<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--Generated by Squarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/) on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:13:21 GMT--><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><title>Other Creatures</title><subtitle>Other Creatures</subtitle><id>http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/</id><link rel="alternate" type="application/xhtml+xml" href="http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/"/><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/atom.xml"/><updated>2008-01-10T15:27:37Z</updated><generator uri="http://www.squarespace.com/" version="Squarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)">Squarespace</generator><entry><title>Knut the Berlin polar bear may live on ...</title><id>http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/2011/3/23/knut-the-berlin-polar-bear-may-live-on.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/2011/3/23/knut-the-berlin-polar-bear-may-live-on.html"/><author><name>ravishingbeasts</name></author><published>2011-03-23T15:59:10Z</published><updated>2011-03-23T15:59:10Z</updated><content type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[<p>I'm sure you've already heard that Knut the polar bear died in the&nbsp;Tiergarten Zoo in Berlin. When he was just a snowball, his mother abandoned him, and&nbsp;a zoo keeper named Thomas Dorflein stepped into the mummy role. Only four years old, Poor Knut died unexpectedly of unknown causes on March 19th.&nbsp; But he may live on.&nbsp; The city's natural history museum may have him stuffed and put on display.&nbsp; Thoughts?&nbsp; Is preserving a beloved familiar a crass gesture of mastery?&nbsp; Or is it a proper tribute?&nbsp;</p>
<p>By the way, don't&nbsp;watch any Kamut videos.&nbsp; Somebody caught his death on tape and posted it.&nbsp;Not nice.</p>
<p><span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable"><span><img src="http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/storage/sightings/knut.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1300896829816" alt="" /></span></span></p>]]></content></entry><entry><title>Top the Wombat</title><id>http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/2008/1/10/top-the-wombat.html</id><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/other-creatures/2008/1/10/top-the-wombat.html"/><author><name>ravishingbeasts</name></author><published>2008-01-10T15:26:45Z</published><updated>2008-01-10T15:26:45Z</updated><content type="html" xml:lang="en-US"><![CDATA[<p>Dante Gabriel Rossetti had a wombat named&nbsp;Top. Top the wombat died on November 6th, 1869 just two months after he joined the famous poet and painter&rsquo;s equally famous menagerie in Chelsea. <span class="full-image-float-right"><img style="width: 294px; height: 461px" alt="Rossetti_wombat.jpg" src="http://www.ravishingbeasts.com/storage/genres/pets/Rossetti_wombat.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1199978310661" /></span>Besides Top, Rossetti had a barn owl named Jessie, two armadillos, rabbits, a raccoon that hibernated in a chest of drawers, wallabies, kangaroos, parakeets and peacocks, an Irish deerhound called Wolf, a Japanese salamander, two laughing jackasses, a Canadian woodchuck, and a Pomeranian Puppy called Punch. Rossetti was known to prefer &ldquo;quaint, odd, or semi-grotesque animals,&rdquo; and of all his creatures he was especially fond of Top. In fact, he had desired a wombat for some time, and when Top finally arrived, he proved to be, in Rossetti&rsquo;s own words, &ldquo;a joy, a triumph, a delight, a madness.&rdquo; Top followed Rossetti around the house, ate visitors&rsquo; straw hats, and got on famously with the rabbits. But Top was lumpish and sickly, and despite the attentions of a dog doctor, he finally succumbed to a mange-like disease. Rossetti&rsquo;s famous ink sketch of himself tearfully mourning Top is surely satirical but not without genuine sentiment with the loss of his eccentric pet: Rossetti promptly ordered a wombat replacement and had Top stuffed and stationed in the front hall. </p>]]></content></entry></feed>
