Which EDGE mammal interests you more: The giant panda or the greater bamboo lemur ? (poll)

Which mammal interests you more: The giant panda or the greater bamboo lemur?

  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
Tim May said:
I read, and enjoyed, Desmond Morris's book "Bison" in the Reaktion series but haven't yet read any of his other books in that series.

(Digressing from the main topic of this thread, Morris's bison book covers both American and European bison; this book also includes a fascinating chapter about the prehistoric cave paintings that depict bison.)
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Yes, I read that one too, it was pretty good wasn't it ?

From what I remember about what Morris said about the cave paintings he was in favour of the theory that these paintings were a form of "hunting magic" practiced by paleolithic hunter-gatherer peoples during the Ice Age.

I think that was a bit of a weakness / disappointment really in terms of his argument as there is a lot of evidence currently stacked against the paintings being done exclusively for this motive.

However, this was the dominant theory back in the 1950's and 60's and held sway until the late 1990's so I think it is understandable why Morris feels this way as for most of his career it has been seen as the only rational explanation.

Regarding other Reaktion books by Desmond Morris, I've only read "monkey" which is pretty good but another of his which looks quite interesting is "leopard".
 
Despite the fact that the giant panda is overly prevalent in culture, overemphasized and not even endangered anymore, I still find it more interesting - after all, it's ultimately a beast that has:
-Conveniently evoked the yin-yang symbol
-Transitioned into near-complete herbivory from an omnivore
-Become the largest herbivorous carnivoran
-And evolved an entire new thumb just to eat bamboo with.
While it might not deserve the pedestal it's held on today, I feel like it nevertheless does deserve to be considered to be one of the most unique mammals.
 
dinosauria said:
Despite the fact that the giant panda is overly prevalent in culture, overemphasized and not even endangered anymore, I still find it more interesting - after all, it's ultimately a beast that has:
-Conveniently evoked the yin-yang symbol
-Transitioned into near-complete herbivory from an omnivore
-Become the largest herbivorous carnivoran
-And evolved an entire new thumb just to eat bamboo with.
While it might not deserve the pedestal it's held on today, I feel like it nevertheless does deserve to be considered to be one of the most unique mammals.
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Thank you for your vote and comment @dinosauria !

Oh I agree it is definitely an interesting and singular mammal though it certainly has many contenders amongst the most unique mammal species.

Again it is actually great that you voted for the panda in this as it does add further nuance to the poll.
 
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