spamalot } { of zoo trips and fancy names

[impetere]

Stiles: So what do we want to see first, kiddos?

Alex: [babbles loudly something incoherent]

Dina: I want to see the snow leopard. They are endangered.

Ben: I wanna see penguins!

Cora: The snow leopard and the penguins are in the same area. We can head that way.

Stiles: Polar bears are also over there.

Dina: Snow leopard first.

Cora: We will see everything so let's see which exhibit we hit first.

Dina: [scrunches her nose because snow leopards are very important and should be first.]

Stiles: [gently flicks her pony tail]

Dina: Daaaaaaddy.

Cora: [pushes the stroller with the boys in it] So what have you been doing in school, Dina?

Dina: We've been talking about endangered animals and pollution.

Cora: Oh yeah? What about it?

Dina: [and she will talk their ears off about how humans suck and make the planet dirty and it kills animals]

Cora: [what a wonderful world we live in, and they'll come up on the first enclosure, and it's ...]

Ben: PENGUINS!!

Stiles: You know, I seem to remember you loved penguins too, Dina.

Dina: I like them.

Cora: And there are some species of penguins that are endangered too.

Dina: Oh? We didn't learn that yet.

Cora: Oh yeah. [he nods to one of the signs nearby] Go check it out. [and there are five big ones]

Dina: [and she will go to read the sign, her finger rolling over the text as she does to make sure she gets EVERY WORD]

Stiles: [kneeling down to be next to Ben] Can you see them, buddy?

Ben: [shakes his head as he struggles against the stroller] Let me out!

Stiles: Alright, hold on. [and he will unstrap Ben and pick him up, putting his son up on his shoulders] Better?

Ben: Look at all of them! [that would be a yes]

Stiles: There's a lot of them.

Ben: [points at a random one] It's Ramon! [like in Happy Feet which is probably his favorite]

Stiles: Oh wow it is! I wonder if he can still sing.

Ben: All the penguins can sing except Mumble. [duh Dad]

Stiles: I like how Mumble sings.

Ben: [and he's totally making a face over his father's head]

Stiles: [laughs] So can you find the other penguins?

Ben: [and he'll squint and point out all of the penguins by name, did we mention Happy Feet is his favorite movie]

Stiles: [he knows, which is why he is keeping him occupied]

Dina: [looks up at Cora] What's this word?

Cora: [makes her way closer to look at where she means] Which one?

Dina: [and it's all the scientific names]

Cora: Oh, those are the fancy scientific names.

Dina: So they have two names?

Cora: Yeah. Think of it like first and last names but in reverse. The first one is the genus, which is the big group they all belong to, while the second on is the species, which is their individual name. So for you "Stilinski" would be your genus and "Dina" would be your species.

Dina: [wrinkles her nose] That's weird.

Cora: It is. But scientists like to be fancy sometimes.

Dina: Hmph. [when she's a scientist, she won't be fancy]

Cora: [you keep telling yourself that] You don't approve?

Dina: It's too fancy.

Cora: Scientists aren't allowed to be fancy?

Dina: But too fancy means no one can understand them.

Cora: Well, that's why we call them penguins and tigers and leopards. The fancy names are mostly just used by scientists to help with specifically science-y things.

Dina: But all the non-science-y names are different too.

Cora: Yeah, they are. [she shrugs] I don't know. I'm not a biologist.

Dina: It's stupid. Just call them their penguin name.

Cora: Well, when you become a world class biologist, you can change the system.

Dina: I will.

Cora: Good.