Blowin' in the Wind: Name the Newborn -- A Pop Quiz!

(Blowin’ in the Wind is a regular feature on my blog consisting of an assortment of nature writings – hymns, songs, excerpts, prayers, Bible readings, poems or other things – pieces I may not have written but that inspire me. I trust they will do the same for you.)

OK, something just for fun this week…

My wife attended a baby shower at church some time back, and one of the games they played was ‘name the baby animal.’ Animal newborns sometimes can have some pretty interesting names. For example, did you know a newborn llama or alpaca is called a cria? Or a newborn hawk an eyas (pronounced eye-us)? How about a newborn platypus? Yup, I knew you’d get this one, a puggle.

Gail came home from the shower and gave the quiz to me. She had scored seventeen out of twenty and won the game. I was pleased to score seventeen also, and not only not have her beat me, but also receive the mild satisfaction of knowing I would have tied for the win had I been there. But then again, I’ve never been invited to a baby shower. And besides, we have enough dishtowels, or whatever it was she won.

So I thought it’d be fun to pass this along to my blog readers some time for light entertainment. Here’s the game. I’m going to give you twenty animals, the same quiz as the baby shower, and I want you to guess what the newborn is called. You could even keep your score and let me know on your honor how you did, especially if you beat me, which I suspect some of you will. I may even give a shout out to the highest scorers.

Relax, though: this particular quiz doesn’t include too many hard ones. Here you go:

          1.    Alligator

          2.    Armadillo

          3.    Cat

          4.    Giraffe

          5.    Fish

          6.    Eagle

          7.    Cow

          8.    Donkey

          9.    Coyote         

          10.  Goose

          11.  Duck

          12.  Dog

          13.  Goat

          14.  Dolphin

          15.  Deer

          16.  Frog

          17.  Hedgehog

          18.  Gorilla

          19.  Elephant

          20.  Kangaroo

Maybe some other time I’ll do another pop quiz of what the adjectives are for the male and female of a species, or if you want something truly weird, what groups of animals are called. (For example, did you know what a group of crows is called? A murder. Really. Check it out. Who decided that?)

                    Ask the animals, and they will teach you,

                    The birds of the air, and they will tell you.

                    Ask the plants of the earth,

                    And they will instruct you;

                    And the fish of the sea will declare to you.

                    Who among all these does not know that

                    The hand of THE LORD has done this?

                    In his hand is the life of every living thing

                    And the breath of all humankind. (Job 12:7-10)

~~RGM, September 17, 2014