[R] How about a mascot for R?

Richard A. O'Keefe ok at cs.otago.ac.nz
Tue Dec 7 00:15:13 CET 2004


Thomas Yee <t.yee at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
	ps. Ross has Maori origins, so a native NZ animal is a better idea
	than usual.

The native animals of New Zealand include no mammals except for
- marine mammals in the coastal waters, such as the Hector's dolphin
- a few species of bat which got blown over from Australia.
Otherwise, there are birds, reptiles, insects, and a few oddballs.
The most notable oddballs would be Tuataras, famous for their third eye.
We have some onychophorans, of which it has been said that
"Contemporary Onychophorans are able to predate organisms several times
larger than themselves" (take _that_, SAS!)....
Wetas are quite interesting; they are basically grasshoppers some of which
played the ecological role of (and are about the same size as) mice.

I suspect that only birds have the "cuddly" appeal required of a mascot.
Perhaps it's worth pointing out that Kiwis are a kind of Ratite.




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