Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, but sometimes you
can get a handle on it all the same, especially if your family is a root of one
your problems, I reckon. If it is not… just look at the Ahmed Arbery case – I tend
to stay away from such discussions, but I have to admit that his life took the
worst turn ever, and he died.
…I do not know if A.A. was as great, good, and everything
that the mass media claims that he is, etc., etc. However, I have to admit that
secondly, giving this case a racial angle is the last thing that the States
need right now, what with the COVID-19 lockdown-charged atmosphere and all,
(cough elections-2020 cough), and firstly? Not only A.A. probably didn’t
deserve to die, but also the way that cops and the legal system have handled
this case? It was bad and now it will get worse… and it will make the COVID-19
lockdown-charged atmosphere even worse. (Cough elections-2020 cough). Anything
else?
Aside from the fact that I am beginning to have a strong
dislike for Doug Ford, the premier of the province of Ontario for Canada-related
reasons? I wanted to talk about the ibex today. Contrary to how its’ name
sounds, this is no bird relative of the ibis
that we’ve discussed last month, but rather a common name for several Old World
mountain goats. Pause.
Now, in North America, the name mountain goat is reserved
for the Rocky Mountain goat, aka Oreamnos
americanus. This is a mammal with noticeably white fur, and sharp, but
short and thin black horns. While it does belong in the general subfamily of
the wild sheep and goats, it has its’ own genus and as such it stands apart
from the rest of the Caprinae subfamily’s members. The ibexes look very
different from it.
To wit: their fur is shorter, and it is usually isn’t white,
because while the ibex species do live in the mountains, they are usually aren’t
found as high as the Rocky Mountain goat dwells, not to mention that while some
of those species are Eurasian, the others are found in North and East Africa
instead – a continent not very much known for its’ snows, not even in winter.
Yes, some African mountain ranges do
have snow, but the ibexes actually usually are
not found there – they like heat better than cold, it seems. The markhor of
Asia is a cold-adapted mountain mammal, but it is one Eurasian mountain goat
that is not usually called an ibex.
Why? Possibly because of its’ horns – the markhor’s horns are shaped like
corkscrews, (not unlike the horns of some of the antelope species, but the
markhor is only distantly related to them), while the ibexes’ horns are
recurved as the scimitar blades are, with transverse ridges at the front end. The
wild goat proper – one of the ancestors of the domestic goat – usually is not
called an ibex, even though it has the appropriate horns – but it has
subspecies, which are called… the bezoar ibex and the Sindh ibex, and that is
the reason why we need scientific names – to make sense of the non-scientific
ones.
…Yes, the bezoar brings us to the first book and movie of
the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise – in the very first ‘Harry meets Snape’ meeting,
Snape asked Harry as to where he can find the bezoar and what it is. The bezoar
is a magical (fictional) stone that is supposed to heal its owner from any
snake’s venom, and the wild goat that is usually associated with it is the aforementioned
markhor, which is supposed to be a designated snake-slayer and –eater, which is
certainly a fairy tale hocus…which makes it an appropriate member of the
HP-universe, I suppose. If we ever get another Harry Potter- okay, a Newt
Scamander movie, maybe we’ll get to see a markhor there – it is certainly
bizarre- and magical-looking with its’ horns. Anything else?
Just that the markhor may have been one of the ancestors of
the domestic Angora goat, (which gives us as the mohair wool) on one hand, and
on the other? People may have already seen the markhor – as the snow leopard
hunted it on David Attenborough’s ‘Planet Earth’ way back in the early 2000s –
but we digress. A markhor is not an ibex, apparently, and that is that.
…Moreover, for now, this is it. See you all soon!
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