From: dwayne (dwayne@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Apr 14 2002 - 12:15:27 MDT
Dan Clemmensen wrote:
>
> spike66 wrote:
>
> > Eugen Leitl wrote:
> >
> >> Um, please don't compare apples with wombats here...
> >>
> > Hey, yea, wombats! Is a wombat big enough to carry a camera
> > into a battle zone? Great idea Gene! Isn't that one of those Australia
> > things? Has anyone ever actually *seen* a wombat? Are there any
> > wombat preservation societies? spike
> >
> >
> >
> I was hoping that one of our Australians would comment.
I was going to but his comment annoyed me:
> > Has anyone ever actually *seen* a wombat?
so ignored it.
> We Americans do not have an understanding of Australian wildlife.
> The following may be incorrect. It comes from fuzzy recollections of
> a brief trip to Australia in the early '80s.
>
> Wombats are about the size and shape of a medium-sized pig.
Aren't pigs huge?
they are the size of a medium-sized dog, I'd say.
> They
> are slow-moving and are not considered to be very smart: calling
> someone a wombat is NOT a compliment.
Unless you are a bloke, in which case the phrase "eats roots and leaves" is
hugely complimentary.
> Australians on the east
> cost run into wombats on the highways approximately as often as
> we in the suburban Washington DC area run into deer. However,
> since wombats are considerably heavier and more compact than deer,
> the damage to vehicles is considerably more severe.
>
> If we are going to use Australian wildlife as battlefield observers,
> I thinks wallabies are a better choice.
I have heard of wombats derailing trains and then wandering off into the bush,
annoyed.
Wombats would make great battlefield observers, although they are a bit low to
the ground.
I'm not even going to *look* at the animal liberation aspects of this horrible
idea.
Dwayne
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