Driving with my kids in
the car is always chance for conversation and questions. Deep questions that I
have no way of answering even if my life depended on it because one question will
lead to another which will lead to another. My sons will talk us in a circle
and I rarely see it coming.
For example, today we were driving to pick my oldest son up
at school and I was asked what type of animal a bird is. I said that it is a
bird, fairly simple I thought. Is it an amphibian I was asked again. No, it is
not an amphibian, if you want to be more technical it can be called fowl, I replied.
Could it be a reptile? (Amphibian and reptile? Where the hell is that coming
from? Birds are not scaly or slimy and they don’t slither. Not amphibian or
reptile! Jeez.) I answered that birds are not reptile or amphibian or mammals
or fish or insects or whatever other type of animal they could come up with
(those are all of the classifications, by the way.)
It took only a moment for the conversation to continue. “Reptiles
and amphibians lay eggs,” I was told. Indeed they do. “How can birds lay eggs
if they are not reptiles or amphibians?” They had me there. I don’t know why
that is but it’s just the way it is. I tried to explain that there are
exceptions to every rule but that got me nowhere. We talked about how a platypus
lays eggs but is a mammal but that did not explain the mystery of birds and
their total lack of amphibian or reptile ancestors.
I told them we would look all of this up when we got home
hoping that they would forget, which they did. One day this conversation will
rear its ugly head again but for now I feel that I am safe from answering or
attempting to answer these species related questions.
I don’t like reptiles or amphibians anyway and now I have
one more reason to like them less. Birds are now on my list too. Stupid egg
layers.
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