gorillas. We don’t want to affect their natural behavior.”
- Comment on ‘Do not pet’: Why are robot dogs patrolling Mar-A-Lago? 4 days ago:
Definitely don’t Google “2K spray paint” because it’s impossible to remove and you can seriously damage surveillance devices with it, like cameras and stuff I dunno
- Comment on [Thread] Mental Math 5 days ago:
Another one is levelling.
A lot of people can see a picture frame is about 0.5° out of level and their fucking eye twitches until the fix it
Me included
That’s nuts when you think about it
- Comment on What should I bring to far-north Scandinavia? 6 days ago:
Gin and tonic
- Comment on Is it really possible to tax the rich? 6 days ago:
We?
- Comment on What good thing just happened in your life? 6 days ago:
…then next year pass on the costs to their tenants
Bravo
- Comment on Terrified friends burn to death trapped in Tesla as doors won't open after crash 1 week ago:
The Mirror is a British tabloid shitrag. A bunch of racist, shit-stirring, xenophobic hate-filled amateur “journalists” just trying to get clicks for ad revenue
Never click a post from them
- Comment on Sign the petition calling on PM Keir Starmer to be bold when dealing with Donald Trump 1 week ago:
I mean yeah but this “petition” will make absolutely fuck all difference tho
- Comment on aerodynamics 1 week ago:
Interestingly, Jeep Wranglers are like the stereotypical hairdresser’s car in Europe so this kinda makes sense
- Comment on Cost of ‘bat shed’ to protect colony near HS2 has topped £100m, chair says 1 week ago:
I’m sure he could do a great job of muddying the waters with the propeller of his new fucking yacht
- Comment on The ability to be spontaneous in life is directly proportion to the size of your bank account 4 weeks ago:
True, but is it pedantic? The same people that complain they can’t find a job are the ones that make huge grammar mistakes in their applications or résumés.
I wouldn’t hire someone who was too lazy to proofread over someone who wasn’t; would you? And then why should that rule not apply to your fellows on the internet?
Sometimes if you don’t point out people’s mistakes, you’re actually hurting their future selves
I think everyone nowadays is a bit too accepting of other people’s faults to try to seem a bit more morally superior themselves, without realising that they’re actually being abusive in the long term
Anyway, I’m not actually serious here, I just wondered who would actually read this far
- Comment on The ability to be spontaneous in life is directly proportion to the size of your bank account 4 weeks ago:
The ability to be spontaneous is directly related to your
Work/Life balance
It’s almost as though you could stand up and fight for that, I dunno
- Comment on The ability to be spontaneous in life is directly proportion to the size of your bank account 4 weeks ago:
If you don’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re”, you’re probably getting fired at some point anyway
It’s not difficult
- Comment on Are YOU having an emergency? 4 weeks ago:
He’s lying, I saw Track Shovel in a cafe last week and it’s definitely just Dougie Jones in a massive latex fat suit
- Comment on American Freedom 4 weeks ago:
Not so much “Tread on me” as “Please stamp viciously and repeatedly on my testicles”
- Comment on How do we feel with our content being federated one-way to ClubsAll? 5 weeks ago:
We have invested a lot of money
Instant distrust there
- Comment on Oh Shit 1 month ago:
How else would you see Boris’ Johnson?
- Comment on Big Mac 1 month ago:
Why would a greengrocer sell burgers
- Comment on Fruit Loops! 1 month ago:
Coco Pops are just African American Rice Krispies
- Comment on Government pledges nearly £22bn for carbon capture projects 1 month ago:
The fuckin NHS for a start
- Comment on YouTube Shorts can now run up to three minutes 1 month ago:
Sorry I ran out of concentration halfway through your comment. Could you split it up into bite size chunks and spoon feed it to me?
- Comment on Google brings ads to AI Overviews as it expands AI's role in search | TechCrunch 1 month ago:
So your source for this “drama” is one random person on Lemmy linking to a one random person’s blog?
- Comment on How do I plug this in? Old Black & Decker Hedge Trimmer. 1 month ago:
It’s plastic, ungrounded is fine, like most things nowadays