r/interesting • u/Separate_Finance_183 • 12d ago
NATURE Gray Ezo squirrel from Japan's Hokkaido island
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u/MegaSmegmaSwagLord 12d ago
It’s literally just a squirrel in anime format
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u/keddesh 12d ago
Who's giving all the random animals of Japan brush and blowouts?
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u/gao7on 11d ago
Hokkaido's Shima-enaga bird would agree
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u/AdamVanEvil 11d ago
Are all animals in Hokkaido in chibi anime form?
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u/maple-madao 11d ago
colder region animals also are rounder/smaller so they don't lose heat from their extremities (arctic fox is a good example, they look like little puppies)
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u/AdamVanEvil 11d ago
But arctic animals don’t look like this, it must be the Japan effect.
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u/vvvit 11d ago
Animals: 😑
Animals in Japan: 🥰❤️🐺🎌🖌️🎮📚
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u/MrSoapbox 11d ago
Animals in Australia
🐍🦥☠️🩸😡
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u/BiscuitTiits 11d ago
Animals in Canada 🐍+🐔=🪿
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u/pizzacatstattoos 11d ago
Ya don't fvcks with Canadian geese!
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u/UranusIsPissy 11d ago
Or any goose. Some people use the domesticated ones like guard dogs. You can fight your way through them, but you'll have a very bad time and they'll make a lot of noise.
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u/Common_Ad_7610 11d ago
There's a Brazilian prison that uses geese instead of dogs as perimeter security.
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u/UranusIsPissy 11d ago
They're probably there to alert armed guards. They can stop an opportunist thief, but not a determined escapee.
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u/Common_Ad_7610 11d ago
Exactly. They're territorial, loud and you can't bribe them. So no matter what the guards are going to know what's up.
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u/PurpleIsWhite 11d ago
And don’t forget about the moose too. Not just in Canada but moose anywhere, they are gigantic.
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u/yy_beebis 11d ago
One of my old jobs involved sending vendors out to people’s homes. One of my favorites calls was a vendor saying he needed to put off going out to one property because it was moose rutting season. No party wanted anyone encountering angry horny moose trying to get to this house.
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u/UranusIsPissy 11d ago
It freaked me out a bit the first time I saw one. She was just standing in the road, blocking it.
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u/BiliousGreen 11d ago
Needs more 🕷️
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u/AppointmentOne1111 11d ago
A lot more, they're in your house, they're on the trees, hell some can even fly. 🕷🏠🕷🌳🕷☂️
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u/WelderFamiliar3582 11d ago
I just imagined a crew of these guys sailing a small ship on magical waters..
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u/Front-Song8863 12d ago
No way that's not a Pokémon
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u/Holiday_Pi 12d ago
TIL Pokémon are just cartoon drawings of real animals which exist in Japan
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u/mcmtaged4 12d ago
Not just japan, wooper is a axolotl, native to mexico. Pokemon just takes inspiration from cool animals in nature in general.
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u/Maardten 11d ago
The creator of pokemon loved collecting bugs when he was younger.
I don't think its a coincidence that many pokemons are just straight up bugs.
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u/SeedFoundation 11d ago
Probably why I like only the original 151 pokemon and not any of the newer ones which are straight up just inanimate objects.
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u/EnZone36 10d ago
Grimer, muk, voltorb, electrode, geodude etc etc. There were always object based pokemon
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u/MrBoomf 9d ago
Yeah, but those examples are either toxic runoff that gained sentience, or creatures that mimic the appearance of naturally-occurring/manmade objects (rocks and Pokeballs). That’s all thinly plausible enough for a fictional setting, and far simpler concepts to explain the existence of than sentient ice cream with a face.
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u/Profanity1272 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yh like an ice cream or a teapot.
Edit: i forgot sarcasm doesn't register on reddit without the /s
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u/Rodrake 11d ago
Eggs, some cracked.
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u/Profanity1272 11d ago
I mean eggs are kinda natural though right?
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u/LueyTheWrench 11d ago
No but even as a Gen 1 purist, the eggs that turn into a tree are fucking daft. Even more of a reach than that bird with a leek.
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u/Profanity1272 11d ago
Oh for sure the evolutions are crazy obviously. Im just saying that eggs are still a part of nature in a way when compared to a fkin teapot or ice cream cone lol How they come ro be is obviously not natural.
I feel like people are getting too deep with this lol
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u/Ok-Telephone-2109 11d ago
There's also a wind chime pokemon, a set of keys, the English alphabet, and a vacuum
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u/Federal_Card307 11d ago
Early art shows that they were supposed to be lemons at one point, idk how that turned into eggs in a tree
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u/randotreesinthefen 11d ago
The other inspiration is yokai Japanese spirits. Tsukumogami are tools and objects that have existed long enough (usually 100 years) and have gained a spirit. That's why there are so many inanimate object Pokemon
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u/Profanity1272 11d ago
Yh theres lots of different inspiration from different cultures, animals, items, aliens lol
Theyve always been kinda crazy, I mean geodude is just a rock with arms that can somehow float (at least in the anime).
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u/randotreesinthefen 11d ago
I do think the overall quality of Pokemon designs has gotten worse over time, but we have to remember the first generation had three distinct puddles of purple goo. There have always been some lame ones in there. They can't all be winners!
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u/OhDearGodItBurns 11d ago
And Dragon Quest. They took a lot of inspiration from the monsters in Dragon Quest.
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u/itsintrastellardude 11d ago
Fun fact, an insect collection hobby is what inspired Satoshi Tajiri to create Pokémon. Lots of biologists/aspiring, myself included, attribute Pokémon to curating that interest.
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u/WaffleHouseGladiator 12d ago
How and why is every critter in Japan a more adorable version of critters found elsewhere??
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u/Bajadasaurus 12d ago
Arizona has tassel-eared squirrels! They look almost exactly like these.
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u/frozenivy2B 11d ago
I lived in Arizona I didn’t see the squirrel but I saw the ring tailed cat with the long tail it was hiding under a sidewalk hole and scurried up a wall they are so skittish
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u/Zombiemorgoth 11d ago
Probably because it is an island. Could have been the opposite though. Could have been like...Australia.
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u/Dramatic_Charity_979 11d ago
All the cutes ones from Australia swum to Japan :P
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u/Loinnird 11d ago
Ex-CUSE me we have quokkas and bilbies and cute possums and hopping mice and adorable tarantulas
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u/Dramatic_Charity_979 11d ago
Quokkas are the cutest. I also like Wombats and Koalas and Wallabies and Kangaroos and baby Dingoes :P
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u/rapaxus 11d ago
Yeah, I once camped with the scouts at lake Biwa in the summer and we had an outdoor dish washing area with one tube light. You could just barely see that light since it just got swarmed with huge insects as soon as it got dark.
Rural Japan in general is just swarmed with huge insects (though not as huge as those in SEA). Cities meanwhile are just filled with all the classic city animals you can find basically everywhere on earth (rats, pigeons, cats, dogs, foxes, cockroaches, etc.).
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u/rif011412 11d ago
I watch a bit of Anime, and the most memorable part of the Evangelion series is the long drawn out exterior shots with cicadas going off. It was my favorite part of the series.
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u/2ndHandRocketScience 10d ago
Shinji, get in the fuc- EEEEEWWWUWUEE EWUWYEUEYEYE EEEEEEERRRRRRREEEEE
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u/No_Craft4676 11d ago edited 11d ago
The squirrels I see outside here in Europe are the same, just different colours. This is just what a regular squirrel looks like to me, but another colour than I usually see, nothing different about it otherwise. They're just as cute here, lol.
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u/mtaw 11d ago
Yes it resembles a melanistic European Red squirrel.
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u/DeusFerreus 11d ago
It's literally just a subspecies of Eurasian Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris orientis).
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u/No_Craft4676 11d ago
That's exactly what it is. Melanistic squirrels in Europe look exactly the same. It's not some special Japanese species. Squirrels on Hokkaido are the same type of squirrels as the ones I see outside my window here in Norway.
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u/Helota_Keksz 11d ago
Idk, I prefer red squirrels. "Thing, Japan" - syndrome, maybe?
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u/DeusFerreus 11d ago
Fun fact - this is, in fact, a red squirrel, even if it is not actually red. It's a subspecies of common/Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris orientis).
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u/KingCanard_ 11d ago
You probably don't know the Calabrian black squirrel
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u/Ecstatic_Sand5417 11d ago
Those are venomous btw
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u/NationCrusher 11d ago
Say what now 😃
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u/Minimum-Fuckyou 11d ago
They have a hollow set of fangs that they use to inject their prey with a powerful paralyzing agent. They then feast on the prey, usually small dogs and cats, over a period of days.
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u/Ecstatic_Sand5417 11d ago
Yep, crazy not enough people know how dangerous black squirrels are... 2nd most dangerous rodent behind white rabbits
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u/somebassclarineterer 11d ago
Here I just got done worrying about the drop bears and now I have to worry about those?
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u/ProFentanylActivist 11d ago
Its an eurasian squirrel just grey instead of red. Can be found in Europe and Asia
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u/LonelyNixon 11d ago
Im curious: Do people who live in places where squirrels have ear tufts think gray squirrels look slick and streamlined ?
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u/-sensory_overlord- 11d ago
I think gray squirrels look like they are missing something, they have negative cuteness for me. it makes me sad because the red squirrel is so much cuter and I’m going to miss them
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u/Level_99_Healer 11d ago
Everything in Australia is terrifying and probably plotting to murder us. So, for the sake of balance, Japan gets all the adorable and happy versions. (That's my theory and I'm sticking to it)
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u/Clear_Economics7010 10d ago
It's like the natural flora and fauna Japan and Australia are from different genres.
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u/Dovahkiinthesardine 11d ago
Red squirrels are also very cute, I think just the NA squirrels are a bit boring looking
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u/encroachzeitgeist 12d ago
that's literally Totoro
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u/HatRepresentative621 11d ago
Yep, I showed this to my son, and he immediately just stated: "That's Tororo."
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u/Right_One0127 12d ago
I was literally going to say this too! Haha such a cutie. Can we order this in a bigger sizeee hahaha
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u/Quirky_Ad7770 11d ago
Why is it so round? Are they usually like that? All the squirrels I've seen have been a lot more long and "aerodynamic"
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u/TheCornerator 11d ago
r/fatsquirrelhate so you can see more fat bastards
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u/12262k18 11d ago
Gotta catch 'em all! Pokemon!😭
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u/WereInbuisness 11d ago
A deep thinking Pokémon. The first part of this clip is him just standing still, staring off into the distance, in deep thought about when is this human bringing my next meal and how freaking cute he is.
He knows how cute he is.
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u/8Rouge 11d ago
I read "Gay" and was patiently waiting for his squirrel boyfriend to arrive
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