At the Sun Yat-Sen family home in Macau, they have a truly strange stuffed beast in a glass case. I've got a photo someplace. Let's see if I can find it.
Sun Yat-Sen family home,
Macau.
But this isn't about the place or the man: this is about the stuffed animal they have in there, because it's truly odd. Seems China has a mythical creature - kinda like the Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster - called a name like Gohali that no one believed existed until - dah dah! - it was seen and shot by the son of Sun Yat-Sen, who then had it stuffed as a gift to his family. (Luckily they had a large house, because, personally, if someone gave me a gift like this, I'd be right annoyed!)
Anyway, here it is:
Would you believe it! Took me two hours to find these and they were literally in the last place to look - in among the photos Richard sent me of our trip to Macau earlier this year, so he actually took these!
Sun Yat-Sen family home,Macau.
And here's a photo from the wall of ...
The Big Man himself.
But this isn't about the place or the man: this is about the stuffed animal they have in there, because it's truly odd. Seems China has a mythical creature - kinda like the Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster - called a name like Gohali that no one believed existed until - dah dah! - it was seen and shot by the son of Sun Yat-Sen, who then had it stuffed as a gift to his family. (Luckily they had a large house, because, personally, if someone gave me a gift like this, I'd be right annoyed!)
Anyway, here it is:
Mythical Chinese Beastin the flesh
No one could ever figure out what it was, but some determined scientist decided to find out, so had the sucker DNA tested, and the results were in the paper a fortnight back. Turns out ... its mother was a goat and its father was ... an antelope! Guess there's a not a lot of choice of breeding partners up there in whatever Chinese mountain range it was that Sun Fo was hunting in.
Mountain goats and antelopes? I'd have thought they were too genetically different to breed but it seems it's been happening up there in China for thousands of years! Except, you know, given its "mythical status", not too often!
OK, Rayna, knowing how intrigued you are about things like this, this posting is for you!
But also for Richard because he was there and curious!
And also for Baby Jane because ... well, here's a Baby Jane story:
Baby Jane's pet lamb was on heat and, because it was too young to breed, she decided to put it in with her goats so it'd be safe. But not so! "I don't know how a ram got in to it because I was so careful, but she got pregnant. But the baby was so strange and deformed I didn't know what to make of it! It only lived a few hours but ... isn't it weird?"
Keith and I both exchanged glances, rolled our eyes and tried not to laugh. And when we explained, she completely refused to believe us! Well, Jane, here's proof that it is indeed possible and that these sorts of things do happen, so ... well, when your pets are on heat, keep them away from your other pets!
Hey, maybe this is what the Bible means when it talks about separating your sheep from your goats!
Oh yeah, another weird creature that was shot in Africa a century ago which was always thought to be "the last of its kind" of a now-extinct species, was also DNA tested and turned out ... father was a horse and mother ... a zebra!
And don't get me started on the results of those 20 bonobos they tested! That one just made me shudder!
Mountain goats and antelopes? I'd have thought they were too genetically different to breed but it seems it's been happening up there in China for thousands of years! Except, you know, given its "mythical status", not too often!
OK, Rayna, knowing how intrigued you are about things like this, this posting is for you!
But also for Richard because he was there and curious!
And also for Baby Jane because ... well, here's a Baby Jane story:
Baby Jane's pet lamb was on heat and, because it was too young to breed, she decided to put it in with her goats so it'd be safe. But not so! "I don't know how a ram got in to it because I was so careful, but she got pregnant. But the baby was so strange and deformed I didn't know what to make of it! It only lived a few hours but ... isn't it weird?"
Keith and I both exchanged glances, rolled our eyes and tried not to laugh. And when we explained, she completely refused to believe us! Well, Jane, here's proof that it is indeed possible and that these sorts of things do happen, so ... well, when your pets are on heat, keep them away from your other pets!
Hey, maybe this is what the Bible means when it talks about separating your sheep from your goats!
Oh yeah, another weird creature that was shot in Africa a century ago which was always thought to be "the last of its kind" of a now-extinct species, was also DNA tested and turned out ... father was a horse and mother ... a zebra!
And don't get me started on the results of those 20 bonobos they tested! That one just made me shudder!
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