Well, today was a long day, but New Grange was interesting, and I put my name in the lottery for this year’s viewing of the Midwinter sunrise, so I have a very small chance of getting to see that this year, which would be neat, even if it does mean being up before sunrise. I want to work on other things with the energy I have left, this evening, so instead you get another casual geographic video.

I’ve always liked the weasel family (Mustelidae), partly because they’re all pretty cute, and partly because they are, as a group of creatures, apparently unable to feel fear. Pretty much all of them have a reputation for attacking animals much larger than themselves, and while they do clearly have sense of self-preservation, it often doesn’t seem like it. The honey badger is probably the most “viral” of the lot, for its resistance to venom and its willingness to attack just about anything, but the reality is that while I don’t know if the others have any venom resistance, they all act like they do.

Case in point, the giant river otter. The rest of my family got to see some of these when my parents were visiting my brother’s family in Peru, and I’m very jealous. Remember how I said that mustelids don’t seem to have a sense of self-preservation? Part of the reason why giant river otters are endangered, is their willingness to approach humans. In general, approaching humans is a bad idea, especially if you aren’t one of them. Anyway, with all that as an introduction, let’s find out why Casual Geographic thinks they’re war criminals:

Death by otter already sounds ridiculous, but add in their squeaking, and you’ve got an incredibly surreal murder-machine.