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Chickens stop rabbits from fighting

Mark Frauenfelder at 3:06 pm Mon, Nov 17, 2008

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Peacekeeping chickens don't need tasers to maintain order. (Thanks, Antinous!)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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  • ill lich

    “Oh you wanna fight ehh? Whyn’t you pick on somebody bigger than you, who has a beak and sharp claws!!”

  • Mark Frauenfelder

    Jason Rizos@3: Thanks for letting us know you saw this already. So cool!

  • agraham999

    Who knew the “F” in KFC stood for Fascist?

    buzzkills…

  • Anonymous

    I think YouTube is changing their name to weresorrythisvideoisnolongeravailable.com

  • mdh

    Are you sure they were fighting?

    Seems to me rabbits are known for something else.

  • dingolishious

    I need some of those for my cats

  • W. James Au

    “Chickens stop rabbits from fighting”

    This is my favorite part of the whole post, a title worth of a zen koan or a Lakota name, or ancient myth:

    “The world is beset by fighting rabbits, my son, and their war afflicts guilty and innocent alike, but the old ones prophecy a time when there will come unto us two chickens, and on their crest will be the word Justice, and they will stop rabbits from fighting.”

  • Vanwall

    Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. Everybody back to their pens. Move along.

  • Jackasimov

    I stopped two cats fighting yesterday. I didn’t have nearly the composure of these two chickens though. Just them hissing, me hissing (trying to sound remotely cat-like), and then me inhaling flying cat fur as the bully cat ran away.

    Is it any wonder they modeled Ed-209 after a chicken? Or maybe they didn’t. I don’t really know.

  • grimc

    The chickens rule the roost in the Barnyard Mafia, and nobody goes to the mattresses without their say-so.

  • Anonymous

    “the first rule about rabbit fight club…”

  • nigelstwin

    First off, “fighting rabbits” is worth double the price of admission. The chicken brute squad is just icing on the cake.

  • travelina

    Next I would like to see rabbits break up a chicken fight.

  • Rossifumi

    “Don’t peck me, bro!”

    HAHHAHAhahahaHAHahaha

    Those chickens are awesome!!! Send them bitches to Iraq!

  • Sleepy13

    Gotta e-mail this round..
    I love the scolding they each receive post fight aswell. Those peaceful clucksters… I’m getting some hens come spring & this has totally sealed the deal.
    Nice one!

  • freeyourcrt

    Uh, I don’t think they’re fighting.

  • postliteracy_dot_org

    #1/3: To clarify my last comment: in that period the chicken appears to be just acting aggressively to the lower rabbit after that rabbit is no longer fighting.

    The lower chicken does give the spotted rabbit an additional dose of “Gotcha!” after the lagomorphs have broken of their antics (pugilistic or procreative, take your pick). But I’ve seen similar behavior in other order-enforcing animals. Like sheepdogs. Or parents, for instance, who can tell when “okay” doesn’t mean, “okay, I’ll be good” but instead means “okay, I’ll act contrite until you turn your back, then I’ll really get him!”

    After that last volley, the chicken turns away and leaves the rabbit alone.

  • Anonymous

    Someone commented:
    “My wife got mad at me cause I laughed too loud while she was reading one of her Twilight books.”

    To play back to some earlier comments here, tell her Junior High called, and they want their literature back!

  • misshallelujah

    To those who think the rabbits were doing something other than fighting, I have one thing to say:

    COCKBLOCKED!

    (I’m sorry. I’m going away, now)

  • Pipenta

    Nice birds. Are they wyandottes?

  • adamnvillani

    80′s SNL cast (David Spade, primarily)

    Spade was on the show from 1990 to 1996.

  • Anonymous

    “What’s all this, then? Move along, boys. Almost curfew time.”

  • Lauren O

    I especially like how they exit in unison. “Looks like our work here is done.”

  • DMS

    OK, I’ll join in

    Hey Jason Rizos@3 < insert year > called they want their dated memey internet thing back

  • Justin France

    #3 Jason: Sure, i’ve seen it already… but can you see this video enough? Really?

    2006 called me and i was like ‘Who the hell is this? I don’t remember you?’

    The internet has a short attention span, and when it comes to fighting rabbits and chicken peacekeepers, well, I think that’s a good thing.

    But thanks for pointing it out all the same, this thread is a richer place for it.

  • mdh

    Apparently some animals are more equal.

  • Noah_J

    the rabbits know what’s in room 101

  • Anonymous

    I called 2006, yesterday. I was like, “Hey, 2006. Do you have my W-2 for the state of Pennsylvania? I have to re-file my tax return because MD wants to claim me as a resident.” 2006 was all like, “I don’t keep records that far back, but check out this video clip; it’s priceless.” I mean, I can understand not keeping a whole bunch of W-2′s with potentially dangerous information on them, but -oh that is so cute when they leave the ring together -yeah, 2006 wouldn’t really be keeping “old” records by having 2006 W-2′s. They’d technically be “current” records, right? Anyway, I watched the clip and it was funny, but I am really concerned about the whole tax thing now.

  • ScribblingSquid

    I’ve seen other birds do something like this.

    I came across a crow bouncing on a wounded smaller bird (odd enough by itself) and 3 other birds of various kinds soon dashed over and started screeching and making short little darts at the crow. They didn’t get anywhere near as close to the crow though.

    Weird.

    Didn’t that penguin movie have something like this ? I vaguely remember one penguin trying to take the egg from one of the others after losing its own. The other surrounding penguins quickly came and stopped it.

  • FutureNerd

    First of all, they’re both roosters. My theory is, this is what roosters do about fights amongst their hens.

    Also, both roosters give a little underscore peck to their respective rabbits.

    Given the things chickens can’t figure out, this is pretty impressive.

  • nanuq

    Are you sure those rabbits were fighting? That sure looked like courtship behaviour to me. Are chickens natural prudes?

  • Beanolini

    If you ban rabbit fights, they’ll just go underground.

  • Axx

    Next phase in Iraq: Operation Chicken Pax

    It would involve B-52s and chickens.
    Lots of chickens.

  • Maneki Nico

    Don’t peck me, bro!

  • noen

    I swear to god I didn’t not know they couldn’t fly.

  • noen

    Ohhhhh! That’s what “preview” is for!

  • LogrusZed

    #3 Was the idea of phrasing your dismissal of the video in a format that is pretty much from the 80′s SNL cast (David Spade, primarily) kind of meant to be ironic?

    “I’m going to call this video old and played out by using an even older and more played out rebuke! That will show them! It’s cool to dislike things.”

  • tinyswat

    yes, but can a headless chicken break up a fight?

  • Enormo

    My wife got mad at me cause I laughed too loud while she was reading one of her Twilight books.

  • JoshuaZ

    Cute, but judging from what happens at around 10-13 seconds (with the lower, dark colored rabbit) one gets the impression that the chickens are just being aggressive and possibly excited by seeing animals fighting.

  • trr

    That’ll teach ‘em!

  • JoshuaZ

    To clarify my last comment: in that period the chicken appears to be just acting aggressively to the lower rabbit after that rabbit is no longer fighting.

  • Jason Rizos

    2006 called, they want their most-circulated-chain-email back.

  • daddypants

    That is fantastic. Your own chickens?