Folly of the Faithful Canine

The canine convention of walking in circles
Ahead of one’s sleep is genetic,
As wolves do it also, but why does it happen?
Allow me an answer poetic.

Behaviorists posit a number of reasons.
Since dogs check for danger by nose,
Perhaps they decide their position to lie in
By finding the way the wind blows.

And speaking of smelling, they might use their paw glands
For marking a spot as their own.
They also might see if the pack has lost stragglers;
Survival is tough when alone.

As long as they’re looking, they might catch a predator
Right before going to sleep.
Perhaps it’s a ritual signaling who has
The dominant pack post to keep.

The turning might help to select a position
That guards vital organs from threats.
The change in the layout might serve as a claim
To a spot that no other dog gets.

On soil, it can bring out unwanted companions
For bedtime, like insects and snakes.
Removing the topsoil exposes a layer
That’s cooler for temperature’s sake.

Or maybe dogs flatten the region for comfort,
Like fluffing a pillow to us.
Whatever the reason, unless it’s excessive,
The act doesn’t merit a fuss.

The white and black rhinos are much the same color.
Their names are alleged to have come
From faulty translation of wyd, Afrikaans
Word for wide, tho it sounds rather dumb.

The best way to tell them apart is to look
At the mouth, for the “white’s” lips are broad
And flat with strong muscles for grazing; the “black’s”
Lips are hook-shaped for branch eating (odd).

The white rhino’s body is shaped like a barrel
And long, not compact like the black.
The white has a hump on the nape of its neck,
While the black has more arch in its back.

The white’s head is apt to stay low to the ground.
Its long ears help make up for its vision.
The black’s ears are smaller and rounder; its eyeballs
Enable more optic precision.

They both have two horns, but the black’s are more even.
The white has a long one up front.
The black’s territorial, often aggressive.
The white’s more inclined just to grunt.

The white is endangered; the black’s even more so.
In large part, the blame is on poaching.
I’m glad that I got to see both on safari
While hopefully not too encroaching.

If you were born last century, it’s likely that you’ve seen
A tongue map showing where our sense of taste is extra keen
For bitter, sour, salty, sweet, and possibly umami.
It’s not entirely false, but it’s been taught in ways quite balmy.

When Harvard’s Edwin Boring made the map in ’42,
He meant to show the thresholds for the maxima he knew.
For instance, at the tip is where we best taste food that’s sweet.
The difference, tho, is minuscule; the sections aren’t discrete.

Some readers misinterpreted and jumped to the conclusion
That nothing but the tip detected sweetness. What confusion!
For generations, schools would teach the map as absolute,
Yet smarter students noticed it was something to dispute.

While only one animal’s known to shed tears
In response to a glut of emotion,
Few scientists study the reason, and they
To this day can’t agree on a notion.

It’s long been assumed to be good for one’s health
As a physical detox of sorts—
With almost no evidence showing in more
Than a century’s worth of reports.

When subjects in labs watch a tearjerker movie,
The criers report feeling worse—
Except they feel better than others when some
Ninety minutes have passed, not at first.

It seems that emotional tears have more protein
Than tears from a poke in the eye.
This makes them more viscous and slower to run,
Which in turn makes them easy to spy.

This meshes with human reliance on visual
Signals in facial expressions.
The tears call for help, and at times they may beg
Other parties to cease their aggressions.

The fact that our noses are high off the ground
Means we have to rely less on scent.
It figures that animals other than humans
Have less of an optical bent.

It’s also worth noting that babies of humans
Are far more dependent than most.
Their hollers are shrill, but the tears may call further
Attention to keep us engrossed.

When older folk sob, it would not be so easy
To tell how they felt without tears.
That’s all I can offer for now; hope we reach
A consensus within a few years.

Both starlings and grackles are dark-colored passerines
Moving in big, noisy groups.
They’re often together and often confused
With each other (or other birds, oops).

The fully grown starlings have glossy black plumage,
The younger ones more brownish gray.
In winter, their backs have a starry night look,
With light spots breaking out all the way.

Male grackles have glossy black plumage as well,
But the females are light to dark brown.
The head of a starling is brown and black mostly.
A grackle’s is blue all around.

While grackles have yellow eyes, starlings’ are dark
(Gray for females and brown for the males).
The grackles have shorter and less pointy wings
But sport longer and orange-hued tails.

You may have been told that a grackle bill’s dark
And a starling bill’s yellow, but bummer:
The bills of male starlings change color by season;
The yellow is just for the summer.

Besides, female starlings have bills that are pink,
Which could also describe starling legs.
The grackles have dark legs. It’s also worth noting
That starlings lay less speckled eggs.

A grackle makes rapid, machine gun-like calls.
To a human, the sound’s harsh and loud.
The starling, a songbird, makes plenty of bird sounds
In movies; it ought to be proud.

Since grackles are cousins to ravens and crows,
They are apt to remember your face.
They walk more than hop and will fly in a V.
There, those tips are enough for this space.

Dugongs and manatees both are called sea cows.
They’re slow-moving, mostly herbivorous beasts
Belonging to order Sirenia, named
For mythology’s sirens (a stretch at the least).

The manatee comes in three species: West Indian,
African, and Amazonian sorts.
The dugong’s just one now; the past Steller’s sea cow
Died out due to hunting—for fat, not for sport.

The dugongs live only in saltwater regions,
Preferring the shallow and sheltered, like bays.
Two manatee species will migrate to freshwater;
There Amazonians spend all their days.

One obvious difference: A manatee ends
In a paddle-shaped, one-lobed, and beaverlike tail.
A dugong’s is fluked, made of two separate lobes
That combine in the middle, a lot like a whale.

The snout of a dugong is broader and trunk-like.
It points itself down with a mouth that’s a slit
To eat off the sea floor. Adult males and some
Older females have tusks that they fight with a bit.

A manatee’s muzzle is shorter and features
A cleft upper lip meant for feeding on plants
That grow near the surface. It also has whiskers
Instead of mere bristles, not clear at a glance.

A manatee’s teeth have hind molar progression:
As front teeth grind down and fall out over time,
The molars that grow in the back can emerge
And push forward the other teeth. That’s just sublime.

A dugong is born a pale cream and attains
A slate gray as it lives about 70 years.
A manatee’s typically gray-brown and dies
Around 40. Both hear well for no outer ears.

The dugongs are lifelong monogamists. Manatee
Females will hardly mind sharing their men.
They start giving birth at age three, while the dugongs
Spend more time between births and start at age ten.

Although all sirenians mostly are noticed
Alone or in pairs, only dugongs are seen
In gatherings greater than six—sometimes more
Than a hundred together. That sight must be keen!

A manatee sees well despite tiny eyeballs.
By contrast, a dugong has eyesight that’s poor….
Good heavens, I’ve talked a blue streak on these mammals.
Go look somewhere else if you really want more.

Chameleons don’t change their colors for camouflage.
Mostly, they regulate heat,
As dark absorbs sunbeams and paleness reflects them.
For cold-blooded critters, that’s neat.

The colors communicate feelings as well.
In the males, they can signal aggression,
Submission, or dominance. Both sexes change
For a ready-for-mating expression.

Now here’s how they do it: The outermost skin
Is transparent, and layers below
Hold cells called chromatophores, all filled with sacs
Of a pigment preparing to show.

As temper or temp’rature changes, the brain
Tells which cells to expand or contract.
Chameleon owners do well to decode
Such a colorful way to react.

I always believed that the cow-tipping practice
Was totally mean and not fun.
I thus was relieved when I learned that in truth,
It has probably never been done.

For starters, it takes at least four burly people
To push one with adequate force.
Cows also sleep lightly when standing erect,
And they’re apt to resist you, of course.

Besides, if the cow isn’t injured or sick
And the fall isn’t into a ditch,
She shouldn’t be stuck there; cows frequently lie
On the ground and get up with no hitch.

For thousands of years, we’ve had people declare
That some quadrupeds couldn’t arise
Once fallen, despite simple proof to the contrary.
Please, let us try to be wise.

When people ignore an unfortunate fact,
They are said to have buried their heads in the sand.
This metaphor stems from a mythical act
That’s ascribed to the ostrich in many a land.

It’s true that the ostrich has quite a small brain
And is short on intelligence e’en for a bird,
But interring one’s head won’t avert any bane
And could cause one to suffocate. My, how absurd!

A typical ostrich defense involves running.
It also delivers a powerful kick.
Its wing flails can hurt, and its call can be stunning
Like roars from a lion. Now that’s quite a trick!

But sometimes the ostrich will flop to the ground
And stay perfectly still to attempt to blend in.
At a distance, its head is not easily found,
Which explains how the burial myth could begin.

What’s more, it digs holes in the ground for a nest
And will rotate the eggs many times with its beak.
It munches low plants, too. Which theory is best?
Eh, no matter; just know it won’t hide like a freak.

The scallop and clam are both bivalves and easy
To tell from an oyster or mussel
But harder to tell from each other, and so
I read websites for solving the puzzle.

The edge of a scallop’s distinctively ribboned
All over the lips of its shell.
A clam’s edge is usually smooth and quite rounded.
This makes the most obvious tell.

Inside, you can find that a scallop has eyes
With a mirror instead of a lens.
A clam has no eyes, ears, or nose; I’m amazed
At the senses on which it depends.

A clam has a lengthy and muscular foot
Meant for moving or digging in sand.
The foot of a scallop is underdeveloped,
Since swimming is more of its brand.

A clam tends to live where the land meets the sea,
Hence the digging to counter the waves.
A scallop lives hundreds of feet underwater,
Conducive to how it behaves.

On average, scallops are larger than clams
But unlikely to live for so long.
Clams also observe longer seasons for spawning.
(Your image of that may be wrong.)

The other distinctions are found via eating,
In texture, nutrition, and taste.
I’ll let you decide which you’d rather consume.
Now I hope that my rhymes weren’t a waste.