First off - username/comment synergy right here.

You know, I almost wonder if it might go the other way, though. Like, if we know we're eating animals as food, do we become less likely to see them as cute? Do people tend to think lambs are less cute in Australia and New Zealand than in the US, for example?

Yikes! How big was it?

"Sewer rat might taste like pumpkin pie, but I wouldn't know because I wouldn't eat the filthy mother fucker."

Some do. Sea turtles especially. On the other hand, I have a colleague who went out and surveyed alligator snapping turtle localities in Arkansas back in the 90s, and then again just a year or two ago. And he found an old female in the exact same spot he had found her before, suggesting that this turtle had not…

I have a colleague who's from Japan. One day, while discussing our respective families, he said "My father loved horse."

Oh, they are! Many things. But those things mostly involve growing really slowly, having a really low metabolic rate, and being pretty much invulnerable to predators as adults, rather than…solving complex problems, say.

That's fair - the intro still works though. Lends some credibility.

Nice! I've seen some very strange looking shells on some of those - is yours long and skinny (for a tortoise), or still pretty round? Also, great name - you ever just call it The Thing?

OOh - what kind?

On land snappers are plenty aggressive, and it's very good advice to tell small children, with their tasty and easily-detached fingers, to stay clear.

And, in a notable handful of cases, all of the above!

MalfunctioningEddie only mentioned sea turtles, hence my emphasis. It would be rad if you had a pond with lots of sea turtles swimming around in it.

Sea turtles.

I'm a biologist who studies turtles, so I have them, both live and dead, in my lab. Add to that various communications about turtles and visits to turtle-related localities, and I couldn't tell you the last day I spent where I didn't at least see an image of a turtle. My specific situation is not particularly easy…

So, in the lowest picture, what the other flag, besides the US one? Some kind of weird Union Jack? The pattern of dark and light colors (colours?) looks wrong somehow.

To be fair, it's hard to eat anything after watching Cannibal Holocaust.

As a turtle biologist, Buffy season 4 is a lot better that its reputation implies…

People are terrible, that's what. I mean, it's not like it's a challenge or anything…

Well, let's all shell out some upvotes, keep it going!