101.WHAT IS TAXIDERMY?
The animals you see on exhibit in natural-history museums are the product of taxidermy. So are the reptiles and birds, and the fish that proud fishermen display on their walls. We think of them as “stuffed animals,” and in most cases, this is just what taxidermy involves.
Taxidermy is the art of mounting birds, animals, fish, and reptiles. It has been practiced for about 300 years, and the earliest “stuffed animal” in existence is a rhinoceros that was mounted in the sixteenth century.
100.WHAT IS RACCOON?
Some people believe that raccoons wash all their food before eating it. There is some truth to this. Most raccoons do wash their food, and there have been cases where raccoons refused to eat food when they couldn’t find any water nearby!
But on the other hand, raccoons have been known to eat food even when they were some distance from water, though perhaps they weren’t too happy about it. And some raccoons have been observed to eat without ever washing their food.
99.WHAT IS PORCUPINE?
The porcupine has always been considered an annoying, disagreeable – animal. In fact, even Shakespeare described it that way. In Hamlet, there is the line: “Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”
Actually, the porcupine is quite a harmless animal, who simply likes to be let alone. During the winter, it curls up in a hollow log or cave and sleeps most of the time. In the summer, it moves slowly through the woods in search of bark, twigs, roots, and leaves of trees and shrubs.
