Odd Couple 2006...
A dwarf hamster, obviously in a lethargic advanced state of "lowered expectations", has been sharing a home (a cardboard box, really) in a zoo with a metre-long snake!
The snake was offered Gohan the hamster as a tasty treat, of course - but, to the dismay of the zookeepers, the sinuous reptile decided to be friends with the hamster instead! Note here that the zookeepers, in their refined cruelty, named the hamster "Gohan" as a joke - for gohan in their language stands for... "meal"!
However it meant "roommate" to the snake, who decided to shack up with Gohan ever since!
Tokyo has never seen such odd animals - not even if one factors in the Gojira menagerie!
FYI - Aochan (the snake) makes do with frozen mice as his main courses...
(Hmm... What does the name "aochan" mean, I wonder? Owtch? Atchoooo?!? Who knows with those heartless zookeepers... Tokyo weirdos!)
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posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 3:20 PM
3 Comments:
Hamster and snake make a strange pair as they form friendship at Tokyo zoo
18/01/2006 5:07:00 AM
TOKYO (AP) - Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one's a nine centimetre dwarf hamster, the other is a 1.2-metre rat snake.
Hamster named Gohan, right, and snake Aochan live together in a cardboard box at Mutsugoro Okoku zoo in this January 14 photo. (AP Photo/Mutsugoro Okoku Zoo, Kyota Nomura)
Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster - whose name means meal in Japanese - to Aochan as a tasty morsel in October, after the snake refused to eat frozen mice. But instead of indulging, Aochan decided to make friends with the furry rodent, according to keeper Kazuya Yamamoto. The pair have shared a cage since.
"I've never seen anything like it. Gohan sometimes even climbs onto Aochan to take a nap on his back," Yamamoto said.
Aochan, a 2-year-old male Japanese rat snake, eventually developed an appetite for frozen rodents but has so far shown no signs of gobbling up Gohan - despite her name.
"We named her Gohan as a joke," Yamamoto chuckled. "But I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much."
The Tokyo zoo also keeps a range of mostly livestock animals, and promotes "cross-breed interaction," according to Yamamoto.
But Gohan and Aochan's case was "was a complete accident," Yamamoto said.
And some people thought that hippo and turtle combo (who have been "together" for a year now - since the devastating tsunami in fact!) were something special...
That is Amazing! I like snakes, but I'm not much of a fan of hamsters. I have been bitten and peed on by many hamsters. Snakes like me. :)
It is funny that the snake will eat the frozen mice, and leave the hamster alone. It also is strange that the hamster doesn't fear the snake.
Thanks for posting that. It is a cool odd couple pic too.
God Bless You Luce (\ô/)
((HUGE HUGS))
Countess
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