![[0103] The New Toy](http://www.sandraandwoo.com/comics/2009-10-15-[0103]-the-new-toy.png "[0103] The New Toy")
Raccoons have extremely sensitive front paws, so if you want to make a raccoon happy you can give it an object with a particularly fancy surface it can “explore” with its paws. If food is involved that’s even better, of course 
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Almost two-thirds of the area responsible for sensory perception in the raccoon’s cerebral cortex is specialised for the interpretation of tactile impulses. That’s roughly equivalent to the area we use for the interpretation of visual signals and more than in any other studied animal. It is therefore believed that raccoons through touch can construct a picture of their surroundings that is as complex as that which we perceive with our eyes. (see also this short excerpt from the BBC series “The Life of Mammals”)
Update: Bubble wrap!
- Sandra: Hey Woo, I’ve got a new toy for you!
- Woo: Woo!
- Woo: And what a great one it is!
- Sandra: I knew you’d like it. But leave me some pieces for… uhh… research and development!
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A lot better – while people’s mesmeric fascination with bubble wrap is a common joke, with the added explanation about raccoon’s sensitive paws, there’s an additional layer of sophistication and interest which makes it particularly apposite and helps to elevate it above other gags.
Bubble Wrap!
boxes and bubble wrap often outlasted christmas presents around here.
heh heh, that’s cute :3
she just ogt a large box of bubble wrap?
.. if i kidnap woo, and then dress up in a convinceing enough raccoon costume…
hehe, Bubble wrap. I have never met a person who doesn’t like bubble wrap. it kind of annoys me when companies send you something wrapped in one of those strips of air bags (or whatever you call them). sure they’re big bubbles to pop, but they don’t make that same sound (if they make a sound at all)
Somewhere that i worked – in the Navy, maybe? – there were a couple of guy who *loved* getting stuff packed with big sheets of the large-cell bubble wrap (you know, twoor three times the size of the “standard” bubbles).
They’d take opposite ends of a big sheet and twwiiiissssttt…
My cat and my older grand daughter compete for any bubble wrap that may be around when the grandkids are visiting.
Now this is what I like about this strip. A raccoon who actually thinks like a raccoon would if it had human level intellect.
I remember I obtained so much bubble wrap I was able to line my entire floor with bubble wrap.
Good times good times.
Just love Woo’s expression, super cute!
There are times when bubble wrap gets smart, pushing the air into nearby pockets to avoid popping. When this happens I bring out the roller skates.
One wonders: if you ship a box full of bubble wrap… what to you wrap it in?
One wonders: if you ship a box full of bubble wrap… what to you wrap it in?
Foam peanuts.
@ Blitzkrieg1701: Exactly the same thought I had myself this morning.
@ Argent Stonecutter
What do you use if you ship a box full of foam peanuts?
@Powerglide
Bubble wrap, of course! duh.
On the other hand, what if you’re shipping both…
Hm, separate boxes?
Yaaaaay! It’s Woo
Bubble wrap is fun to pop,unless it’s already beat up and ragged,then the enjoyment of popping it isn’t nearly as satisfying.Also I never knew that raccoons,it’s always good to see you take an intellectual approach when doing many of these strips Novil.
nice to see shes getting over cloud
So, did she just give him the bubble wrap used in the package, or was the actual package just a bunch of bubble wrap?
Hello, I am sorry to make a comment that is not about the comic, but I read Sandra and Woo every update, and as a reader I wanted to let you know that for the past couple days, when I try to access the page AVG Antivirus prevents page access telling me the website has been identified as a phishing/social engineering hazard. I think there is some mistake in the website triggering this, and I wanted to alert you fine folks.
(I’ll be bypassing the warning to get my Sandra and Woo fix regardless.
)
I once had a young raccoon play with my hair. He apparently liked the feel.
One of the most awesomest toys ever that’s enjoyed by all ages (and species)!
DD.
Ahhh… bubble wrap
And I 100% agree with foxmouse, Woo’s expression is too cute!
I’m also happy to hear a “woo! ” from Woo as well <3.
@ Dave: I checked the source code of the main page and I found no obvious hack. So there’s absolutely nothing I can do without the error message of your antivirus system. The Sandra and Woo website consists of more than 2,500 files and a database with thousands of entries so it’s obviously impossible to check them all.
@ (a bunch of folks) If you’re shipping bubble wrap AND foam peanuts the thing to do is ship them in a Klein bottle so each is inside the other. As an added bonus, the whole universe is inside the bottle (as well as outside the bottle), so there should be no need for shipping charges.
Alternate answer: When shipping bubble wrap you should wrap it in fragile glassware. Simple symmetry.
YAY bubble wrap! One of life’s simple pleasures.
I can’t explain it, but bubblewrap is just so…facinating! The small joy of popping every single bubble.
Unrelated note, I once saw a comic where they said, “What if those bubbles are the LAST SORCE of air for humanity when the aliens come and poison the atmosphere, and all we have left of clean air is the air trapped in those bubbles?” The person being questioned popped them all anyway, to which he was supremely satisfied.
dawww. who doesn’t love bubble wrap? There’s even an iphone app for it. seriously.
I hate bubble wrap, they make me irritated, so i pop every single one of them, but that annoys me more, so i pop more…. is a love-hate situation
woo gets the coolest stuff!!!
@Dave: I got the same problem, and with another, unrelated site. I think it has something to do with the publicity, though I don’t know what exactly would be the problem…
I have one of those giant rolls of Bubble wrap in my closet from a couple christmases ago
Still not done with it x3 … Now if only I had a raccoon :<
Why not ship bubble wrap and foam peanuts in a box linned with newspaper?
Bubble Wrap is a great stress relief tool.
Ahhhh… thank you for linking to the soothing sounds of Sir David Attenborough.
The man who did a documentary on every major grouping of life. Even plants. I tell you, getting the approval to do a documentary on plants wasn’t easy, either! It took Attenborough power to make them seem interesting to a general audience!
Actually, I suspect the star-nosed mole devotes more of its brain to tactile senses:
http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/08/the_star_nosed_moles_amazing_appendages.php
Hopefully there is a very special candy bar in that box…Once all of the bubble wrap is out of course.
One wonders: if you ship a box full of bubble wrap… what to you wrap it in?
Foam peanuts.
===
Actually, my old place of work had another method. They’d ship a smaller box inside a much larger box. O_o
i getting wondering. do you have racoon?
No, I haven’t.
But I have played with some once.
I kept a Raccoon briefly. It is amazing how tactilely oriented they are, they are much more interested in how things feel than how they look or even smell. Kinkajous OTOH are smell/sight oriented. Even coatis don’t seem to be as tactile as raccoons. I gave the little guy a box of kitty litty hopeing he’d figure it out, instead he went berserk feeling around under it and exploring it with his fingers. ^^
Office supply stores sell that in big rolls btw.
thnx for the info now i can fulfill my dream of imitating weird al in the song white and nerdy!
I bought my ferrets all sorts of toys. The only things he wants to play with is plastic bags, bubble wrap, and wrapping paper.
Gotta enjoy the simple things.
Little did the makers of stress balls know that they would be ursurped by packing material.
Bubble wrap, one of man’s best creations.
@ Blitzkrieg1701:
nothing but more bubble rap!!!!!!!
“Must have moorrre…” That made me bookmark that link. I can’t wait to turn the finger touch option back on (I have a tablet =^^= ) and do it again!
ohmygoshthat’sthebestlinkEVER!! XD
even a wolf in bears Clothing…enjoys bubble wrap once in a wile!
Wolf in Bears Clothing (its the last thing they’d suspect)