Animalia

One man's Duster is another man's California Towhee. There are always local names for the flora and fauna. The following words are the local names of many animals that are familiar to us through zoos, TV programs and actual encounters, but usually under a different name.

Ajaja: (n) a) the rosette spoonbill b) the stellers jay c) cactus wren. d) the flamingo

Alouatte: (n) a) the lion faced tamarin. b) tarsier c) the South American Howler Monkey d) the common field mouse.

Hackee: (n) a) a horse that pulls a single rider on a small, light weight buggy, c) a tubercular farm animal on it’s last leg. c) a green jay, common to the American North East, also known as the coughing jay d) the chipmunk, so called for the noise it makes

Kaka: (n) a) a parrot of New Zealand (Nestor meridonalis) having a brown body marked with other colors. b) any animal that defecates in it’s nest or dwelling c) the Chilean rooster d) a small spotted cat that lives on the Serengeti

Miniver: (n) a) a miniature horse strong enough to pull a child’s livery, b) a mythical creature that begins life as a seal, walks on land as a woman and then must return to the sea every ten years, c) an ermine in it’s white phase, d) a door mouse


Narwhal: (n) a) a male deer with a rack of antlers suitable for hanging on a wall, b) a walrus-like mammal with a spotted coat single long tusk, hunted for it’s ivory, c) the call of Alaskan whalers when they spot a whale in the hunt, d) a kind of seagull that can swim through oil spills with very little ill effect.

Natterjack: (n) a) another name for the jackdaw, b) a black and grey Eurasian crow c) a local Irish name for a rodent that appears to whisper to itself while it eats, d) the common toad of Western Europe.

Oii: (n) a) the female hippopotamus, b) the New Zealand mutton-bird, c) an Andean Condor d) a toad named after the sound it makes

Okapi: (n) a) the black capped chickadee, b) a breed of fish that lives in the Amazon who’s upper scales make it almost impossible to see unless underwater, c) a pet mouse that travels inside a hat or cap, d) a giraffe-like animal with a shorter neck, stripes instead of spots and a long blue tongue.

Veery: (n) a) the brown & white thrush b) a breed of African bees c) green frog from south of the boarder, d) any pest animal that congregates in Western Australia