Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

[austin_dern]

The happy news first. My sister and her husband finally had the chance to send our Christmas presents out to us. They promised it'd be something which would encourage us to visit them in their new home. So it was: they bought sponsorship for a coati at the World Aquarium, in Saint Louis, located within the City Museum. I'm not positive how a coati ranks placement in a ``World Aquarium'', but Wikipedia does note the facility holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of two-headed creatures. (Eleven.)

So, happy news, and for that I tweeted about how my empire of zoo-adopted coatis was growing, what with having them in facilities near two Six Flags theme parks.

You know where this must be going.

The Popcorn Park Zoo e-mailed to report that Cocoa, the coati I'd had adopted there since skylerbunny thought of it, has died. They attribute it to old age, which as he was fifteen years old (they believe) seems plausible. He'd been at the zoo for nine years.

They've transferred my sponsorship --- I hadn't realized I was curious what was done in this case until they said what they did --- to Benny the binturong (though I could ask for another animal if I wanted). Benny was rescued from a Michigander who thought his first binturong, Shawmut, needed a companion, and learned that sometimes a pair of exotic animals brought together like that will just spend all their time fighting. I'm not sure how Benny and Shawmut got from Michigan to Ocean County, New Jersey, but such is rescue life.

Trivia: Into the 20th century naturalists were still dividing the coati into two species, Nasua sociabilis (the social coati) and Nasua solitaria (the lone coati). (The lone coatis were the adult males of the tribe; the social, every other member.) Source: Chulo: A Year Among The Coatimundis, Bil Gilbert.

Currently Reading: Mathematics: From The Birth Of Numbers, Jan Gullberg.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, "coatimundi" was the name used for the ersatz "lone coati" species, which is why it is a deprecated term.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's just as I understand it too. It's a very persistent term, though. I wonder if people don't figure the correct term simply must be the longer of two words apparently referring to the same animal, and so hypercorrect themselves. ``Coatimundi'' even has the ``mundi'' at the end looking for all the world like a latinate refinement so it looks the more scientific.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I was annoyed to notice the World Aquarium used it! Zoos can be surprisingly out of date in their taxonomy and other such information. I regularly visit zoos that still haven't noticed taxonomy changes that happened decades ago, or at least haven't bothered fixing signage to reflect this. It contributes to my perception that the alleged educational mission of zoos is a thin veneer.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

That zoos aren't better at keeping up to date shocks and confuses me. It couldn't be something ridiculous like community boards start harassing them when they try to do something like proclaim (name of popular species) isn't really a rodent, or the like? I can't imagine people being upset about that, but museum-type facilities have weird third-rail effects when they try to update things.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I'm not positive how a coati ranks placement in a ``World Aquarium'', but Wikipedia does note the facility holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of two-headed creatures.

It's the City Museum. You've.. never been there. It's like they looked at every other museum with a self-described 'eclectic collection', decided they were just posing, and decided to show them how it's really done. I'm not the least amazed to find coatis there. If they said the Coati exhibit was next to William Henry Harrison's ashes, I'd believe it.

--Chi

Sorry to hear about Cocoa.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, now, this does sound interesting and I am always intrigued by the eclectic.

If we do get to Saint Louis, likely we'll try to take it in, though the amusement park will have priority.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

"The City Museum also houses The Shoelace Factory, whose antique braiding machines makes colorful shoelaces for sale."

Even for the coaster nuts you are, trust me, the City Museum should be priority. :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

That does sound interesting, but it also sounds kind of like a Portlandia sketch. Are you sure it really exists?

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I've either been there, or to a very good holodeck simulation.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Mm, well, I'll try to keep an open mind about its reality, then.