The Dong Tao chicken is a somewhat gruesomely bizarre breed with elephantine legs and feet. It is very popular in Vietnam where it is prized for its meat, which is considered far more delicious than that of normal chickens.
I spotted this on the menu of a Taylor Walker pub in central London — Mayfair, forsooth! — on Saturday. It raised quite a giggle amongst the assembled company.
For some time I’ve been collecting fun things one can do which shouldn’t be either especially scary (so no bungee jumping) or outrageously expensive (so no world cruises). I now have a list of 50 which don’t quite form a bucket list for me, although it is interesting to see which ones I’ve done and which I haven’t. When I get round to it I shall put the list on my website, but meanwhile I thought this month we would have a selection, just as a taster. Ten Fun Things To Do (which shouldn’t cost a fortune).
Have a summer picnic and remember to take the champagne
See a lunar or solar eclipse
Take part in a performance of Messiah (or any other choral piece) from scratch
Every time you go more than 25 miles from home, buy a postcard and send it to a friend or relative
Have something named after you (eg. new species, park bench, cocktail)
Do some guerilla gardening: find a small piece of neglected public land, plant some flowers there and tend them
Visit a different museum every month for a year
Take a trip on the London Eye (or an equivalent large Ferris wheel) at sunset
Have your fortune told (just don’t take the result too seriously)
Scientific names can be wonderful for many reasons. [There is] a bird whose name has rhythm, a fish with a fascinating etymology, and a butterfly named for a pioneering (and amazing) woman in entomology. Today’s entry is Yi qi, a newly described dinosaur whose name is interesting in origin and sound, and also wonderfully and surprisingly short. Actually, the dinosaur is pretty wonderful too. Yi qi was a feathered theropod dinosaur … about the size of a large pigeon. In addition to feathers, it has two really odd features: a bony rod extending from each wrist, and sheets of membranous soft tissue that are preserved near the arms [which seem to be] wing membranes … … two things about Yi qi‘s name. First: why “Yi qi” (pronounced “ee chee”)? Yi means “wing” and qi means “strange” in Mandarin … So Yi qi is the “strange winged” dinosaur …
Second: what’s up with just four letters? We’re used to scientific names being long … and difficult to spell or pronounce … So is Yi qi the shortest scientific name? Well, for an animal no shorter name is possible, because according to the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature … genus and species names must have at least two letters each … As it turns out, though, the race for the shortest name is a tie***: the Great Evening Bat is Ia io, also just 4 letters (and the only scientific name I know without consonants). Yi qi and Ia io have a few things in common besides the succinctness of their names: both are from China, both are flying predators, and both fly on membranous stretched from their arms. *** With honourable mention to the Australian sphecid wasp Aha ha, at 5 letters.
From Wonderful Scientific Names, Part 4: Yi qi
