[0103] The New Toy
Thursday, 15 Oct 2009 by Novil

[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 ;-) .

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 some pieces for me for… uhh… research and development!
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Discussion (40)¬

  1. RJF says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 1

    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. :)
  2. Zaiki says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 1

    Bubble Wrap!
  3. klimt says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 0

    boxes and bubble wrap often outlasted christmas presents around here.
  4. itssnowing says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    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…

  5. BlueAnubis says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 0

    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)
  6. fairportfan says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    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.

  7. Tom Mazanec says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 1

    Now this is what I like about this strip. A raccoon who actually thinks like a raccoon would if it had human level intellect.
  8. Swifteye says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    I remember I obtained so much bubble wrap I was able to line my entire floor with bubble wrap.

    Good times good times.

  9. foxmouse says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0

    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.

  10.     Rate this comment: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 1

    One wonders: if you ship a box full of bubble wrap… what to you wrap it in?
  11.     Rate this comment: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0

    One wonders: if you ship a box full of bubble wrap… what to you wrap it in?

    Foam peanuts.

  12. Novil says:

    @ Blitzkrieg1701: Exactly the same thought I had myself this morning.

  13. Powerglide says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    @ Argent Stonecutter
    What do you use if you ship a box full of foam peanuts?

  14. EdorFaus says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    @Powerglide
    Bubble wrap, of course! duh.

    On the other hand, what if you’re shipping both…
    Hm, separate boxes? :P

  15. A.L. says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    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.

  16. black xcat says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 3

    nice to see shes getting over cloud

  17. Alectric says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    So, did she just give him the bubble wrap used in the package, or was the actual package just a bunch of bubble wrap?

  18. Dave says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    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. :D )

  19. Stickmaker says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    I once had a young raccoon play with my hair. He apparently liked the feel.

  20. Random says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    One of the most awesomest toys ever that’s enjoyed by all ages (and species)!
    Ahhh… bubble wrap :D DD.
    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.

  21. Novil says:

    @ 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.

  22. Stonefoot says:

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    @ (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. ;-)

  23. Stonefoot says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    Alternate answer: When shipping bubble wrap you should wrap it in fragile glassware. Simple symmetry. :-)

  24. Twilightfairy says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    YAY bubble wrap! One of life’s simple pleasures.

  25. StephODell says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    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.

  26. dgriff13 says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    dawww. who doesn’t love bubble wrap? There’s even an iphone app for it. seriously.

  27.     Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1

    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

  28. John K says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    woo gets the coolest stuff!!!

  29. Michoune says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    @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…

  30. Kalooeh says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    I have one of those giant rolls of Bubble wrap in my closet from a couple christmases ago :D Still not done with it x3 … Now if only I had a raccoon :<

  31. Moroni says:

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    Why not ship bubble wrap and foam peanuts in a box linned with newspaper? ;) Bubble Wrap is a great stress relief tool.

  32. Emily says:

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    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!

  33. Hotentot says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    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

  34. Rocket_T_Coyote says:

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    Hopefully there is a very special candy bar in that box…Once all of the bubble wrap is out of course.

  35. jup-reindeer says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    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

  36. chefcheiro says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    i getting wondering. do you have racoon?

  37. Novil says:

    No, I haven’t.

    But I have played with some once.

  38. Andor says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    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. ^^

  39. Rocket_T_Coyote says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Office supply stores sell that in big rolls btw.

  40. figgyleaf says:

        Rate this comment: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    thnx for the info now i can fulfill my dream of imitating weird al in the song white and nerdy!

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