Lateral Thinking Questions

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ANSWER: L.T.Q. #60

Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 12:22:13 -0500 (EST)

"Animals are such agreeable friends," wrote George Eliot. "They ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." Eliot obviously never met Ridley and Orson!

Here is this week's question:

The following animals all have something quite specific in common, but it has nothing to do with habitat, foodstuffs, appearance, activity, procreation, zoos, or physical attributes. What do these animals have in common: koala bear, prairie dog, firefly, silkworm, jackrabbit, guinea pig?

ANSWER:

They are all imposters:
  — The koala bear is not a bear; it is a marsupial.
  — The prairie dog is not a dog; it is a rodent.
  — The firefly is not a fly; it is a beetle.
  — The silkworm is not a worm; it is a caterpillar.
  — The jackrabbit is not a rabbit; it is a hare.
  — The guinea pig is not a pig; it is a rodent (and it is not from Guinea, but from South America.

oddlystrange commented that "they have all been printed on Nature Company t-shirts."

In a similar marketing viewpoint, Liz guessed that each animal was the mascot for some major-league sports team. Here's another question: What sport might you associate with each of these animals? (Please reply to "ANIMALS #60.")

Jamie, who actually works in marketing, pointed out that "they are all creatures of God. Let's not get into the theory of evolution thing!" As I have seen in another newsgroup, "why can't we just evolve along?"

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