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Article: Don't classify an animal by its looks
- Article from:
- Jerusalem Post
- Article date:
- November 24, 1995
- Author:
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D'VORA BEN SHAUL
Jerusalem Post
11-24-1995
Long ago people tended to classify animals according to what they looked like, rather by more subtle and exact characteristics.
Since a giraffe has a long neck - somewhat like a camel - and is spotted, somewhat like a leopard, it was called camelopardis by early observers. This remains its formal Latin name even though it is clear that it has little in common with either, except for the fact that it is a mammal.
The hedgehog is an insectivore. It eats insects and some meats. The porcupine is a vegetarian, or herbivore. It eats only vegetable matter. The only things they have in common is that they are both mammals and that they both have a ...