[ExI] two observations

[spike]

It is seldom and delightful when I get to see something in nature I had
never seen before.  This week I saw two things.
 
My folks have a toy poodle and a housecat.  Both were outside when the
neighbors' dog strayed over (a mongrel beast) and attacked the poodle
(although without intent to slay or seriously injure.)  The poodle yelped,
resulting in the housecat charging the attacker, clearly *with* the
intention of causing maximum harm (yowling and hissing with murder in her
eye.)  In all the years I have observed pets, I have never seen a housecat
angrily attack a much larger dog.  From the usual evolutionary altruism
explanations, I don't see why the cat did this.  It is entirely possible she
thinks she is a dog, having never seen a mirror.
 
Observation 2, just today, I learned that earwigs can fly!  I never even
knew they had wings.  I wasn't sure I was believing what I saw, until I
googled and found the following comment on Wiki:
 
" Earwigs rarely fly, even though they are capable of
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_flight> flight."
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earwig
 
I have seen thousands of these things, and it wasn't until today I ever saw
one fly.
 
spike
 
 
 
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