Arizona State Mammal: Ringtail

Nature, State Animals 4 Minutes

Ringtails are cat-like mammals that are related to raccoons. Many people also call them “ringtail cats,” “ring-tailed cats,” “bassarisks,” and “miner’s cats.” While they are not genetically related to cats, they do look quite similar to felines. Instead, ringtails are in the Procyonidae family, along with raccoons, kinkajous, coatis, and olingos.

Description of the Ringtail

These cat-like mammals have buff-brown fur, with relatively large ears, and a long tail. As their name suggests, their tail has black and white rings, much like raccoons and coatis have.

Their tail is usually just as long as their body, between 12 and 17 in. long. With body and tail combined, ringtails measure around 24 – 34 in. long. However, they are lean creatures, and typically weigh around 2 lbs.

Interesting Facts About the Ringtail

Ringtails are interesting looking creatures, with interesting behavior and traits. There are a number of different fun facts about ringtails, read a few below!

Miner’s Cat – One of the more unusual nicknames of the ringtail is the miner’s cat. During the 1800s, miners in Arizona and California commonly kept these creatures as pets. Apparently, the miners were quite fond of their ringtail companions because they were wonderfully efficient mouse catchers!

Musky Mouthful– Ringtails are usually smaller than the average housecat, and half of their length is tail alone. Because of this, they commonly fall prey to many different predators. To avoid becoming lunch, ringtails excrete a strong-smelling musk when startled. This musk confuses and deters many different predators.

Cat-Like Climbers – Ringtails may look a little like cats, but they sure can climb better than most housecats! They can rotate their ankles over 180º, which allows them to climb up and down trees easily. Ringtails can even change direction on a branch by doing a cartwheel!

Striped Tail – This mammal’s long tail is not just for show. While their tail is not prehensile, and they cannot use it to grip branches, it is still quite useful. Ringtails use their tails to help them balance while climbing. Because their tail is so long, it works very efficiently as a counterbalance.

Habitat of the Ringtail

While these creatures live in a few different types of habitats, they live in arid environments most frequently. Rocky deserts are their favorite, but they also live in desert-like habitats near water sources. In these ecosystems, they nest in abandoned structures, mineshafts, hollow trees, caves, and more. These mammals also live in pine, conifer, and juniper forests with low rainfall.

Distribution of the Ringtail

Ringtails live in the Southwestern United States and across Mexico. Populations live in southern Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, parts of Kansas, and Texas.

Its range in Mexico is from the United States border south to Oaxaca. They are widespread in Mexico, but their distribution in the northern ends of their range is rather spotty.

Diet of the Ringtail

Ringtails are omnivores, but most of their diet consists of animals rather than plants. Their primary prey includes mice, rats, rabbits, ground squirrels, insects, and other small mammals.

Some less common food sources include fish, snakes, birds, lizards, and carrion. They also eat fruit, and some of their favorites include prickly pear, juniper, blackberries, hack, persimmon, and more. Their diet changes based upon the availability of food, for example, when mice are plentiful, they eat more mice.

Ringtail and Human Interaction

Humans and ringtails actually lived quite harmoniously. Because miners recognized their ability to catch mice and other pests, they often kept the creatures as pets.

Nowadays, it is illegal to own a ringtail as a pet without proper permits, though humans still acknowledge them as pest control. As with any animal, habitat destruction can be a problem, but their population is stable. The IUCN lists these animals as Least Concern.

Domestication

Though humans commonly kept these creatures as pets, they never formally domesticated ringtails.

Does the Ringtail Make a Good Pet

Ringtails did make good pets to miners, but that was because there were plenty of vermin for them to hunt. In a typical household, ringtails would not make good pets, simply because there wouldn’t be enough for them to do.

These creatures are wild animals, and when miners kept them as pets, they slept during the day, and hunted for vermin at night. Their relationship was really more of a partnership than anything. The miners provided safe nests to sleep in, and the ringtails hunted the pesky mice.

Ringtail Care

In zoos, ringtails need a little more stimulation, because they can’t exactly let them out to hunt mice at night. Instead, the zookeepers give the little predators a variety of puzzles, new scents, and fun toys, as well as training them using positive reinforcement.

These animals eat a diet of small mammals, like mice, rats, rabbits, and more. Because their natural diet also contains fruit, zookeepers give them a variety of fruits as treats. Their habitats have plenty of hiding places, and a variety of objects to climb and exercise on.

Behavior of the Ringtail

These little mammals are relatively similar to their raccoon cousins. They are nocturnal and active at night, and live alone. Unlike raccoons, ringtails are relatively shy, and avoid human contact.

Rather than roaming suburbs for garbage, these creatures actively spend their nights hunting small prey. They spend the rest of their time marking the boundaries of their territories. Males and females have overlapping territories, but they rarely interact outside of breeding season.

Reproduction of the Ringtail

Females are only receptive to mates in the spring. After mating, the male brings the female food during her 45 – 50 day gestation period. The female usually gives birth to 2 – 4 offspring, called “cubs.”

It takes a month for the cubs to open their eyes, and they will not learn to hunt until they are 4 months old. Once the cubs are 10 months old, they can reproduce themselves, and leave their mother.

SOURCE: ANIMALS.NET

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Published by pat frederick

Published

177 thoughts on “Arizona State Mammal: Ringtail”

    1. Morning, Pat! I’ve got 24 and a little bit of snow on the driveway. I could use one of these ringtails to chase that bitch squirrel! Yes, she is still hanging around….SMH

      Liked by 1 person

        1. She was scavenging in the garden bed for fallen seeds yesterday when I yelled at her – she hightailed it up the cottonwood tree, as usual! LOL

          Liked by 1 person

          1. bwahahahaha…
            well that buck that has been hogging the corn/apple block has come to fear me. LOL
            I started chasing him–literally storming out of the house and down the ramp yelling at him. at first he stood hi ground…but i kept coming till he ran. took several of these episodes let me tell you.
            but now? when he sees me at the glass door he goes running.
            I don’t mind him eating occasionally but he never lets anyone else have some while he feasts–the does will allow others to do so.

            Liked by 1 person

  3. Brian Cates – Political Columnist & Pundit

    @drawandstrike

    I TOLD EVERYBODY. I TOLD EVERYBODY FROM THE START. FROM THE VERY FIRST **DAY** THE NEWS OF THE MAR A LAGO RAID BROKE. This narrative that the Nat’l Archives was ARGUING with Trump for TWO YEARS over his ‘needing’ to return to them ‘still-classified’ documents was utterly and completely and totally INCOHERENT. You know WHY I was saying the narrative that they argued long distance via phone calls, emails and text messages with Trump about returning the ‘still classified’ material was incoherent? Because the whole freaking narrative WAS incoherent. But because you had the DOJ, the National Archives, the FBI, and the Biden White House **insisting on pretending it wasn’t incoherent** you had the mainstream news media covering this with a straight face. As if the narrative made any sense at all. Trump would not have been allowed to just wave ‘see ya!’ at the National Archives and abscond with still TS/SAP material to Florida. The FBI and the national security apparatus of this country would not have contented itself with LOUDLY COMPLAINING for two years about Trump not sending the documents back to DC. You were being sold a COVER STORY while I was over there jumping up and down and waving signal flags and yelling “BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT!!!!” just as loud as I could. Ain’t life grand? 😬

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Brian Cates – Political Columnist & Pundit

      @drawandstrike

      What this is saying here… …is that everybody involved in this knew there was **no way** they could use the official Five Eyes channels for the passing around of this intelligence. Nobody wanted to leave the usual paper trail. They **all** understood this was treason. They were crossing a line you just don’t cross. Started as an attempt to take down a presidential candidate. Soon turned directly into an attempt to take down a duly elected President.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. moved me to tears…not sure why

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Liked by 1 person

        1. They are misconstruing – intentionally, IMO – exactly what he said. I trust Stephen Miller all the way. I can guarantee he did not put in those terms!

          Liked by 1 person

  14. From The National Pulse: “‘Kiss My Ass!’ – UK Foreign Sec Cameron Mocked on Capitol Hill After Ukraine Funding Demand.”

    Congressional Republicans are slamming UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron for comparing them to appeasers of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene led the defiant response. “That’s hilarious. David Cameron can kiss my ass,” Greene, who is opposed to additional Ukraine funding, told the Daily Mail. 

    Cameron’s comparison came in an op-ed published in The Hill on Wednesday urging Congress to approve a $95 billion ‘aid’ package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. “I do not want us to show the weakness displayed against Hitler in the 1930s. He came back for more, costing us far more lives to stop his aggression,” Cameron wrote.

    Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) echoed Greene’s comments, calling Cameron’s statement “laughable.” He added that he has a “rich disdain for such an immature opinion.” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) said that it would be “nice” if “our British friends paid more attention to demanding that the rest of Europe contribute their fair share rather than demanding the United States sign a blank check.” 

    Many Congressional Republicans oppose passing any such foreign aid package before the U.S.-Mexico border is secured. Others, like Greene, oppose continued funding of an increasingly futile war in Ukraine on principle. This and the fact that several progressive Democrats oppose the bill for its continued support of Israel make its passage unlikely. 

    “We’re not afraid to go do what we need to do around the world when it’s necessary, but continuing to fund and to continue endless conflict, which is what we’ve been doing for the better part of two decades in this country is not in our national security interest,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). “I don’t believe it’s in the interest of the people of Ukraine,” he added.”

    Liked by 1 person

  16. The NationalPulse: “Biden’s ‘Job Recovery’ Driven Almost ENTIRELY By Migrant Labor.”

    The post-COVID job “recovery” touted by Joe Biden has been driven almost entirely by the flow of foreign workers into the American labor force, according to a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The immigration policy group found that the figure of 2.7 million ‘additional’ individuals joining the workforce in the fourth quarter of 2023 came about because of an increase of 2.9 million legal or illegal immigrant jobs and a decline of 183,000 native-born American jobs. 

    Since the economic recovery began in late 2020, the number of U.S.-born workers entering the labor market has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Despite the sluggish job recovery among native workers, the U.S. experienced a hot job market — driven by a flood of cheap, foreign labor, the CIS study shows. Immigrant labor recovery has far outpaced native-born recovery when comparing fourth-quarter numbers at the end of each year since 2020.

    Image

    The National Pulse previously reported that the influx of legal and illegal immigrants has likely had a ‘cooling’ effect on inflation by depressing wages across the county. The downward wage pressure creates a degree of ‘demand destruction’ — and declining demand should correlate to falling prices. 

    The influx of immigrant labor has also likely fueled negative perceptions about the economy for groups of native-born Americans being displaced in the job market.

    Recently Van Jones, who served in the Obama government, slammed President Joe Biden, saying the jobs he’s made available to the Black community are “crappy.” 

    Competing with cheap, immigrant labor can be difficult for native-born Americans regardless of whether the job is blue-collar or white-collar. A look at salaries for H1B visa holders working in technology versus the industry average shows a significant difference in compensation — with the gap sometimes being ten thousand dollars or more.”

    Liked by 1 person

  17. National Pulse: “LGBT Group Complains Video Games Aren’t Gay Enough, Wants Kids Targeted In-Game.”

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is bemoaning the fact that video games are not representative enough of homosexuality and transgenderism, even though their own research found that LGBTQ players are a tiny demographic in the gamer community and that a significant number of gamers, including LGBTQ ones, do not wish to see LGBTQ propaganda in video games. 

    In a report titled State of LGBTQ Inclusion in Video Games, GLAAD found that fewer than one in five (17 percent) active video gamers identify as LGBTQ — and nearly a full third of that small percentage have no desire to see more prominent LGBTQ storylines in games. More than half of LGBTQ players — 54 percent — do not care to see more playable transgender characters.

    GLAAD found that nearly a third of non-LGBTQ gamers — 30 percent — are not more likely to play a game in which the main character is homosexual or transgender. One in five non-LGBTQ gamers — 20 percent — would not play a video game just because it had the option to make the main character transgender, and 24 percent wouldn’t play a video game simply because the main story arc featured a transgender individual. 

    Despite GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis’s statement that “[t]his report presents a clear business case for the industry to take action,” the research actually suggests otherwise. 

    Disturbingly, the GLAAD report also contains a focus on children under the age of 18, asserting that active LGBTQ gamers “skew younger” and encouraging video game developers to target these children with LGBTQ propaganda, in-game. 

    Calls for increased LGBTQ representation in video games targeted at children are unlikely to sit well with American parents, however, who across the country have increasingly been pushing back against efforts to promote deviant sexual lifestyles to children. Although a majority of gamers are over the age of 18, the vast majority of American children play video games on a regular basis. It is estimated that over 90 percent of children over the age of 2 play video games, and three-quarters of U.S. households own a console.”

    Liked by 1 person

  18. “Trump’s Truth Social clears final regulatory hurdle for merger with cash-flush acquisition firm. Acquisition firm has seen its value soar as Trump won early primaries, merger now poised to occur”
    By John Solomon, Just The News
    Published: February 15, 2024 12:01am
    Updated: February 15, 2024 12:13am

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social media platform, announced late Wednesday it had clear its final regulatory hurdle for merging with a cash-flush acquisition company whose value has soared in recent weeks as the former president won the first three major presidential primary contests.

    Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission had “declared effective” the registration statement for its proposed merger with Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company for Truth Social.

    The SEC’s action ends nearly a two-year-long saga of delays that some conservatives feared were driven by political influences at the Biden administration. It also gives tens of thousands of everyday investors who made a bet on the merger a chance to own a piece of the Trump-owned firm heading into the 2024 election.

    DWAC said it plans to announce by week’s end the date of a special meeting where stockholders can vote to approve the merger.

    Devin Nunes, the former California congressman who serves as Truth Social’s CEO, hailed the development as a chance for the social platform to gain capital and grow as a free speech alternative to Big Tech companies that have stirred controversy by engaging in various forms of censorship.

    “Truth Social was created to serve as a safe harbor for free expression and to give people their voices back,” Nunes said. “Moving forward, we aim to accelerate our work to build a free speech highway outside the stifling stranglehold of Big Tech. “I’d like to thank everyone who has believed in our mission and helped bring us to this moment: DWAC and its CEO Eric Swider, DWAC shareholders, the TMTG Board of Directors, the entire TMTG staff, and the whole community of Truth Social users,” he added.

    DWAC has seen the value of its stock rise in recent weeks from around $15 a share to $43.50 late Wednesday, fueled in part by Trump’s commanding early success in the GOP primaries.”

    Liked by 1 person

  19. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/jared-kushner-post-white-house-business-moves-saudis-wealth-fund-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi/

    Our Take: “Jared Kushner is one of the more controversial names in the Trump orbit even among the MAGA base, and while I can understand it at times, the fact remains Kushner is cited by Trump himself as the lead architect of some of the biggest peace agreements of the modern age … agreements that orbit around the gravitational center of the Middle East in Saudi Arabia.

    The Saudis have been power players in global politics for decades, but it wasn’t until the seizing of power by Trump ally Mohammed bin Salman that we began to see this power tip in the direction of sovereignty.

    How fitting, that the crown prince bears as much animus for Joe Biden as he does respect for Donald Trump. How fitting, that MBS and the Saudis have fantastic relationships with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the ‘New Axis’ according to the western hegemon. And how fitting, that the Media Industrial Complex kicks off a fresh fear-mongering campaign designed to turn us against Saudi interests.” — Burning Bright

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Liked by 1 person

  22. A VALENTINE’S DAY LETTER FROM DONALD J. TRUMP: This is a Valentine’s Day Letter to my beautiful wife, Melania!

    Dear Melania,

    I LOVE YOU!

    Even after every single INDICTMENT, ARREST, and WITCH HUNT, you never left my side.

    You’ve always supported me through everything.

    I wouldn’t be the man I am today without your guidance, kindness, and warmth.

    You will always mean the world to me, Melania!

    From your husband with love,

    Donald J. Trump

    If you love Melania, I humbly ask you for you to leave her some kind words below!

    Donald J. Trump
    45th President of the United States

    Liked by 1 person

      1. lol…
        it has to do with NY law and federal law about excessive damages…they can’t be over a certain percentage…and hers are. so even if the award isn’t overturned she may recover maybe $6 million up to $36 million…and that’s a stretch at best

        Liked by 1 person

      1. I don’t agree with only one term but, at the same time, it WAS the intent of the Founders but their idea was travel to DC for a short period of time and the rest of the “term” was to be served while physically remaining in the home state.

        Liked by 1 person

  27. “Rest In Peace: Deceased Pop-Tarts Inventor Lowered Vertically Into Slot In The Ground”

    LIFE · Feb 14, 2024 · BabylonBee.com

    GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Breakfast pastry lovers around the globe held a moment of silence today after news broke that Bill Post, inventor of the Pop-Tart, had passed away at the age of 96. Post’s surviving family announced that he would be laid to rest by being lowered vertically into a thin slot in the ground.

    “He would’ve wanted it this way,” said gathered loved ones with a mixture of sadness and appreciation for the man who invented the world’s foremost pre-made, packaged breakfast food. The touching ceremony followed Post’s expressed wish for his remains to be kept warm and toasty below the earth’s surface.

    “He had such a delicious personality,” said one close friend. “Once you got past his crusty exterior and he warmed up to you, he was really sweet. You could always count on him, he was never too flaky. Whenever things got heated, it only made him even better. We’re all going to miss the happiness he would bring to our lives every morning he was around.”

    Post’s long-time coworkers agreed with the kind sentiments. “We all made a toast to Bill this morning when we heard the news,” said a man who worked closely with Post for years. “Working with him was wonderful. Sometimes he would be a little too hot to handle at first, but after he had time to cool off, he was always enjoyable.”

    At publishing time, the finishing touches were being made to Posts’s custom-made toaster-themed gravestone. Bill Post is survived by his wife, children, and his twin, who remains alive and will be kept in a foil wrapper and saved for later.”

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Patience

    February 15, 2024 8:59 am

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

    @repmtg
    1h
    ·
    Are we facing a national security threat?

    It’s my duty to be honest with you.

    Yes. It’s real.

    I went to the briefing today in the SCIF.

    Our President is a dementia patient in charge of our country and the nuclear football, who ripped our border wide open to over 10 million people and counting from over 160 countries around the world and 2 million of them we never caught, however an unknown number of those are in fact terrorists who want to kill you.

    Not only that, the administration has empowered the criminal cartels and they not only control most of our southern border, but are also making tens of billions from human and drug trafficking and have expanded their international operations to have a strong foothold inside the United States.

    Along with that, the government you trusted with your hard earned tax dollars has enslaved us all in over $34 TRILLION in debt. Communists China owns most of our debt and China makes most of our critical chain supplies, you know like medications that keep many of you alive.

    Now the interest rate on that debt is climbing so fast that the annual interest alone is soon to be bigger than our entire defense budget.

    Turns out the “smart people” running the federal government have made so many bad decisions with foreign policy, sanctions, and trade that our dollar is under dire threat and soon could no longer be the world’s currency.

    This means that your 401K’s, retirement accounts, stock portfolios, and savings could soon be worthless and your government mandated social security account that most of you depend on in retirement could soon be wiped out.

    These are just a few of the terrifying top national security threats we face.

    However, perhaps the greatest threat is the federal government has become so powerful over the people that it leaks “intelligence” to the press in order to pressure Congress to make certain votes, protect it’s own power to spy on it’s own citizens, maintain power and protect it’s own job security, and most terrifying of all has become weaponized to crush it’s political enemies.

    All of this you I’m telling you didn’t come from the SCIF, you already know, and I’m depending on you to help me stop our greatest national security threat, the one from within.

    Like

  33. clarion

    clarion

    February 15, 2024 10:08 am

    Ukraine “foreign aid” bills are taxpayer-funded stimulus packages for the parasites of the D.C. Beltway

    Setting the record straight on money allocated “for Ukraine.”

    JORDAN SCHACHTEL

    First and foremost, the government does not create jobs. Let me repeat: the government does not and cannot create jobs. This is especially true for the no-bid Beltway defense behemoths, which have become increasingly centralized with increasingly bloated budgets and profit margins over time.

    For example, let’s consider this $95 billion Ukraine bill that just passed the Senate and is being debated before the House. If that bill passes and it is signed into law, they will proceed to print $95 billion dollars and distribute the money to an increasingly centralized list of Beltway-based mega corporations that includes Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and the gang.

    Despite allocating $820 billion annually to the Defense Department, the government could once more not find the necessary funds to support Ukraine. Surprise! So they need $95 billion more dollars ($60 billion allocated “for Ukraine”, on top of the hundreds of billions already dumped into the Slava Slush Fund. Given that the U.S. is running a $1.7 trillion annual deficit, that means all $95 billion will be added to the $34.23 trillion in debt that is currently on the books.

    Moreover, by printing $95 billion dollars, the government therefore will debase the value of all of our dollars, and this will result in further inflation. In short, everyone BUT the Beltway defense industrial crowd gets screwed. No real value is created, and fiscal harm is imposed upon the rest of the country. 

    Through these top down, anti-market measures, Congress siphons off precious resources from the American economy, and uses them to make bombs and weapons for Anatoliy’s journey into the meat grinder. 

    https://www.dossier.today/p/ukraine-foreign-aid-bills-are-taxpayer?r=6a3x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    Liked by 1 person

  38. f’n LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Benny Johnson

    @bennyjohnson

    🚨Nathan Wade, secret lover hired by Fani Willis to prosecute Trump, gets sudden amnesia when asked by prosecutors if he travelled with Fani Willis in 2021— Then snaps under questioning: “I’M NOT RECALLING!”

    Like

  40. “Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting result of ‘dispute between several people,’ police say — Two juveniles are in custody in connection with the shooting, police said.

    By Madeleine Hubbard

    Published: February 15, 2024 11:59am

    Updated: February 15, 2024 12:09pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The shooting that occurred during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Celebration Parade came as the result of what “appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said Thursday. 

    The shooting killed one person, Elizabeth Galvin, 43, and left 22 other people injured. The victims range from 8-years-old to 47 years-old, and at least half of the victims are under the age of 16, Graves also said. 

    Two juveniles are in custody in connection to the shooting.”

    Liked by 1 person

  41. wth????

    Sophie
    Sophie
    February 15, 2024 12:17 pm

    Irantica…..

    JUST IN – Iran declares Antarctica its property in direct challenge to Biden, global treaty – Fox

    — Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 15, 2024

    Iran declares Antarctica its property in direct challenge to Biden, global treatyhttps://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-declares-antarctica-its-property-in-direct-challenge-to-biden-global-treaty

    Liked by 1 person

  47. so she considers herself a star or something that shouldn’t be recognized? she’s a public employee

    Liked by 1 person

  49. Mike Davis

    @mrddmia

    Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee should not only disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her special prosecutor/boyfriend Nathan Wade, Judge McAfee should dismiss the case. Fani Willis and Nathan Wade had a financial stake in the case since before its inception. They lied several times, to several courts. They also had 8 colleagues submit court filings with their lies, in their February 2nd response to co-defendant Mike Roman’s motion to dismiss. The Georgia Attorney General can decide whether to send the matter to a non-corrupted prosecutor, who can make the independent assessment whether to refile criminal charges. But Fani Willis’ RICO case against Trump and 18 others is irredeemably corrupted. Fani Willis and Nathan Wade must face disbarment. And criminal prosecution.

    Liked by 1 person

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