What it is it about me, Australian scientists, and the strange sex lives of weird animals? I don’t know, but here we go again.
Yazad over at AnarCapLib points to this bizarre page written by Australian grad student Wendy Cooper. While bored in the library basement one day, she stumbled upon a couple of papers studying how porcupines make love (yeah, yeah, we all know the joke). For the benefit of humanity, she has summarized the results for easy reading. Their mating rituals are interesting, to say the least. A sample of male behavior:
When placed in a cage with a female the male porcupine toured the whole area rubbing everything with his nose. He carefully smelled all items, paying closest attention to objects that had been in contact with the female and the places where she had urinated. He often walked about the cage on three legs, clutching at his genitals with his free left front paw.
Hey, if he’d gone to Vanderbilt he could have pledged DKE!
[Sorry D, after the notorious Hand Pants Man news incident of 2003 I just couldn’t resist.]
I’m unfamiliar with this “Hand Pants Man” you speak of. Sounds like someone worth meeting; what’s the story behind it all?
Comment by Anonymous — October 1, 2004 @ 8:49 am
I tried to find the video, but to no avail. The story goes back to Jared Whaley, the pledge who went on a drunken rampage and was found breaking into a federal courthouse with a stolen mail bag. That was a classic incident, too. Read about it here.
This brought some negative publicity for DKE and Vanderbilt, so one of the local news shows sent someone out to interview the DKE VP. The guy must have been a little nervous, because about half-way through the interview he suddenly lifted up his shirt with one hand and stuck his other hand down his pants, front and center. There it remained for the rest of his time on camera.
Like I said, the video is lost, but at the time it spread all over campus via AIM. Around Slant and McGill circles, the guy became forever known as Hand Pants Man.
Comment by Jacob — October 1, 2004 @ 10:53 am
Yes, I do remember that. That video was absolutely hilarious; I just didn’t know that a nickname derived from it. I remember getting an IM from one of the guys saying “other than the subject matter, tell me what’s wrong with this clip”.
I’m sure it went over just fine with common middle Tennessee folk as far as countering the negativity Vandy gets from its ‘palacial’ local reputation. I think if GW did that during the debate last night he could connect well with the union voters he has so much trouble pulling into his base.
Comment by Dante — October 1, 2004 @ 11:13 am
Yeah, it was ridiculous how the media said the Whaley indident raised “serious questions” about the Greek system.
GW pulling a Hand Pants Man would be awesome! Maybe during the town hall debate.
Comment by Jacob — October 1, 2004 @ 11:17 am
I have the video if you want it Jacob.
Comment by Julian — October 2, 2004 @ 5:06 pm