A man has been attacked by a panda at a park in southern China, after he climbed into its enclosure hoping to cuddle the creature.
The 20-year-old student had ignored warning signs and scaled a two-metre (6.5ft) barrier to get into the pen.
State media say the panda bit him on his arms and legs, and he had to be rescued by the animal's keepers.
Speaking from his hospital bed, the injured man said the panda had looked so cute he had just wanted to hug it.
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tags: giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Beijing Zoo, WoLong Panda reserve, mammals, image of the day
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No means no, even if you're a panda.
And Brent Sienna gets a sense of schadenfreude.
It must have been the sexual harassment panda.
No means no, especially if you're a panda surely!
So if he sees a young lady who looks very 'cuddleable,' would he force his attentions on her?
One of my pet peeves is this idea that cute and/or herbivore means harmless when it comes to animals. Our perception of cute is shaped throught relations with our children (seriously -- if babies were not percieved as cute by human moms, would the human race even exist?). Large eyes, small nose, oversized head, and short limbs trigger our 'cute' response.
The large eyes (well, they appear large because of the eye patches (shit, a pirate panda?)), oversized cheeks and forehead (which make the nose look smaller), relatively large head and short limbs of a panda have different evolutionary roots. Unfortunately, this asshat decided that if he percieves it as cute, cuddly, and harmless based on visual (mis)cues, it must be.
This guy was definately in the running for a Darwin Award.
I never understood where the idea of herbivores being "harmless" came from. Carnivores know they can kill you, but won't try to do so unless hungry. Herbivores have the capacity of killing carnivores. However, the difference is that they don't kill because they are hungry. They kill if they see a threat they cannot immediately get away from. Trapped panda + perceived threat = recipe for disaster.
A 20-year-old man should know better. What an idiot.