Capybaras was Re: multiple classification systems

[Jacklyn L. Ryrie]

And ew think we have truoble with Kashruth.....  :-)))
(Capybara is a large furry aquatic mammal like a cavie on guinea pig.... )
At 12:08 PM 06/17/97 +1000, John Trueman wrote:
>Re Barbara Ertter's example:
>>the historical fact of an early Pope declaring that capybara are "fish" for
>>the purpose of Friday abstinence from meat. This seems nonsensical to us ...
>>
>
>... and merely as an aside:
>To a biologist this should not seem nonsensical at all.  What is a human if
>not a scaleless, bipedal, terrestrial fish?

Ah, but to a cladist the fascinating part is not that the Pope declared
cabyparas to be fish, but rather that he excluded chickens, ducks, cows,
sheep, and pigs. :-)


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Curtis Clark                       http://www.is.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
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Jacklyn L. Ryrie
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