[Misc] World's Hardest Creature XII - Nominations

Mustafa said:

Saltwater Croc & Great White Shark.

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Taybha said:

I see that Stoat and raise you with The Great White Bunny



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mejonaNO12 aka riskit said:

The EU negotiators


OOOHHHH SATIRE

But in all seriousness, Cassowary.

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McTavish said:

I posted this in the coming soon(ish) thread but I think that Simon Barnes presents the credentials of the STOAT (and a sly dig at the HB) far better than I could:


Britain’s stoat, the world featherweight champion predator

The world’s top predator lives in my garden. I reached that conclusion after a stunning encounter during the morning chores. It often happens that country life involves country death, a matter you soon learn to view without gloating or weeping: and so I was startled, if not exactly surprised, by a piercing scream as I worked among the feed bins.

I went out to investigate — and it was as I thought, but even more dramatic. A lithe stoat, perhaps 3in high at his slender shoulder, had brought down a fully grown rabbit and was in the process of killing it by severing the spinal cord. The rabbit was a good 10 times his size: like human v rhinoceros.

The stoat saw me and vanished like the extinguishing of a candle flame. The rabbit did not: his travelling days were done. I retreated, but a little later I had to pass that way again, and the rabbit had gone: dragged into cover by this stoat of impossible strength.

Boxing people like to talk about who is “pound for pound” the best fighter, as if weight categories could be set aside. And it occurred to me that the stoat is perhaps pound for pound the world’s most effective predator. Now this, like the boxing discussion, is a pub argument that need never end: but it’s instructive all the same.

Let’s set aside the predators who work in packs and prides: wild dogs have a success rate as high as 90%, but I’m looking for animals that strike alone. A tiger can bring down a fully grown gaur, the Asian wild cattle that are sometimes 7ft high at the shoulder, but to compete with a stoat, the tiger would have to kill elephants on a routine basis.

Other contenders include the Tasmanian devil, a marsupial predator that seems to have the head of a much larger animal on its shoulders. No one who loves Africa can fail to put up the claims of the honey badger: largely because honey badgers, being slow moving, will confront rather than flee. They have a reputation for launching themselves at the crotch of humans who disturb them.

Today, though, I’m rooting for the stoat. With apricot fur and teddy-bear ears, they don’t look at first glance like creatures of perfect ferocity: but they are perhaps the finest ambush predators on the planet. There are monsters at the bottom of my garden.

GO STOAT - a worthy British Champion for these troubled times!
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Taybha said:

I see that Stoat and raise you with The Great White Bunny



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MattBackHome said:

Nominated 4 times in WHC history.

Beaten in the first round in 07, 09, 13 & 15 and has amassed a total of 17 votes (making it the 58th hardest animal of all time). It deserves better IMO.

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Commander said:

HERE. WE. GO.

I've been waiting for this for so long.

I give you...

The NAKED MOLE RAT.

It doesn't feel pain when injected with ACID.
Cancer? IMMUNE. No problem. NEXT.
Life span? up to 32 YEARS. For a f***ing rat! It DEFIES the biological ageing process.
Oxygen? Nah, you're alright. Don't need that. Just turns itself into a PLANT if there isn't enough available.

Loads more, and to top it all off, it is one ugly mother f***er.

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This is the new people's champion. Let's get behind it and it can go all the way.

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Commander said:

The NAKED MOLE RAT.

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MattBackHome said:

Superb.

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Commander said:

It's what the competition is all about. A plucky newcomer going up against the big boys, and hopefully sweeping all before him.

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Commander said:

HERE. WE. GO.

I've been waiting for this for so long.

I give you...

The NAKED MOLE RAT.

It doesn't feel pain when injected with ACID.
Cancer? IMMUNE. No problem. NEXT.
Life span? up to 32 YEARS. For a f***ing rat! It DEFIES the biological ageing process.
Oxygen? Nah, you're alright. Don't need that. Just turns itself into a PLANT if there isn't enough available.

Loads more, and to top it all off, it is one ugly mother f***er.

This is the new people's champion. Let's get behind it and it can go all the way.

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jimhigham said:

Hang on. What? Really? How?

And why is it getting injected with acid?

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Commander said:

I think this is a question for the latter rounds, it's been seconded so let's leave it until the 1st round proper to get into the nitty-gritty.

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Commander said:

HERE. WE. GO.

I've been waiting for this for so long.

I give you...

The NAKED MOLE RAT.

It doesn't feel pain when injected with ACID.
Cancer? IMMUNE. No problem. NEXT.
Life span? up to 32 YEARS. For a f***ing rat! It DEFIES the biological ageing process.
Oxygen? Nah, you're alright. Don't need that. Just turns itself into a PLANT if there isn't enough available.

Loads more, and to top it all off, it is one ugly mother f***er.

View attachment 105180

This is the new people's champion. Let's get behind it and it can go all the way.

Click to expand...