Upcoming new bunny comics i.e. Minna’s next work

[dmeck7755]

One rabbit that size wouldn't make a meal for that pack, anyway. It would be swallowed by the one who caught it; or, just maybe, taken home to cubs if the pack has small ones. And neither the coin business, nor the throwing off a bridge, makes any sense for a hunt.

But then, that's not a plain side of the coin (token? badge??), either. It's got an X on it, and a batch of dots. Maybe the other side has a more complicated decoration?

In one of the drawings the "not-plain" side is black with an X and four dots.

I am actually really confused though.  I assume the squirrel in the last panel has some meaning?

[thorny]

But the side that lands up in the coin toss has an X with 4 dots. And the wolves say that's the plain side.

At least, unless coin tosses work the other way around in that world.

[BirchTree]

BirchTree, some of the freshwater algae are edible for us too.

Hey, that's cool, I didn't know that! Do you know what they're called and if they're commercially available? I've liked the ones I tried in East Asian dishes so far and now I'm curious about these.

Intriguing new pages. I agree that this looks more like something of a ritual than a normal hunt? Maybe the wolves are meant to depict some sort of pagans who practice sacrifices to their gods 

[Dilandu]

Intriguing new pages. I agree that this looks more like something of a ritual than a normal hunt? Maybe the wolves are meant to depict some sort of pagans who practice sacrifices to their gods 

Maybe, but... the fact that hey drop prey into abyss instead of eating it looks just plainly stupid. They are carnivores. The ritual that required either releasing, or tossing away prey (i.e. wolves are losing every time!) would be biologically incomprehensible for them.

[dmeck7755]

But the side that lands up in the coin toss has an X with 4 dots. And the wolves say that's the plain side.

At least, unless coin tosses work the other way around in that world.

I was thinking plain is no color and not plain is color.  (Or Minna forgot what she wanted)

[Dilandu]

I was thinking plain is no color and not plain is color.  (Or Minna forgot what she wanted)

Actually it looks not so much as coin, but as dress button.

[Róisín]

Aphanizomenon, Spirulina, Chlorella and some other freshwater species are edible and/or medicinal, and don’t forget the large number of saltwater algae like kelp and carrageen that as well as food and medicine are used for stockfeed, explosives, dyes, fibre and more. A useful group, the algae.

My gran always said that letting the cows eat seaweed kept them healthier and made their milk more creamy. Nowadays scientists also think that adding seaweed to the diet of cattle can reduce their flatulence enough to slow down global warming. Fascinating.

BirchTree, which were the algae you have tried in food?

[wavewright62]

On cattle consuming seaweed, a link to the history of Enderby cattle: https://www.enderby.co.nz/#TheEnderbys

[Keep Looking]

Spirulina is often sold as a health food in powder form - according to wikipedia it was originally eaten in cakes by the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican peoples. According to its wikipedia article, it can be a useful food in combating malnutrition because of its high content of proteins, B-vitamins (except NOT B12) and minerals such as iron and manganese. Although it's unclear exactly how helpful taking spirulina supplements is to your diet.

[Róisín]

Keep, I suppose how useful any supplement is would depend a lot on your state of health and on how deficient your diet may be in whatever vitamins and minerals the supplement contains. Also on the individual weirdnesses of your body. For example, I have a chronic iron deficiency which is bad enough to require regular iron infusions and an occasional blood transfusion. Yes, I also take an oral iron supplement, I eat good quality red meat and a lot of dark green leafy vegetables and I know about combining haem and nonhaem iron-rich foods, and I do so. My doctors have checked for bowel cancer and other possible causes of internal bleeding - nothing found. Puzzlement all round. In recent years they have asked a lot of questions about possible exposure to radiation and chemicals, which is not impossible given some of the places I have lived and worked, but again nothing checks out. Weird and annoying. Maybe I should give that spirulina a go!

And of course the other reason for eating some of the algae, especially the saltwater ones like kombu, nori, ulve, laver and kelp, is their sheer umami deliciousness. Seaweed flakes toasted and served atop soup or rice, or used in sushi…..yum!

[BirchTree]

Thanks for the names, Róisín! I had no idea spirulina was an algae. I somehow thought it was a leafy green like kale, haha...

Ive eaten wakame, nori and kombu so far, in various Japanese and Korean dishes mostly and a few Chinese ones. I like them a lot exactly for that umami flavor you mention.

Funnily enough I also have a chronic iron deficiency though for me it's likely related to other inherited factors rather than a mystery. I wonder if that's part of why I like algae if they're high in iron?

[Dilandu]

Okay, and a new exiting episode of funny animal adventures!

* Now we have a zealot squirrel (frankly, initially I thought it's a fox), which did not understood animal locomotion. For example, that bunnies could not climb trees.

* BUNNIES STAMPEDE!!!



* Also, we have a confirmation that they are, indeed, rabbits, not hares. The question "what are so many rabbits do far outside their burrow" is left unanswered.

* A ZILLLION OF WOLVES is chasing one tiny squirrel. Either squirrels here run on enriched uranium, or there wouldn't be even one bite per wolf as a result.

* For some reason, wolves aren't exactly disappointed that squirrel escaped on the tree. I utterly fail to see, what they are planning to do. They could not climb the tree, and - lacking the opposable thumb - they hardly could hope to cut the tree down. The only thing they could theoretically do is to besiedge the tree, standing constant watch day and night, but the spending of efforts and resources would be just ridiculous in compairson to possible prize. Especially considering that tree is big enough to provide at least some food sources for squirrel (insects, bird nests, nuts, ect.), so the wolves would most likely starve long before squirrel do.

* Wolf leader is an egomaniac, very pricky about titles. Also, he is the one carrying some kind of spiked sheilds both on his shoulders and back. How exactly he is supposed to hunt with all this ammunition is a big question.

* Eyes-of-Sulfur? What the Lambheck it supposed to mean? Is wolf leader a chemist, or geologist?

* I strongly suspect that Minna is still writing under old "Alpha male wolf" theory, and did not realize, that wolf pack in natural condition - is most oftenly an extended family, with a mating pair on the top, and their childrens of several generations behind.

P.S. My prediction for what would happens next - the squirrel would start to preach about Celestial Lamb and how wolves should not hunt, and the wolf leader would die out of boredom see the Lamblight and save the squirrel, turning the whole pack against himself.

[thorny]

You couldn't tell the squirrel from a fox? I couldn't tell it from the rabbit, and had to keep peering at the details of what it was wearing to tell which of them the wolves were after. -- ok, on second look their tails are different; but their heads are exactly the same. Minna's capable of much better artwork than this. -- and why would all those wolves go after one squirrel, instead of that entire pack of rabbits? Because it's running uphill, onto rough rocky ground with lots of crevices to hide in, instead of downhill into what appears to be open ground? That makes no sense.

Rabbits don't dodge hunters by running in a straight line! they do it by being able to switch directions faster than the larger predator; and then going to ground as fast as possible.

And it would make no sense whatsoever for the rabbits to run all in a group like that. They're not buffalo, defending the weaker ones by keeping them in the herd; none of them are big enough for that to work. They'd go veering and switchbacking off in as many directions as there are rabbits.

But then, I suspect Minna's not thinking in any real way of her creatures in this story being of any species other than human; I think they're just supposed to be standins for Timid Humans, Predatory Humans, and so on. (Which also explains all the gear they haven't the hands to make or use, and also the wolves treating their pack member as one of the nastier sorts of human king; complete with having two of them stand there and fan him.) This is definitely a style of Talking Animal Writing; it just happens to be one that I strongly dislike. I'm in favor of humans putting other species in their/our writings: but they ought to be, as much as we can manage, actual other species, whether they speak human languages or not. If not at least trying to pull that off, IMO, just make them humans.

[Dilandu]

Because it's running uphill, onto rough rocky ground with lots of crevices to hide in, instead of downhill into what appears to be open ground? That makes no sense.

The only possible explanation I could come with, is that wolves aren't actually hunting, and actually performing some kind of ritual - i.e. they aren't actually interested in prey, but in the process of hunting.

Rabbits don't dodge hunters by running in a straight line! they do it by being able to switch directions faster than the larger predator; and then going to ground as fast as possible.

Exactly. Zig-zagging fast is basically rabbits patented method of survival, and they are VERY good in that. Seems that Minna have little understanding of non-pet rabbits.

And it would make no sense whatsoever for the rabbits to run all in a group like that. They're not buffalo, defending the weaker ones by keeping them in the herd; none of them are big enough for that to work. They'd go veering and switchbacking off in as many directions as there are rabbits.

Exactly. Dispersing immediately would increase the chances for survival both for the rabbit's herd and individual rabbits. They need space for fast maneuvering, after all.

But then, I suspect Minna's not thinking in any real way of her creatures in this story being of any species other than human; I think they're just supposed to be standins for Timid Humans, Predatory Humans, and so on.

I suspect, Minna just knew very little about animals & their behavior. And didn't bother to do research.

(Which also explains all the gear they haven't the hands to make or use, and also the wolves treating their pack member as one of the nastier sorts of human king; complete with having two of them stand there and fan him.) This is definitely a style of Talking Animal Writing; it just happens to be one that I strongly dislike. I'm in favor of humans putting other species in their/our writings: but they ought to be, as much as we can manage, actual other species, whether they speak human languages or not. If not at least trying to pull that off, IMO, just make them humans.

Agreed completely. If animals were at least semi-anthropomorphics (like in "Terrible Bunny Comics", AKA "Lovely Peoples"), quirks in their behavior would looks much more plausible. But animals as is fell flat in terms of metaphorical meaning. We simply do expect realistic animals to behave more like realistic animals, not as some strange mix of human-like and animal-like behavior.

[thorny]

The only possible explanation I could come with, is that wolves aren't actually hunting, and actually performing some kind of ritual - i.e. they aren't actually interested in prey, but in the process of hunting.

But one does make that comment about stupid ones tasting better; which doesn't make much sense, but does imply that they expect to eat the squirrel.

Of course, that could be part of the ritual. Or it could be said to scare the squirrel.

I suspect, Minna just knew very little about animals & their behavior. And didn't bother to do research.

What's odd, though, is that her animals in SSSS were generally convincing. And she included quite a lot of them -- another thing that I liked about SSSS.

It isn't that she can't do good animals, even when they're behaving in some non-realistic fashions (like the trained cats.) She's got the capability -- just like she's got the capability of drawing distinguishable individuals, even distinguishable to somebody like faceblind me; let alone of drawing distinguishable species! her dogs don't look like cats in SSSS, her birds of different species look like different birds --

It's as if some part of her has just gone out of gear entirely, and isn't engaged with her current work at all.