Seven dead old limbs
Seven science wins
Seven icy forms beheld
And our trip begins
Seven anat’my jokes
Seven bloody posts
Seven are our sci-comm fires
Seven frozen choirs…
(props to Iron Maiden’s “Moonchild” opening lyrics, from the iconic “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” concept album, of lofty, epic, frozen, anatomy-bearing motifs)
So we come full circle to another Freezermas, another foolhardy attempt to honour Charles Darwin (his birthday is Weds 12th Feb) with seven blog posts in seven days!
There will be mysterious morphology! Expositions of new projects and a new paper! Detailed dissections showing amazing anatomy! Silly songs and other nonsense! So much more that I have no idea about at this writing but will surely come to me! (there is an amorphous plan)
Last year I invoked the 7 days of Freezermas song, but this year the songcraft has changed. Christmas is so 2013! Time for a 1970smodern approach! We’re doing hard rock/heavy metal concept album songs and motifs each day. I started off with one above. Future posts will try to stick to a theme of songs/albums featuring numbers, counting down from seven. Because we all know that Darwin loved to rock. But let’s get on with the real rockin’: the freezer-based anatomical science!
Today we’ll ease you in to Freezermas: The Concept Album, like the acoustic intro of Moonchild did, with some simple Mystery CT Anatomy…
(insert guitar solo here while you mentally prepare yourself)
Stomach-Churning Rating: 2/10; simple CT scan of a body.
Mystery Anatomy 2014: same rules as before; remember that the scoreboard has been reset.
Identify the animal in the CT scout/pilot image below, as specifically as you can.
Today’s special rule: Your answer must be in the form of a lyric (at least 2 lines) from a song by Queen (Google some if you’re unfamiliar– but how?).
Why Queen? One should never question Queen; not a little or a lot.
Difficulty: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
You will probably want to click to emgiganticate the image below.
Don’t let this one drive you Stone Cold Crazy! I know you’re feeling Under Pressure; just Tie Your Mother Down and play The Game.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger – save the badger!
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger – save the badger!
If the above doesn’t count then:
You say black I say white
You say bark I say might
You say landshark I say hey man
Zoology was never my scene
But I do like badg-ers
Whatever it is, it’s looking a little poorly (apart from being dead). The tail and at least one forelimb appear to not be attached.
You’re taking all the sunshine away
Making out like you’re the mainline – I knew that
Cos you’re a cool cat
oh my gosh, i luv 7SOA7S.. such a wonderful album!
i had the time, but lack the power
i’ve got to guess, before i shower
paleo..
all i think is a dead cat cat
or is it a dog dog?
hahaha i give up. i suck at rhyming in my own language, in english is even worse. i thought of a dog and that’s it.
It’s a rock hyrax,
Relative of the elephant,
Native to lots of Africa
Guaranteed to blow your mind!
(to Killer Queen).
I see a little silhouetto of a cat,
Not a moose, not a moose, but it’s shoulder is displaced oh!
Fox! A-aaah! Saviour of the freezer-verse?
Freezermass and heavy metal concept albums!? You, sir, have just made my week.
I suck at poetry, so I can’t compete on that turf, but I’d guess disarticulated cat.
blogger….you scanned a cat,
put an object by its hand, put it into a CATting van,
blogger, scan has just been done,
and now I wonder if the cat is wild,
blogger, uh-uh-uh, I don’t want to bet,
but truly think this one was from the wild
[wonderful guitar solo, replace with meowing cat if desired]
[…]
So you think you can throw in a cat and leave it to us,
so you think you can let us to wonder if that was a spotty one,
oh blogger, can’t do this to us blogger,
just gotta be right, just gotta be right on this one
species really matters, Ocelot I’d say,
but family is better..
Felidae will suffice, for now….
anyway the scan goooooooes
[i’ll do better with Maiden, hopefully :]
.
Well this thing called Roo, I just can’t handle it.
This thing, called Roo, his tail has tried to split,
I ain’t ready!
Crazy mar-su-pi-al.
There goes his scapula,
It knows how to rock ‘n’ roll,
It parted company,
Now he’s an one armed Macropus
It left him in a cold sweat.
(Short bass solo)
I gotta be cool, relax,
Was Roo killed on the tracks?
Or did he try, to hitchhike
Or think he could outrun a motorbike
I ain’t ready,
Crazy mar-su-pi-al.
With sincere apologies to the dear departed Freddie Mercury and the surviving members of Queen.
It’s a kind of felid…
It’s a kind of felid.. felid.. felid.. FELID!!
One cat, one soul, small claaaavical
One member of .. Felidae.
The genus.. is Leopardus,
The species.. mmmmm pardalis?
(It’s a kind of felid)
This pilot scan inside your screen,
Is challenging this song by Queen.
(It’s a kind of felid)
The waiting seems eternity; the truth will dawn with certainty:
Is this a kind of felid? – (It’s a kind of felid)
There can be only one.
This cat has lived 6 million years (citation needed).
I think this song is done. DONE.
Tree bark and coprophagy
Well versed in aquatic plants
Extraordinarily nice
She’s a Capy-bara
Aquatic, heavy-set
Larger than a guinea pig
Guaranteed to wow your friends
Anytime
I’m not the first to suggest this, but I’m plumping for:
(cue sirens)
Fox on three legs,
You’ve been torn ap-aart (dum dum dum dum, dum dum)
Fox on three legs,
You used to have a heart of your own,
Kill joy, bad guy, likes eating small fry…
Great answer-songs, folks! I wonder if the right answer has been sung yet? We will find out tomorrow morning. Still time to get ready Freddy before this contest bites the dust!
Woe to you old canid red
For the freezer man has scanned you
And posted you online, and now I know that time to guess is short.
Let him* who hath understanding reckon the identity of the beast
For it is sly bold reynardine
Whose name is the Fox.
*or her , of course.
I don’t think that is a song by Queen, although it is fun to imagine Freddy Mercury singing it 😉
It’s Iron Maiden. Love Queen I do, but I loves Maiden more.
The reveal… (to the tune of Stone Cold Crazy– http://youtu.be/Mmt2mgmrSUw)
Sleeping very soundly in my zoo paddock somewhere
I was dreaming I was Mufasa
There’s a sickness going round, gonna put my ass down
I’ll soon be a drawer of bones
Here come the vet, gonna give me to John
Gonna carry me to the freezer
Never, never, on exhibit any more
Gotta get away from this stone zoo floor
Felid…
Ice cold ocelot, y’know!
The clues: Short snout + retractable claws = not canid (you have to really squint at enlarged image but I can see it), Large size (~3x domestic cat), large claws and teeth. Getting “ocelot” from that is still hard, but filippo and thebadlizard got it, and I am amazeballs!
New 2013 scoreboard going up now– +1 for anyone that stopped by to say hi, +2 for any rhymes, +3 for making me laugh (Lorna, Brian) and/or getting to “cat”, +4 to thebadlizard for being 2nd, and +5 for filippo!
Keep an eye on Freezermas- there might be a Mystery Dissection headed your way this fine holiday week…
Well done everyone! Um, how did the tail and forelimb come off, or is it best not to know?
Ahh yes, those bits. We get the specimens skinned, so the limb and tail got removed/broken during that process. See my next post, almost ready to go up!
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