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stoutfellowOne of my favorite books, when I was a kid, was a picture book displaying and briefly describing a range of exotic animals. Through that book, I was introduced to the anoa, the babirusa, the chevrotain, and a host of others, and when I go to a zoo I always keep an eye out for the animals from that book - at least, the ones that I remember. (I still recall my first sight of a chevrotain, at the San Diego Zoo.)
And so it always startles me - unjustly, I admit - to run into an educated adult who isn't familiar with those critters. One of the bloggers at the Volokh Conspiracy has just become acquainted with the coati... There's an exhibit of coatis at... it might be the San Diego Zoo again, but I think it's one of the zoos around Tucson, probably the Sonora Desert Museum. They are delightful creatures, almost as much fun to watch as prairie dogs or meerkats.
How can you get past the age of, say, thirty, and not know coatis? (Don't hit me.)
And so it always startles me - unjustly, I admit - to run into an educated adult who isn't familiar with those critters. One of the bloggers at the Volokh Conspiracy has just become acquainted with the coati... There's an exhibit of coatis at... it might be the San Diego Zoo again, but I think it's one of the zoos around Tucson, probably the Sonora Desert Museum. They are delightful creatures, almost as much fun to watch as prairie dogs or meerkats.
How can you get past the age of, say, thirty, and not know coatis? (Don't hit me.)
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-02 09:35 pm (UTC)(I still do, I think. A few years ago, getting Mom ready for her move, I rescued a few of my most-loved old texts and this was one of them. Damned if I know what I did with it though.)
evidently ignorant [g]
Date: 2006-06-03 12:36 am (UTC)Re: evidently ignorant [g]
Date: 2006-06-03 03:16 am (UTC)Chevrotain (http://www.americazoo.com/goto/index/mammals/362.htm): the picture doesn't show it, but the males have tusks.
Babirusa (http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Babyrousa_babyrussa.html)
Anoa (http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/anoa/anoa.htm)
Re: evidently ignorant [g]
Date: 2006-06-03 09:10 pm (UTC)Thank you for the information -- as a librarian, learning something new every day is a religion. Or it should be.
Re: evidently ignorant [g]
Date: 2006-06-13 04:55 pm (UTC)Doesn't the Babirusa look just like a tapir? It always interests me to see how similar species evolve on opposite sides of the world. Maybe a common ancestor on the Original Continent...
Re: evidently ignorant [g]
Date: 2006-06-13 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 08:33 pm (UTC)I didn't learn about meerkats until reading an Andre Norton novel; now they're all over LJ. :) [Maybe I should hunt that book up again; I've been several people since then. It's always interesting to see how the books hold up over time. Fortunately, Andre's very reliable that way.]
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 05:38 pm (UTC)There's an online version, but it's something you'd have to access from your library, if they've bought access.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 06:56 pm (UTC)