bats

[JOSEPH E. LAFERRIERE]

Bryant asked whether non-Western cultures classify bats as
rodents or birds. I don't know. I suspect there is some of both,
given the amazingly wide variety of cultures in the world.
   Folk classification even within the US can be very different
from formal scientific classification, even when the same words
are involved. My mother, for example, insists that birds and fish
are not animals, and trees and flowers are not plants. Rosemary
and bay are herbs even though they are also shrubs. Spiders
and insects are of course lumped together under the term "bug."

--
Joseph E. Laferriere
Tucson, Arizona, USA
JosephL at aztec.arizona.edu