Saiga are a small antelope: 31.5in (~3.2 stoats) tall at the shoulder & 99lb (~200 stoats). Although small in body, they have a lot of face! The fictional Toydarians from Star Wars share this nosable, I mean NOTEABLE, feature. Males have horns up to 16in long. #StoatsAsMeasurement #2025MMM - ThreadSky

ldurgavich.bsky.social • 9 days ago

Saiga are a small antelope: 31.5in (~3.2 stoats) tall at the shoulder & 99lb (~200 stoats). Although small in body, they have a lot of face! The fictional Toydarians from Star Wars share this nosable, I mean NOTEABLE, feature. Males have horns up to 16in long. #StoatsAsMeasurement #2025MMM

Comments

natickbobcat.bsky.social•9 days ago

Hmm.

Do I dare make an ALF reference on Bluesky? #2025

marspidermonkey.bsky.social•9 days ago

Of course!

bcvammm.bsky.social•9 days ago

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

Native to South America, the Woolly Giant Rat has coarse, dense, dark gray fur, short limbs, & long, powerful claws. "Giant" in this case is a relative term, as the Woolly Giant Rat has a top weight of approx. 1.3lb (2.75 stoats). #StoatsAsMeasurement #2025MMM

pkconnors.bsky.social•5 days ago

I love the scale bar - field work at it's finest 😂🤓🐀 #2025MMM

gsabrinus.bsky.social•8 days ago

ALL HAIL THE GIANT RAT. IT IS WOOLLY AND MASSIVE #2025MMM

biologyblake.bsky.social•9 days ago

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

Tonight, in the Betpak-Dala region of Kazakhstan, Saiga is grazing on some lichen & wormwood, preferred wintertime nutrition when many of the other 80 species in his diet are less available. (Bekenov et al 1998) #2025MMM

natickbobcat.bsky.social•9 days ago

Feeling another MMM themed cocktail coming on

#2025MMM

belong813.bsky.social•9 days ago

So.
Much
Lichen

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

Between mouthfuls, Saiga looks out at his herd of 40. A couple generations ago, in 2015, 60% of the world's saiga died from a bacterial infection in only 3 weeks, but population sizes have rebounded in recent years. #2025MMM
https://www.cms.int/en/news/scientists-confirm-cause-saiga-mass-mortality-event-central-asia

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

MEANWHILE... 8,000 miles away in the Parque Nacional das Emas in central Brazil, the omnivorous Woolly Giant Rat is hunting for insects in its open grassland. Woolly Giant Rat is often active at twilight (scientific term "crepuscular") & nighttime (Bezerra et al 2007) #2025MMM

mrsroygbiv.bsky.social•9 days ago

My kids learned the term crepuscular on Dinosaur Train #2025MMM

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

❤️ PBS Kids ❤️

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

As he dashes at a beetle, #MMMagic translocates Woolly Giant Rat to Kazakhstan, where he finds himself surrounded by a forest... of thin Saiga limbs. #2025MMM

ldurgavich.bsky.social•9 days ago

Used to easily spotting the approach of predators or other animals by scanning the open landscape, Saiga skip-startles a step at the rodent in its midst. #2025MMM