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<title>Animal Sacrifices Recent Updates</title>
<description>The last update of the comic.</description>
<link>http://www.drunkduck.com/Animal_Sacrifices/</link>
<language>en-us</language>


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<title>megaloceros</title>
<description><![CDATA[Megaloceros is extinct. More commonly known as the “Irish Elk,” it was actually a deer (largest ever known), not an elk. It lived during the ice age, and the bucks had outstanding antlers that could grow up to 12 feet wide from tip to tip. As the ice ages ended, megaloceros died out. This is probably because as the land became warmer, more trees were growing, and with antlers that tremendously wide, bucks couldn’t move through the new forests.

Female Irish elks did not have antlers. It is believed that they preferred bucks with larger antlers that could win in fights against other bucks.

Present-day deer sometimes struggle with their antlers, as well. Though they are much smaller than megaloceros and can navigate through forests without much incident, they’re not without problems. When two bucks fight, there is a slim chance their antlers can become locked together, making them vulnerable. If they don’t get free, they’ll starve to death or be attacked by predators. ]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<link>http://www.drunkduck.com/Animal_Sacrifices/?p=189259</link>
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<item>
<title>babirusa</title>
<description><![CDATA[Babirusas might be the most extreme case of sexual burden of all. Males have tusks that grow from their lower jaw until they pierce the roof of his mouth, and continue to grow towards the forehead. If they grow long enough, they can even pierce his skull and kill him. Male babirusas use their tusks to fight with each other over the right to mate with females.

Babirusas have the only known natural puncture in animals, which medical researchers are trying to study. When a babirusa’s tusks puncture his mouth, the holes do not get infected. The researchers hope to fully discover how it works so they can apply it to human medical research. ]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<link>http://www.drunkduck.com/Animal_Sacrifices/?p=189258</link>
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<item>
<title>sage grouse</title>
<description><![CDATA[Sage grouse, like peafowl, have very elaborate males and very plain females. The males have two sacs on their throat that they rapidly puff out, which creates a sound that carries for miles. They do this repeatedly during elaborate courtship dances, in which females select the male whose dance they like best. Unfortunately for male sage grouse, they are also prime targets for predators. Female sage grouse have excellent camouflage and a higher survival rate, and outnumber the males. ]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<link>http://www.drunkduck.com/Animal_Sacrifices/?p=189257</link>
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<item>
<title>peacock</title>
<description><![CDATA[Male peafowl (peacocks) are well-known for their large and colorful tail. It is used to attract peahens, who are brown and dull in comparison, and have very short tails. Most birds lose the sheen and evenness of their plumage if their health goes down, so a peacock’s tail often signals his health. Peacocks with the largest and brightest plumage are often the healthiest. However, their elaborate tail carries a price. When a peacock’s tail is not fanned in display, it folds and drags heavily on the ground behind him, limiting his movement. It also weighs him down when he flies, so peacocks tend to only fly for short distances and spend most of their time on the ground. In a worst-case scenario, a tiger or other predator might spot the peacock’s bright plumage and attack it, since peacocks are not very fast or agile. Peacocks are one of the tiger’s main prey sources. ]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<link>http://www.drunkduck.com/Animal_Sacrifices/?p=189256</link>
</item>

<item>
<title>fiddler crab</title>
<description><![CDATA[The male fiddler crab’s large claw (also called a cheliped), is used for courtship and signaling. It is clearly visible from a distance as the crab waves it up and down to attract females. Depending on the species, even if a male fiddler crab loses his cheliped, his other claw will grow to become a giant one, and the lost claw will regenerate into a small one; or he’ll simply grow a large claw from the same place.

There is a downside to having one giant claw. It is too large to pick up food efficiently, so he can only eat with his smaller claw. Fiddler crabs use their smaller claw to bring bits of sediment to their mouth and sift out anything edible. If a male fiddler crab had two giant claws or no smaller claw, it would be unable to feed itself. Since female fiddler crabs have two small claws, it can forage twice as efficiently as the males. ]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
<link>http://www.drunkduck.com/Animal_Sacrifices/?p=189255</link>
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