General > Except for the Pig
Small Animal News
Sindobook:
Despite being rather visible and large in stature, the Giant Panda Long Shan, Tuan Tuan's friend, basically 'wrote the manual' for getting around places like that unabated.
Long Shan was quick to identify the different types of agents at work there and noted the properties of each. The rather hapless yellow-tailed dodo birds were loners who by and large were castaways, not known for either their intelligence or loyalty. The larger red-tailed birds were unpredictable, had a tendency to squak loudly, and were commonly at odds with other red-tailed birds. Next there were red-scaled diamondbacks, snakes with bits of white coloring and predatory, aggressive tendencies. Then you had the assorted animals who led all these guys, through a variety of methods.
Long Shan knew he stood out but that did not stop him from sneaking into the dealer's hall on several occasions. Long Shan always chose a door that was gaurded by a yellow-tailed dodo, waited for a large group to walk through, and would then join them and walk through nonchalantly. The one time that Long Shan was stopped by a yellow-tail, it was because the yellow-tail wanted his autograph which he promptly provided and then entered. Of course Long Shan denies he 'borrowed' any merchandise from dealers, using his famed 'panda hands' technique, or the 'two paw discount' technique, he claims to have spent most of his time in Artists' Alley with his buddies (not Pandas).
On day 2, the red-scaled diamondbacks came into play. These aggressive snakes were more effective than the varieties of birds at scaring away most types of small animals except for the occasional mongoose or ferret. Fortunately Long Shan understood the weaknesses of these snakes. His most basic technique was to use rapid lateral movement to bypass the snake when it was attempting to patrol a wider area that was simply not suited as a choke point. He would simply wait until the snake was occupied in scaring away a few small animals, and then use the technique of 'neither approach nor retreat', sidestepping rapidly and then advancing around the snake to bypass him. This worked well against single snakes, but when multiple snakes were involved Long Shan had to outmaneuver them on a larger scale.
While some choke points that led to panels were effectively patrolled by multiple birds, other panels had no real choke points and hence could be accessed easily. Long Shan snuck into multiple panels in this fashion and only once did a patrolling yellow-tail find him (after he sat down) and ask him to leave. So Long Shan simply left and returned a few minutes later.
Sindobook:
Yes I've been asked about it repeatedly and I didn't answer in the past because I was still gathering all the info. But now I can answer, at least in a preliminary fashion. It's not normal that I comment this much in depth on third parties, but enough people have asked and they are small animals, so it at least deserves mention.
Let me just say that, from a tactical perspective, their operations were more of a failure than a success. This was due to numerous factors, most of which can be traced back to inexperience and poor capabilities of their bunnies. The bunnies primarily stayed in one large group rather than fan out to cover more area or lower their visibility. Likewise the bunnies were ill-equipped, lacking even the most basic radios or comm gear that could have given them better communication and situational awareness. And they tended to stay in one place, waiting for the enemy to come to them, rather than run a mobile operation and try to outmaneuver their enemy.
Compare these ragtag bunnies to the mercenary red-scaled diamondbacks commanded by the unnamed "neighborhood cat L" from his bunker. The diamondbacks had everything that their bunnies didn't, they looked menacing to a bunny, they had comm gear and they used it effectively, and single snakes could act alone and use their mobility to their advantage. Even the famed Long Shan respected these diamondbacks when they were being effective (which fortunately wasn't all the time).
So essentially from a tactical perspective, the bunnies weren't able to fulfill their objective. Their main objective was to be able to operate unhindered and they couldn't do that very well. They were stopped at every turn by snakes and the occasional aggressive red-tailed dodo.
Strategically, the bunnies did a slightly better job. While far short of a victory, the bunnies did manage to force "cat L" to divert some of his mercenary snakes to deal with them. And, even after the bunnies had left, "cat L" (who most now believe is semi-psychotic) developed a high sense of paranoia and allocated additional funds in order to conduct "sweep and secure" operations in the areas the bunnies had been able to operate in. Of course the bunnies were long gone by this time, so no bunnies were found in the multiple-day operation and his money was wasted.
Ironically it may have been these ongoing operations like the wasteful "sweep and secure" that helped the Giant Panda Long Shan and others in being able to operate largely unhindered.
I don't know if we will see a repeat of this next year or not. Next year one can at least expect that there will be more bunnies, and at least some veteran bunnies who learned from their failed operations this year. The neighborhood cat L's snake army may be formidable, but they are mercenaries in the end. Long Shan's own effectiveness against these guys should demonstrate that they are not by any means unstoppable. The bunnies do have a year to train and increase their capabilities, recruit, etc. They're motivated and if they can get a good tactician or some mongooses to face down the snakes they might be able to do a better job next year.
But if nothing else, those bunnies made and will continue to make the neighborhood cat L real paranoid, and that in and of itself may be a success.
Sindobook:
Yes, I can answer that.
C's bunnies ended their operations after two days. In fact all of C's forces pulled out after two days, as had been planned far in advance.
Over the next three days, the neighborhood cat L used his mercenary snake army to conduct 'sweep and secure' operations. Mikey is pretty familiar with these things, he indicates that by small animal reckoning, the cost of these specific operations would be between 300,000 and 600,000 carrots. The current exchange rate is roughly 4 carrots to the dollar, so go figure.
Even the low estimate of 300,000 carrots is more than significant.
Mikey estimates that C's expenditures for the entire operation were roughly 150,000 to 300,000 carrots.
Sindobook:
Friday at 10:30, a one-hour panel in room 5AB. Bobo, a gopher tortoise, will host a panel with the Giant Panda Momo from the Japan National Zoo in Tokyo. The panel will include a Q&A session followed by a 'meet and greet' where attendees can meet Momo and shake hands, take photos, etc.
Sindobook:
K is a bit of an anomaly. The small animals aren't quite sure what breed she is, presumably mixed. She is a younger-to-middle-aged cat who is basically an underling of L. On the outside she is friendly to humans and also other cats. She doesn't like being ignored and will get very peeved if ignored by a person or cat when she wants attention.
Above: From an earlier post. Below: New.
Starting to understand a little bit more about K. K is very bad at all forms of math. She cannot count and has a very poor perception of time. She's cannot focus and is easily distracted. K is an avid twitter user, but she doesn't understand the character limit for twitter posts so many of her posts end up truncated and meaningless to anyone who reads them.
K is very friendly with L, she will often purr and rub up against him, sometimes grooming him. But L rarely returns the affection, he constantly spurns any advances she makes. Don't believe this behavior extends to other cats besides L.
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