NZ bat for bird of the year: "it acts more like a bird than most of our actual birds"! Is this the best trolling ever?!

[aweegc]

Just heard this on the BBC and checked the papers, it appears to be real!

"The announcement caused some consternation among New Zealanders online. “A mammal is hi-jacking the BIRD of the year competition. We want to be inclusive, but …,” commented the NZ Science Learning Hub.
“I love bats, but bats are not birds,” one Twitter user. “It’s adorable. But not a bird,” another said.
Others supported the candidacy. “Who can be mad at a bat running for NZ bird of the year when it acts more like a bird than most of our actual birds? Our only mammals think they are birds. Our birds think they are burrowing mammals,” said one person on Twitter."

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/11/consternation-in-new-zealand-as-native-bat-included-in-bird-of-the-year-poll

Is this in fact the best trolling ever? I hope so!

[aweegc]

@donquixotedelamancha

Mmm, canibalism is surprisingly often overlooked when considering alternative protein sources

With the added bonus that you can get the person to self identify as delicious before cooking, to improve their flavour.

Nicely done!

[donquixotedelamancha]

is that a typo or was there a crocodile that was also a plant?

Should have been 'others also ate plants'.

[BrandineDelRoy]

@Deliriumoftheendless

More importantly is that a typo or was there a crocodile that was also a plant?

I suspect it varied by days of the week- if they had weeks back in Crustaceous times.

[Deliriumoftheendless]

More importantly is that a typo or was there a crocodile that was also a plant?

[BrandineDelRoy]

@donquixotedelamancha

Anyone saying a bird is a descendent of dinosaurs... I give you the Tuatara, New Zealand's largest indigenous lizard-like creature, from the Triassic period around 250 million years ago.

It's a member of an order which evolved then but that doesn't mean the species is particularly old.

There were crocodiles back then too but some walked on two legs and others are plants- they weren't the crocodile species of today.

Also birds are dinosaurs.

I Googled "crocodilians walking on two legs" and the images were not nearly as funny as I had imagined.

[donquixotedelamancha]

Aren’t crocodiles also dinosaurs?

Nope. They predate dinosaurs. A lot of crocs went extinct at the end of the (IIRC) Cretaceous; Dinos and other species took a lot of their niches.

The crocs we have left are the last of a once hugely diverse group.

[KittenKong]

Aren’t crocodiles also dinosaurs?

[PigeonLittle]

Excellent!

[donquixotedelamancha]

Anyone saying a bird is a descendent of dinosaurs... I give you the Tuatara, New Zealand's largest indigenous lizard-like creature, from the Triassic period around 250 million years ago.

It's a member of an order which evolved then but that doesn't mean the species is particularly old.

There were crocodiles back then too but some walked on two legs and others are plants- they weren't the crocodile species of today.

Also birds are dinosaurs.

[Gerwurtztraminer]

Anyone saying a bird is a descendent of dinosaurs... I give you the Tuatara, New Zealand's largest indigenous lizard-like creature, from the Triassic period around 250 million years ago.

So if a bat can be a bird... can a Tuatara also identify as a bird?

Have no idea how they taste but based on looks alone I'm guessing not very nice. (Also, not annoying, endangered and not great at reproduction, so no eating them anyway).

[KimikosNightmare]

@Jaysmith71

Plenty of introduced species: Rats, mice, rabbits, foxes, deer, feral cats, and humans.

Well yes but the fact that bats are New Zealand’s only indigenous land-based mammals is rather mind- blowing.

[LobsterNapkin]

@BernardBlackMissesLangCleg

i don't think we should be glossing over the fact that one of our number goes around stewing squirrels

You'd understand if your house had ever been infested by the little boogers.

[donquixotedelamancha]

P. S. Horse is nice but dry. Squirrel genuinely tastes a bit nutty.

[donquixotedelamancha]

Indiginous generally means not introduced by humans

Usually yes but (for example) horses spread a long way from north america but remained one species because the populations were connected by lengthy migration.

[BernardBlackMissesLangCleg]

i don't think we should be glossing over the fact that one of our number goes around stewing squirrels

[donquixotedelamancha]

Is that what makes something indigenous? If it evolves into a new species?

Yes.

Wouldn't that mean everything would be indigenous given enough time?

Evolution takes a looong time but (if the ecological niche remains geographically isolated from the rest of the species) yes.

[BrandineDelRoy]

@AlfonsoTheDinosaur

And yappy dogs, which are the worst when it comes to bad manners.

There's generally not enough meat on yappy dogs to make them worth eating.

This is what my yappy dog tells me when I threaten to stew him.

[BettyFilous]

@AlfonsoTheDinosaur

And yappy dogs, which are the worst when it comes to bad manners.

There's generally not enough meat on yappy dogs to make them worth eating.

True.

[Jaysmith71]

Ancestors flew there from Australia, like all the non-aquatic NZ birds.

Indiginous generally means not introduced by humans, but if introduced long enough agom thousands of years, you can also qualify, like Rabbits in GB and dingos in Australia.

[LobsterNapkin]

@donquixotedelamancha

But did bats evolve in NZ? Surely they flew there from somewhere else?

Presumably those particular bats evolved there.

No-one is quite certain on the origin of the first bats but it's probably North America.

Is that what makes something indigenous? If it evolves into a new species? Wouldn't that mean everything would be indigenous given enough time?

[donquixotedelamancha]

Mmm, canibalism is surprisingly often overlooked when considering alternative protein sources

With the added bonus that you can get the person to self identify as delicious before cooking, to improve their flavour.

[donquixotedelamancha]

But did bats evolve in NZ? Surely they flew there from somewhere else?

Presumably those particular bats evolved there.

No-one is quite certain on the origin of the first bats but it's probably North America.

[LobsterNapkin]

@AlfonsoTheDinosaur

And yappy dogs, which are the worst when it comes to bad manners.

There's generally not enough meat on yappy dogs to make them worth eating.

You could stew them. I've stewed squirrels and they are a lot smaller than a yap-dog.

[BernardBlackMissesLangCleg]

Mmm, canibalism is surprisingly often overlooked when considering alternative protein sources

[donquixotedelamancha]

if meat yield/annoyingness ratio is the main factor maybe we should all be investing in hippopotamus farms?

For meat to annoyingness ratio, surely we should all be eating vegans and cold callers?

Even crocs stay clear of hippos

Freshwater crocodile is nice, similar to pork. Alligator is surprisingly rubbish by comparison.