#ringtail

Ringtail (Bassariscus astutus), family Procyonidae, Mexico

AKA Ring-tailed Cat, Cacomistle, Miner's Cat.

Not a cat, but in the Raccoon family.

I haven't done it in a long while, sure!

Let’s head to the Museum’s Hall of North American Mammals to take a peek at today’s Exhibit of the Day: the Spotted Skunk and Ringtail Diorama. This scene takes place in Shiprock, New Mexico, and features a spotted skunk doing a handstand. What for? It’s a warning to discourage the two curious ringtails from getting any closer. If this pose doesn’t work, the skunk will release jets of foul-smelling musk from glands under its tail. But ringtails also combine chemistry with defensive body language. Here, one ringtail has made its tail fur stand upright, creating the illusion of larger size. If the standoff escalates, the ringtail might curve its tail over its head, and—as a last resort—emit its own smelly secretion. 

When square-rigged ships found themselves sailing downwind in an area of light breezes and all plain sail was not enough, many had the option of adding studding-sails or stuns’ls, four-sided sails that extended out from each square yard, sometimes on both sides of the boat. On the mizzen gaff, a similar four-sided sail was set next to the gaff sail with its own spars top and bottom.

The very light sail on the right-hand side is the ringtail sail – here on the Pride of Baltimore II (x)