Moose

2024

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_shrew

• the smallest known extant mammal by mass
• high surface area to volume ratio; needs super fast metabolism to avoid hypothermia
  • resting heart rate: 25 beats per second
  • eats 1.5 – 2x its body weight per day
  • will torpor if it gets cold
    • warms itself back up by shivering at 58 muscle contractions per second, thus heating itself 0.83 °C per minute

• they make chirping and clicking sounds
• groom themselves constantly when not eating
• can hunt prey of insects, larvae, worms, etc as big as themselves
• Mothers guide blind babies in a train of babies holding each other's tails (caravanning)

people love to post those "people online: 'something objectionable, weird, or obtuse', people irl: 'hey hows it going'" posts and i gotta say i don't get em at all. many people i have encountered directly in the flesh, inhabiting physical space and walking the real streets, say the most wildass shit totally unprompted

some things that have just been Said Directly To Me:

-"you remind me of the Undertaker"

-a full theory of a plot to destroy christianity in america (but like a weirder one than i usually hear people get weird about)

-the same joke about how a guy is supposed to put dirt on his cat, 5 times with slightly more intensity, by a guy who had been recommended diatomaceous earth as a flea control option that didnt risk poisoning his kid. we surely just didnt get it the first time and would laugh uproariously if we simply understood (the full joke was just "you're telling me i need to put DIRT on my CAT?!")

-lots of wildass racist shit that im not interested in repeating

-a very direct query from a little old lady about whether i paint my nails because im gay. im still not sure if she was trying to be shitty about it or not, i just answered truthfully at the time

and thats just a few that i remember off the top o my head