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Meet the Grant Museum’s Royal Family!

By Emma-Louise Nicholls, on 8 June 2012

A little poetic celebration of our regal specimens…

 

King vultureWhich king is so large, its subjects flee,

When it arrives at a carcass to have its tea?

Thought to be a messenger in South American culture,

It is of course, the multi-coloured king vulture.

 

 

Their beautiful appearance belies their ferocity,

Intruders are met with fierce animosity.

But in love they are elegant, and dance an aerial display,

That is just the kingfisher way.

 

 

Volkswagon beetleThe venom in one bite can kill 30 people,

It eats other snakes, and is longer than a Beetle,

That snake’s growling not hissing, yes you’re (probably?) sober,

It’s just one of the skills of the awesome king cobra.

 

 

230 million years it has been in existence,

Yet it’s hardly changed at all, through royal persistence.

Nine eyes weren’t enough so it’s tail also senses light,

But surely this level of extravagance is a king crab’s right.

 

 

King penguinsA little smaller then the emperor, but in the same yellow and black,

It chooses islands with vegetation, not the emperor’s ice-pack.

Braving leopard seals and killer whales, that want it for tea,

The king penguin is adept at fishing under the sea

 

 

They hop like a wallaby to get where they’re going,

They seek deeper water to spend their time growing.

36 hours produces 0.7 million young,

If the queen conch tended her children, she’d be a very busy mum.

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