Scientists discover long-lost Furby-look-alike (CNN) {pygmy tarsier, thought extinct}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Taylor Gandossy
CNN

(CNN) -- Scientists have found a wide-eyed primate -- a clawed fur ball that fits snugly in one hand -- in the first live sighting in more than 80 years of a creature that some thought was extinct.

Over a two-month period, scientists working in Lore Lindu National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi caught and released three pygmy tarsiers. They bear a striking resemblance to the Furby, an electronic toy that spoke its own fantasy language and dominated children's wish lists in the late 1990s.

They caught two males and one female, said Sharon Gursky-Doyen, a Texas A&M University anthropology professor who led the expedition. The group spotted a fourth -- high in the tree canopy -- but were unable to catch it.

The species had not been observed alive in more than eight decades, since they were collected for a museum in 1921. Many scientists had believed them to be extinct until eight years ago, when two scientists trapping rats in Sulawesi accidentally trapped and killed one.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/11/19/elusive.primate/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

1. Cute little fellas, and gals.

[MineralMan]

2. Me Nulu!

Ohhh! Big Sound! Me Nulu!

[Nihil]

6. Aww ...!

Those little hands are just so cute hanging onto the human!
:hug:

[knitter4democracy]

3. They really do look like Furby!

Weird. Very cute, though.

[MineralMan]

4. Someone gave me a Furby,

for Christmas, which I did not train. However, since it was a family member, I hung on to it. I left the batteries in the thing.

So, my wife and I moved to Minnesota, from California. We bought a 24' moving truck from Uhaul and packed all our crap in it for the move. Somewhere in the truck was a box with the stupid Furby in it. Every time I opened the back of the truck when we stopped for the night, the Furby went off on its newborn Furbish babble, and kept it up. I guess I flipped its switch when I packed it.

Since we were staying in motels on the trip (which took 6 days) every evening and every night, I had to listen to the thing say, "Ohhh! Big Sound! Me Nulu!" over and over again, triggered by the noise of the door to the back of the truck opening.

Drove me nuts. I donated the noxious thing to Goodwill as soon as we arrived in Minnesota.

[mcg]

5. Speaking of tarsiers: Dramatic Tarsier (youtube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTN2W-uZzLk

[jberryhill]

7. They taste great

You can grill them with a little ginger powder and cumin rub.

Wonderful appetizer.

[Ready4Change]

8. Electronics give me gas.

What? You didn't mean the Furby? :D