No more of that "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty" business. Nope. The three caracal kittens born June 18 at the Oregon Zoo finally have names: Mkuze (pronounced mih-KOO-zee), Binti and Aziza. Mkuze, the male, is named for an African wildlife reserve. The females have Swahili names, Binti meaning young lady daughter, and Aziza meaning gorgeous, according to the zoo. Caracals are native to the woodlands and savannas of Africa, southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. Keepers voted on the names. No word yet on when the public will have the chance to see the kittens; they've been off-exhibit since birth. However, zoo officials repeatedly have answered "late summer" in response to the question of when. Stay tuned. http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2011/08/oregon_zoo_finally_names_its_c.html
When I interned at a zoo they told me that usually when they announce names like this its just for the public. You could ask a keeper in a year "whats his name?" and they will just say "umm he has one but I don't remember it". Not to say some of the animals dont have names. A lot of them do. Oddly though, the less popular animals were the ones who had names and the more popular ones didn't have names (at least in my section of the zoo).
Little known and surprising fact: the caracal is completely deaf. The elongated ears serve the same purpose as curb feelers on a Cadillac. In addition, the caracal is unique among cats in that young are hatched from eggs which are buried up to six feet underground. Young caracals such as these can be trained to perform many household chores. barfo
Obviously you don't know much about the commerce clause. Try reading up on the supreme court and get back to me. barfo
Buried 6 feet deep? Oh come on man, we're not stupid, there's no way they can use a shovel without opposable thumbs.
The male caracal digs a narrow pit by scratching at the dirt like a housecat, and simultaneously spinning in a circle (always counterclockwise). When the pit has reached the required depth, the male deposits his sperm and dies. The female descends into the pit, lays her eggs on the body of her mate, then leaps out of the pit and kicks dirt into the hole. barfo
Most likely he's had eggs laid on him by a female caracal. How he got his spermless dead carcass out of that hole is a mystery only Al Gore can solve.
I constructed a trebuchet and shot my lifeless body out of there. It's what all the hip male caracals are doing these days. barfo
We have no official symbol, it is up to each acceptably-hot party member to display their own symbol. barfo
