Slashdot Mirror


Giant Raptor Terrorizes Alaskan Village

An anonymous reader writes "A giant raptor, rumored to have a wingspan of 14 feet, has been spotted by a number of Alaskans in the general vicinity of Manokotak. There is speculation that the beast could be a Steller's sea eagle, but Phil Schempf, of the Fish and Wildlife Service, is dubious: He says that no creature that large has flown in more than 100,000 years. Read about it in this Anchorage Daily News article, which notes that residents have been warned to keep their children indoors."

53 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Taste like chicken. by Neck_of_the_Woods · · Score: 5, Funny


    Man...just the idea of 13 foot wing span makes my lips start to twitch. UMMM....wings....hot sauce...FIRE UP THE GRILL!!!

    --
    Neck_of_the_Woods
    #/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
    1. Re:Taste like chicken. by monthos · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How does people finding this funny relate to the extinction of animals.... do you really think someone is going to see that post and go,

      OHH NOW THATS WHAT I WANT FOR DINNER!

      i doubt it, it was a joke, everyone see's it as a funny comment that has no real meaning, except for you of coarse. lighten up pal, for your own good

    2. Re:Taste like chicken. by hatchet · · Score: 2, Funny

      We kill mosquitos because they are pests
      We kill chickens because we are hungry
      We kill lions because it's fun
      We kill humans because they are pests...
      ... and because it's fun!
      by George Carlin

    3. Re:Taste like chicken. by ceejayoz · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think we need a sense of humor transplant here, stat!

      Sheesh... go into your preferences and set Funny moderations to -6, then you won't have to see funny things again on Slashdot.

    4. Re:Taste like chicken. by Neck_of_the_Woods · · Score: 2

      Your kidding right? I guess saying that I was thinking some Manetee jerky would be good the other day is wrong also.

      I am sure I am going straight to hell for that one.....weeeee.

      --
      Neck_of_the_Woods
      #/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
    5. Re:Taste like chicken. by Baikala · · Score: 3, Funny

      Bah! It's only a promo for the next lord of the rings movie.
      Next week news:
      "In a follow up of the giant eagle sightings. A climber claims to have seen a black rider on top of the bad-ass bird"

      --
      16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
  2. Move along people, nothing to see here.. by tedDancin · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. it's just our friend Steve Ballmer practising his new conference routine.

    --

    Ladies, form queue here -->
  3. obviously... by prw404 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It got frozen during the last ice age. Lucky for it global warming thawed it out...

  4. Heard it all before by jeblucas · · Score: 3, Informative
    Sounds familiar... Don't it?

    Invest in some skepticism.

    --
    blarg.
  5. 11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatross by Bob+Bitchen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Diomedea exulans has the largest wingspan, capable
    of spending several months aloft hunting the ocean
    and never touching land. They don't weigh as much as the Steller's but they are big. But they are
    exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere. Maybe one got very lost. Possibly blown off course by a hurricane. Maybe the russians have been busy with genetic experimentation. Or perhaps it's a Chernobyl migrant.

    --
    http://tinyurl.com/3t236
  6. Giant bird HOWTO: by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 4, Funny

    1: Feed pigeon massive steroid doses.
    2:
    3: Big assed bird!!!

    --
    All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
  7. The end is near! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The top of the food chain no longer belongs to mankind! Pray! Repent!

    1. Re:The end is near! by Penguinoflight · · Score: 2

      ACK! no more fried chicken!

      --
      "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
      1 John 4:14
    2. Re:The end is near! by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 5, Funny

      The top of the food chain no longer belongs to mankind!
      No worries, mate. We haven't been on the top of the chain for a while.
      Pray! Repent!
      Methinks you mean: "Repent, prey!"

    3. Re:The end is near! by dasunt · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There was a very large eagle that was native to New Zealand. It used to pray on the large flightless birds. Tended to break their legs and their necks.

      When humanity arrived, the bird went extinct. However, it might have been self defense. After all, from a bird's perspective, what's the difference between a large flightless bipedal mammal and a large flightless bipedal bird? Especially when both die when you break their neck?

      Just my 2 zorkmids,
      Dasunt

  8. Raptor by Cyno01 · · Score: 3, Funny

    i know it means bird of prey, but did anyone else think of this when they read the headline about a giant raptor?

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  9. Manokotak by rehannan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Visit the Alaska Community Database for more info on Manokotak (including a better location map).

  10. The solution to this problem.... by mshiltonj · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is how I'd deal with the problem: Listen

  11. Alternate link by Foss · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    You've got mail. Pattern baldness. - Crow
    1. Re:Alternate link by Some+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or here.

      Or a short one here.

  12. more alternate links (damn slashdot) by diesel_jackass · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot) by diesel_jackass · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here is a site with some pics of a stellar's eagle:

      http://www.muratasystem.or.jp/~dbjack/nbirds.htm

    2. Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot) by diesel_jackass · · Score: 4, Informative
    3. Re:more alternate links (damn slashdot) by GregWebb · · Score: 5, Funny

      Southwest Alaskans say bird is size of a small plane?

      OK, has anyone been observed looking up at the sky and asking 'Is it a bird? Is it a plane?'

      Sorry...

      --

      Greg

      (Inside a nuclear plant)
      Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

  13. The raptor ate my baby! by Darth+Pondo · · Score: 2, Funny

    eom

    --
    Worst. Sig. Ever!
  14. Re:When Raptors Fly!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Um, stop believing what you see in movies.

    A dictionary is sometimes useful.

    raptor n : any of numerous carnivorous birds that hunt and kill other animals [syn: bird of prey, raptorial bird]

  15. Re:It's Big Bird by diesel_jackass · · Score: 2

    hahaha!
    (I know, I know, -1 Offtopic, I'll take it)

    "Like those eggs? I made them myself! ...Right out of my body and onto your plate!"

  16. What if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...it isn't a live bird at all?

    Ok, I'll put on the tinfoil hat and ponder crazy things:

    In the past couple years someone made a model pterodactyl that flew. Add a camera and a(nother?) radio and you might have an interesting unmanned spy craft. You'd have to test this someplace before deployment of course... and if it scared people away from it might be better yet. (Though if it was too different/big it could attract attention... but then that is also useful - it can distract from something as well.)

    1. Re:What if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh come on!

      Before anything like that could happen we'd have to be living in a country country where our privacy rights were routinely ignored, where our government would lose total trust in the public and begin trampling their civil rights to proactively stop crime, and where the Armed Forces would begin using their intelligence assets to observe our own public.

      Oh wait...

  17. Re:I am completely speculating here... by ceejayoz · · Score: 4, Funny

    but could we have ourselves a Godzilla-movie-like event? Could something have been frozen, or trapped inside a cave or mountain or underground cavern with a liveable ecosystem and now is suddenly exposed to the outside?

    No.

  18. Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros by Theom · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe the russians have been busy with genetic experimentation.

    Or the chinise or the USA.

    --

    mp3: l33t term for empty.
  19. Wesley Willis sang about this giant raptor... by John+Biggabooty · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Chicken Cow by Wesley Willis

    This beast comes out when it is 25 degrees below zero
    It can rip your head off
    It can fly as high as a bird
    It can bite your face
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    This beast killed as many as 100,000 people
    Its wings can flap like a bird
    It can break a glass
    It can also stab you in the ass
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    This beast attacked my brother
    It stabbed him in the ass while he was in the cold
    His hands were frostbitten
    His hands were also numb
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    The Chicken Cow
    Rock over London, Rock on, Chicago!
    Blockbuster Video, wow, what a difference!

    --
    That's Bigboo TAY! TAY!
  20. Delta flyer by tsa · · Score: 2

    Someone with a modified delta flyer has the time of his life now.

    --

    -- Cheers!

  21. Much Needed Relief by kvn299 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As a resident of the Washington, DC area and someone who wonders if I'll live long enough to make it to my car after leaving work, I can say I needed a story like this.

    Part of me is fascinated that there might be a bird out there this large, another part of me is thinking YEAH -- BRING ON GODZILLA!

  22. Dammit Scully! by kvn299 · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is it going to take to make you believe!?

  23. Look! by Dannon · · Score: 2

    Look! Up in the sky!

    It's a bird!
    It's a plane!
    No, it's a bird the size of a small plane!

    </WeakJoke>

    --
    Good judgment comes from experience.
    Experience comes from bad judgment.
  24. Okay by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2

    Invest in some skepticism.

    Fair enough.

    "In our next story, the economic downturn hasn't been affecting everyone. Manokotak, a tiny village in Alaska has been experiencing a huge tourism boom, after villages reported sightings of a "fucking huge, pterodactyl-like beast". Asked whether he feels the creature will show itself soon to any tourists, the village mayor responded, "Sure, and you can make your chances even better by investing in a pair of official Manokotak beast-spotting binoculars. And perhaps you'd prefer to do your watching through the enormous plate-glass windows of our comfortable beast-themed Manokotak restauraunt."

    Claims that the beast is a hoax have been violently rejected by villages. One man said, "That's stupid. Who would have anything to gain in making up a story about a giant bird?"

  25. Big Pigeons and the economy by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2

    I'd say that making profit with a giant, pumped up pigeon is about as plausible as the .com business strategies.

  26. kid eating bird by uncoveror · · Score: 2

    When I was a little kid, three or four years old, my Aunt Lucy told me to stop crying, or the giant kid eating bird would hear me, and then I was done for. I was terrified for over a week. I was such a basket case that my Grandpa had to go outside with his shotgun, and pretend to shoot the kid eating bird, which he claimed was in a tree in the front yard. I am dismayed to learn that this ratptor from hell actually exists!

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  27. Re:When Raptors Fly!! by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2

    He gets an Informative tag, but no Funny?

  28. Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros by Cyno01 · · Score: 3, Funny

    maybe we've expanded our GM foods research from just veggies, great, now i have to worry about humongous chickens

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  29. Re:The truth is HERE by Cyno01 · · Score: 2

    the most plausible explanation for bigfoot, as well as the skunk ape and the yeti and all the rest, is Gigantopithecus that crossed over the land bridge from asia

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  30. Why don't birds taste like chicken? by Valdrax · · Score: 2

    Isn't it funny -- you ever notice that other bird meats don't taste like chicken? I mean, duck doesn't taste like chicken. Quail doesn't taste like chicken. Turkey doesn't taste like chicken. Ostrich doesn't even resemble chicken.

    I'm thinking that chicken just tastes like reptile.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  31. I belive it by Perdo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You only need to see one 300 pound halibut, 2000 pound moose, pumpkin the size of a truck, cabbage that you could roof your house with, ravens 4 feet tall, 30 pound king crab with 6 foot long legs and ouf course foot long buds to belive a story like this. I lived in Alaska 18 years and I do not doubt this one bit.

    Everything is bigger there.

    --

    If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.

  32. Re:The truth is HERE by great+om · · Score: 2, Funny

    actually, the most plausible explanation for the yeti and big foot is RMS :)

    --
    ------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
  33. Thunderbird by Jahf · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't remember which channel or the name of the program, but awhile back there was a documentary that discussed the Native American legend of the "Thunderbird" that correllated it to reports of a large bird that has supposedly snatched a couple of children in the last few decades.

    They theorized that a large bird may have survived extinction, but have extremely few members left alive. The bird was thought to have a wingspan betwen 12 and 20 feet.

    Might be the Nessy of the Americas, but it would be interesting to find proof. It sounds to me like these could be the same bird.

    --
    It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
  34. /back by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 2

    Citizens demand slashback for this story...

    --
    [o]_O
  35. Re:11-11.5 ft. wingspan for the Wandering Albatros by tid242 · · Score: 2
    Yea except the Albatross isn't the same color as a Bald Eagle AFAI've heard...

    Although if someone kills it to see what it is, and it is in fact an Albatross, they'll have bad luck...

    -tid242

    --

    With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. --Carl Sagan

  36. square cube law by geoswan · · Score: 2
    There is a practical limit to the size of animals. Their weight goes up as the cube of their dimensions. But the strength of their bones goes up only by the square of their dimensions. It puts a practical limit on the size of flying creatures.

    Isaac Asimove wrote one of his science essays on this. I remember reading it as a kid. I remember he calculated that a winged horse, like Pegasus, would need a wingspan of 200 feet -- just like the Gossamer Condor.

    One of the Alaskans compared the mystery bird to a Twin Otter .

    "At first I thought it was one of those old-time Otter planes," Coupchiak said. "Instead of continuing toward me, it banked to the left, and that's when I noticed it wasn't a plane."

    The bird was "something huge," he said. "The wing looks a little wider than the Otter's, maybe as long as the Otter plane."

    The Otter's wingspan is 65 feet for crying out loud.
  37. Easy by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 2

    The flightless bipedal mammal, that will hunt you down, kill your offspring and try to make you extinct if you hunt it is NOT, repeat NOT, the smartest thing to hunt - not if you're interested in your species' survival ...

    Now - we just need to tell this to the rest of humanity.

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
  38. Actually they'd say by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 2

    Is it a plane? Is it SuperMan? No! It's a BIRD!

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
  39. Nothing here, move on people by Tablizer · · Score: 2


    It is probably just a UFO with an outdated disguise database.

  40. Never saw this link mentioned by hether · · Score: 2

    International Working Groupfor the Steller's Eagle Conservation or "O-Washi-net"

    http://fadr.msu.ru/o-washinet/

    Tons of info and pictures of the birds. Though I would think that with the pattern the Steller's Eagles have, they would be easily identifiable.

    --

    Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.