The adorable pictures thread.

[Darth Geek]

So he's destined to grow up to be a plumber?

[Tripe]

They are notoriously shy around humans, beating their tails and chattering their teeth to try to warn us off before emitting loud whistles to tell other members of their colony to flee.
But when these alpine marmots see Matteo Walch, they scuttle to his side and show him nothing but affection.
The eight-year-old built up a remarkable relationship with the creatures since first being taken to see them by his nature-loving family four years ago
Read more

[goflyblind]

http://io9.com/5939385/science-demands-that-you-stop-calling-this-kid-the-marmot-whisperer

[Tripe]

Just thought it was a set of cute pics and posted (like I do when possible) the source of said pics.

[goflyblind]

and i was just pointing out that, cute though the pictures may be, the story behind them isn't as amazing as the source describes.

[Tripe]

I'm not sure the criticism is all that valid though; food is a pretty universal icebreaker and reinforcer, he's a little kid right now, if he likes them as much as he seems to he could actually become someone who really knows the species as he grows older.

There's a touch of Columbus's Egg going on in the IO9 response really.

[Tripe]

The IO9 article does bring us this lovely pic again though:

Reminds me of the rabbit I had as a nipper; same breed, just not as massive.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

There's a touch of Columbus's Egg going on in the IO9 response really.

More than a touch, it's pretty much stated outright.

Some scientist should do a study on how the kid interacts with them, to see if they recognize him every year or even anticipate his arrival.  If they are just starting to become habituated it's a good time to study that process.

I'm sure it is a lot like foxes here, they used to be quite shy but as urban areas spread they have been forced to adapt and live with humans close to their dens.  I don't know of any cases of wild ones being outright friendly yet but I'm sure it will happen eventually since they can become pets if captured young enough or raised in captivity.

[Tripe]

I'm British, we understate things.

I love the fox studies, I'll try to find the pic from Smithsonian a couple years back, that showed the recent generations from the Russian study.

EDIT: Here we go -

[MartyS (Gromit)]

So that study is still going on?  I had read about it a long time ago, the breed of fox they started with was extremely aggressive.

[Tripe]

It was as of 2001 but I'm not sure after that. The silver fox is interesting being how it's a Red Fox variant and that red colouration reasserts itself after a few generations (as well as other colour combinations).

They also had a facility of really aggressive feckers that came out in the succeeding generations in addition to the tamer ones. Sort of like the Demons and Angels episode of Red Dwarf.

[wurwolf]

Someone's ready for fall.

[goflyblind]

[RoninFox]

I'm British, we understate things.

I love the fox studies, I'll try to find the pic from Smithsonian a couple years back, that showed the recent generations from the Russian study.

EDIT: Here we go -

I will have one of these someday, damn it.

[goflyblind]

a middle-aged russian woman?