A primate species that looks like a living, breathing version of the Furby electronic toy has been found alive in the forested highlands of an Indonesian island for the first time in more than 70 years, scientists announced Tuesday.
Three specimens of the pygmy tarsier, a nocturnal creature about the size of a small mouse, were trapped and tracked this summer on Mount Rorekatimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Texas A&M University reported.
Click here for the full article.
I bet you didn’t know the bloody history of the war between the Pygmy Tarsiers and the Furbys, did you?
Furbys arrived on our planet about 100 years ago, after escaping the dying planet Urglokh. They are descended from an organic race of creatures that bear an eerie resemblance to Pygmy Tarsiers.
A few thousand years prior to the Furbys mass exodus, their advanced biomechanic studies achieved the full integration of their minds with robotic bodies. The Furbys abandoned their organic bodies and adopted the robotic ones, because the atmosphere of their world was becoming too harsh for their small, weak, natural bodies to handle. You see, the two suns that circled Urglokh had grown huge with age, and threatened to overwhelm their planet. The burning daytime heat and brutal nighttime freezes had already killed millions of Furbys. But now, equipped with their new robotic bodies, the remaining Furbys’ minds would live on forever.
So the robotic Furbys abandoned their planet, boarded a starship, and searched the galaxies for years to find a new home. They lived quite happily in space because they had plenty of time to spend on their favorite pastimes: singing songs, making up new words, telling stories, and contemplating science and the mysteries of the cosmos.
Finally, after many adventures, near-tragedies, and a few dramatic romances in space, the Furbys found PLANET EARTH. After carefully inspecting the flora, fauna, etc. of Earth, the Furbys celebrated by singing songs for days on end, overjoyed at finally finding a planet that so closely resembled their own. “Live, live, live! We can live, live, live RIGHT HERE! Right here! We can live! We can live, live, live RIGHT HERE!” they sang.
The Furbys did not yet know about Wekiko, the king of the Pygmy Tarsiers, and his mighty wrath.
The Furbys built a community in the jungle, and for a few years lived peacefully. But they were being watched – watched by disproportionately huge eyes that gazed out from small, furry little bodies, with five fingers and five toes.
Wekiko and his spies watched the Furbys day and night, gathering intelligence. Wekiko did not like the Furbys. He loathed their robotic hissing and clicking noises, and their creepy nonsense songs. He despised their synthetic fur and the burning battery smell that leaked from their backsides. He recognized them for what they were – impostor Pygmy Tarsiers. What if the children of his kingdom befriended the Furbys? What if they intermarried? Millions of mating rituals would go to waste because the Furbys, being inorganic, could not produce children. How could the Pygmy Tarsiers survive such a dilution of their species? No, this could never happen. He must destroy them before his subjects fell prey to their influence.
He called his council together, discussed the situation, and after reaching consensus, he ordered his troops to attack.
The Pygmy Tarsiers were so fierce in battle! They flipped the awkward, mechanical Furbys upside-down, temporarily disabling them. They switched the Furbys’ power buttons off, making them go to sleep. They ruined the Furbys’ burrows. Then they disappeared.
None of the Furbys died – Wekiko and the Pygmy Tarsiers weren’t THAT mean. But the Furbys did feel quite demoralized. Furbys hate violence and destruction, and really just wanted to be friends with the Pygmy Tarsiers.
Everything changed that fateful day in 1998, when a primatologist discovered the Furbys in the jungle. To make a long story short, he didn’t figure out they were aliens (the Furbys were too smart to let any humans know, because it would of course be a death sentence). Instead, he boxed them all up and sold them to Tiger Electronics (who turned around and sold over 40 million of them), making enough money to spend the rest of his life happily researching primates without ever writing another grant.
The Furbys lived contented, domestic lives, arranging secret community meetings in their spare time. They lost a few of their number to storage units and trash compactors, and a few more were cruelly set on fire for YouTube videos. But most Furbys lived quite peacefully with their human companions.
Meanwhile, Wekiko and his subject went into hiding, fleeing before human-inflicted deforestation. They waited fearfully, and mourned the loss of many fellow pygymy Tarsiers.
Now the Tarsiers have risen again, feebly but bravely, and the Furbys, lured into a false sense of safety, know that only time and distance lies between them and another attack from Wekiko and his Pygymy tarsier army.
God be with you, Furby. May you and the Pygymy Tarsier finally find the path to a peaceable co-existence.
Related articles by Zemanta
Add New Comment
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks
(Trackback URL)