The boy cheetah at my zoo can't figure out the mating thing. Which is rather inconvenient. They've even tried instructional sessions in which their geriatric male cheetah and the mate have a go in his presence, but...he can't figure it out.

My grandparents had a gay labrador when my mom was growing up -- they kept trying to put him out there as a stud (there's a back problem that this dog didn't have that's common among labs, so his stock was pretty valuable), but he just wasn't interested. He wanted other boy labs.

The Love That Dare Not Woof Its Name.

shouldn't we be concentrating our efforts onto species that WANT to survive?

No! They're cute!

Maybe they realize they are too cute for this world, and have decided there's no place for them in it.

Am dead from panda-cute overload. Dead, dead, dead. So cute!

Is it time for the how much money are you willing to spend on items of clothing? topic again? I'm not going to give specifics, but let's just say ... lots and lots, for certain custom-made items.

Maybe they realize they are too cute for this world, and have decided there's no place for them in it.

BUT THEY'RE ADORABLE.

I am curious how much of panda endangerment is our fault and how much is they just don't care anymore -- all I know that one of the major hurdles to getting pandas to mate in captivity is they don't mate all that often even in the wild. I suspect that their low birthrate was less of a problem when we weren't encroaching on their natural habitats, since it's not like they have predators (other than us).

Nah, you're missing the point. We need to save Pandas because they are charismatic megafauna. Pandas qua pandas aren't in themselves all that valuable in the greater scheme of things (to humans); but if people care about pandas they'll try to save their habitat, and that is valuable.

Pandas, wolves, bears, whales: all way more interesting than the red-footed frog or the thistle-back spadefoot toad, or whatever. It's why the WWF has the panda on their logo and not a picture of the tiger salamander.

Actually there's a correllation between low birth rate and absence of predation -- there's a natural selection mechanism in place to make sure that pandas don't end up ruling the world, basically. Or at least stripping the bamboo forests clear.

aw man I missed Grey's Anatomy last night and, at the time, I didn't think I'd care but now I really want to see it.

ION, A Sottish distillery hopes to produce world's most alchoholic whisky:

An ancient recipe is to be used by Bruichladdich to distil with an alcoholic content of at least 92% on Islay in the Western Isles.

Managers at the firm believe it will be akin to a drink described 300 years ago by seventeenth-century travel writer Martin Martin.

"Although Martin's note hints at the dreadful consequences of sipping more than a teaspoonful, this will, I hope, have very floral qualities to it. Despite the high alcohol content, you know it's whisky."

there's a natural selection mechanism in place to make sure that pandas don't end up ruling the world, basically

They totally could. That incredible cuteness, combined with occasional carnivorous behaviour? Yikes.