A Glossary of National Animals
(Part 1)
Published in
3 min readJan 28, 2021
In Afghanistan you may be stunned
How a Snow Leopard can have you outgunned.
Known locally as the Ounce,
Like a bolt of lightning he can pounce.
You must move quickly, it makes sense,
Lest your friends think of you whence
You failed to climb a tree or hop a fence.
Alas, a sad remembrance.
(Author’s Note:
If you fancy a Snow Leopard rug,
Consider yourself a common thug.)
Now let us turn to Belize,
For a moment, if you please,
And cast your eyes on the Baird’s Tapir
Whose snout is much like a rapier.
He uses his snout like a shovel
To snort, to forage, and double
As a spoon to pick up bugs,
Which he swallows — glug, glug, glug.
In Cambodia, the bird most Cambodious:
The Giant Ibis with song melodious.
It wades in rivers and lakes and…
