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Animal animism?

Alligators are fascinating creatures. Survivors from the age of dinosaurs, they and their crocodilian kin are the closest living relatives to birds. The mother alligator fiercely defends her nest, and protects her hatchlings for up to three years. In zoos, gators have been known to live for upwards of 70 years.

Alligators communicate with each other in a variety of different ways. Baby gators in distress will ‘chirp’ to summon their mother, and sometimes even unrelated alligators will also respond to the call. Adults employ a range of vocalizations, hisses, roars, and bellows when confronted with danger or when defending their territory.

Gators also have the ability to hear and emit ultra-low frequency vibrations, which are inaudible to the human ear, yet travel for great distances. The force of these ultra-low frequency rumbles literally make water droplets leap off the gator’s back, an effect known as the ‘water dance.’ The alligator uses these long-range signals to announce its presence to distant gators, advertising its availability to potential mates and warning off potential rivals.

Interestingly however, the alligator seems to be easily confused by other sources of ultra-low frequency vibration. Thunderstorms often trigger the rumbling response in gators, as do large vehicles or other heavy machinery. Here’s an article about a guy who got some gators horny with a tuba serenade.

Characters That Were Totally Secretly Boning Each Other

Thread title carefully crafted to allow the inclusion of the occasional heterosexual couple.

Prince Humperdinck / Count Rugan - The Princess Bride. First of all, the prince is clearly completely unmoved by the charms of Princess Buttercup Penn. What possible reason is there to stage the assassination on their wedding night? Wouldn't the people of Florin be even more moved by her murder after say, a year long reign with her performing various charitable works? Or even a month? The only reason to kill her right after the wedding seems to be to spare Humperdinck from the terror of consummation. And I hardly feel the need to go into all the significant glances and tender concern that Rugan directs toward Humperdinck.

White Man's Burden

Without looking it up, can you define "White Man's Burden" both for what it means, and what historical era it came from?

Bonus points if you can name a famous author associated with the expression.

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