Believe it or not, those words came out of my mouth last night.
As I would later find out (by reading the sign near the bottom of the cage), I was staring at a chinchilla. It appeared to be a cross between a rabbit, mouse, and a squirrel, with more hair than all three combined. Apparently, chinchillas have as much as 50 hairs per follicle to our 1 hair per follicle.
This was quite a revelation for me, because I thought I'd seen all manner of house pet in my thirty years: dogs, cats, snakes, mice, turtles, newts and other lizard-type things, birds, tigers, etc. Thanks to a little wikipedia research, I discovered that chinchillas are rodents; are nocturnal but adaptable to daytime living; lack the ability to sweat; and if frightened, they spray urine at their would-be assailant. A friend of my mine did that using a water gun once, but that's a different story...
Oh, and they take what are called dust bathes, where they roll around in a special kind of pumice (domesticated) or the dust of volcanic rocks (wild), to clean themselves. Because of their overabundance of hair (which is resistant to fleas), they shouldn't get wet.
No joke, but the one I saw last night was able to leap four feet into the air without a running start. I shouldn't say that, because the 76ers might try to sign it.
It would have been great to bring it home, but our German Shorthaired Pointer would have probably scared it to death.
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Ah yes, we were in fact totally mesmerized by the chinchilla's antics for about 15 minutes in Petsmart last night. I don't know what was more upsetting for me - realizing that you REALLY didn't know what a real raccoon actually looks like, or realizing that you you were seriously considering the ramifications of bringing the chinchilla home. It is a rodent, after all, no matter how cool.
Dear-
Raccoon was the first thing that leapt to mind, when I spotted the chinchilla from fifteen feet away and saw that strange looking tail and tiny paws.
But seriously, all kidding aside, maybe we could find a home for it in the library....
Wow, I hope you guys get a chinchilla, really. I would want to come over every night. I promise I won't use a high-pitched voice anywhere near it.
Nick,
You should consider getting one yourself. They're nocturnal creatures, so it'd be up if you had trouble falling asleep.
BTW, I take back what I said. LOST isn't the greatest show on TV. It's Battlestar Galactica.
Brian, I really need to take you camping.
Nate -
South America's pretty far if we want to catch some wild chinchillas.
Nate - y'know, I was just watching one of our cats interact with a bug on the floor and I was thinking about how cool nature is. Then I thought, Man, I should really go camping or hiking with Nate sometime. Let's all go and find us some cool animals to spy.
Brian - I was totally going to tell you the same thing about BSG. Just wait until you get to season four. Last night was an amazing hour of television. I'm really glad you're watching in order, though. It'll be worth the wait.
You boys have fun camping. I'll be in the comfort of my own living room, playing Guitar Hero and drinking home brew, before I go upstairs to sleep in my bed for the night.
Nick - Yeah, definitely a good choice to watch in order. I'm amazed at how tight the writing is on BG. Always something interesting going on in that show, fully-realized characters, etc. For me, what makes BG so great is that it tackles all the big questions: human nature, faith, religion, politics, government, science, philosophy.
POSTSCRIPT -
We were near PetSmart again yesterday afternoon, so I stopped by to the see the little guy. He was hanging out in his makeshift burrow, not moving or coming out. I waited for a few minutes, kept asking myself when the hell he was going to come out and show me some more of his antics, when I remembered that chinchillas are nocturnal creatures. Good times, good times.
Brian, your last comment showed up in my gmail. Because Google's constantly looking over my shoulder, it produced an ad that I believe they somehow linked to your desire for a chinchilla.
http://www.theroozoo.com/
Nate,
The internet's a strange, strange place. But how awesome would it be to have a kangaroo running around in the backyard. Adrian McKinty sees them fairly regularly, I think.
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