A name is neither tooth nor claw, they say,
Yet there are certain creatures at the zoo
Who are as fun to see as they’re to say,
Like binturongs and crested cockatoos.

The bobolinks and bushtits in the trees,
The kudu and the xebu on the ground
In both are kinkajous and mangabeys,
While wombats dig and klipspringers abound.

Yet I should love okapis for their stripes
And muntjacs for their fangs and tiny snouts
The mandrill’s war-paint lives up to the hype,
And kookaburra’s laughs were not in doubt.

There is a dickcissel for every dove-
A funny name’s just one more thing to love.