Dumb Sloth bear,
I write about me in verse
For to prose I am averse.
I am a smart macaque
And there is nothing I lack!
How does my pig-tail make me a weirdo
You lumbering, ungainly bimbo?
The forests of the North-East is my home
Where tigers and elephants too roam.
Where Leo spotty prowls in the night,
But that by me is quite all right!
I love fruits, leaves and shoots
Insects, stems, dirt and roots.
You are a bear three-foot tall,
Yet you pick on termites and ants so small.
We enter fields one at a time, quite stealthily
Eat our fill before we leave quietly.
One of us is always on the look-out
At the sight of a human, he gives a shout!
Unlike you, we are social,
Friendly, helpful and vocal.
We are always on the hunt
For a tender, juicy coconut.
But you nasty bear climb trees
To knock down hives of bees.
Man trains us to pluck the nuts from a tree
Actually we work for him for free.
My glossy thick fur is olive brown
There is a shock of black hair on my crown.
They say your blackish-brown coat is shaggy
If you ask me, I think it is dirty and shabby
My tail is short, slender, curled and upright
But that shouldn't bother anybody, right?
I, on the other hand, accept your flaws
Your long muzzle, missing front teeth and terrifying claws,
Each animal, Slothy, appears weird to another.
Except perhaps, to one's own mother.
Our world is filled with the curious, the bizarre and the freaky,
The queer, the grotesque and the creepy.
So, Slothy, learn to accept and forgive,
One must live and let others live!
Pig-tailed macaque
Reply from Aristotle
Scratch-Your-Head Corner #3
How well do you jungli jaanwar know each other? Which of the
following are correct?
1. A rhino has three toes.
2. A baby Hoolock Gibbon is milky white when born.
3. Ganges River Dolphins are blind.
4. Civets are hunted for musk to make perfume.
5. Lion-tailed monkeys are an endangered species.
6. King cobras are a delicacy in Thailand.
7. There is a species of rodents in India called the Servant Mouse.
8. Chirus are found in the Western Ghats.
9. Asian lions are found across north India.
10. Gharials are a species of deer.
11. Jim Corbett National Park is in Rajasthan.
12. During their annual migration, bar-headed geese fly over the
Himalayas to spend winter at Bharatpur.
13. Langurs are tail-less monkeys.
14. Bird flu can affect human beings.
15. A donkey has 350-degree vision which helps him aim his kicks
with his hind legs.
Answers to S-Y-H Corner #3
Except numbers 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13, all others are correct.
