The diet of the pangolin normally revolves around ants, termites and other insects. But when panglolins are captured and kept in zoos, their keepers often try (with varying degrees of success) to tempt them with other foodstuffs. Across the world, zoos have tried such delicacies as : raw egg, porridge, boiled cockroaches, and apples. And […]
Tag: Involuntary Hippophagia
Involuntary Hippophagia (5): Man Bites Horse in the Antipodes
Sometimes a concept, such as Involuntary Hippophagia can be better understood by examining its opposite, turning it on its head if you will. Here is a case of a man who had an ungovernable temper, and who was overtaken by a fit of anger which caused him, perhaps involuntarily, to bite a horse. From : ‘The […]
Involuntary Hippophagia (5): Papal Bull Taboo Origin?
Those concerned about Involuntary Hippophagia (the unintended ingestion of a horse, or part thereof ) may be wondering just how far back the UK’s distaste for eating horses, unintentionally or not, might go. Improbable can reveal that the puzzle has certainly been on the table for more than a century. ‘Rockingham’ (writing in the Boston […]
Involuntary Hippophagia (4): Nothing new (the 1948 Horsemeat scandal)
Involuntary Hippophagia (the unintended ingestion of a horse, or part thereof ) is nothing new, it seems. Click on the image to be transported to a website that will show you video of the possibly shocking film ‘The Horsemeat Scandal 1948’: “Don’t think the horse meat scandal is a new phenomenon. In fact it’s an old […]
Involuntary Hippophagia (3): Horse and Donkey detection
Those concerned about Involuntary Hippophagia: (the unintended ingestion of a horse, or part thereof ) may take comfort in a report published in the journal Meat Science, Volume 70, Issue 4, 2005. As far back as eight years ago, farsighted government researchers at (what was) the Central Science Laboratory, Yorkshire, UK, (now swallowed by the […]
Involuntary Hippophagia (2): Horsemeat and Hamsters
Improbable readers may be familiar with the Pork-Cat Syndrome (a link between allergic sensitivity to pork meat and cat epithelia), details of which were first published in 1994. Perhaps less well known though is the Horsemeat-Hamster Syndrome, which could have implications for those who have been exposed to the current UK outbreak of Involuntary Hippophagia. […]
Involuntary Hippophagia (1): Horsemeat, a view from Croatia
As our UK readers will know, Britain is currently reeling from the effects of an outbreak of ‘Involuntary Hippophagia‘. (We hereby suggest that name.*) But not everyone agrees that eating horsemeat is inadvisable. If you’re going to eat meat, they say, then maybe horsemeat isn’t such a bad choice. For an example of this viewpoint […]