A gourmet rabbit.

As long term readers will know, we recently added two rabbits to our family. One is a golden rabbit called Sushi. The other is a grey, very fluffy rabbit called Mochi. Aptly, they are both named after Japanese foods, given the behaviour I am about to describe.

I had the pleasure of observing them as two very young rabbits, on one of their first experiences of the outside world. We had placed them in the garden, under the watchful gaze of all, since we also have cats, who might think two baby rabbits were somehow meant for them, in an unpleasant sort of way (for the rabbits, anyway). Both were very excited to see the grass beneath their feet. Up until then, food had arrived at our hands, in limited quantities: now the very ground beneath their feet sprouted edible goodies. It was fun to see them hop around excitedly, perhaps quite not able to believe that the world, the very world could be constructed of food, as it was, for them.

Mochi's behaviour was most interesting. She wandered about the garden, seeking different varieties of plants. Once she had found a new variety, she would nibble on it, experimentally and come to some inner assessment of its worth. Sometimes she nibbled more enthusiastically, after the first nibble, at other times, she seemed fairly neutral towards the plant. Once she had tasted a plant, she would then hop away in search of another variety. It was quite clear what she was doing. She was on a conscious, deliberate survey of the food options in her environment: she was tasting each and every variety of plant she could find.

She was particular fond of a type of small white flower - name unknown to me. To this she, in fact, returned more than once. It was the only plant, on this particular trip into the garden, that she returned to. With all others, she nibbled, then moved on.

On subsequent adventures in the garden, Mochi would return to where her favourite plants grew and nibble on them. She had come to an understanding of where in the garden the best pickings grew. There was nothing random in her food search: she always seemed to know what she liked to eat. It is notable that she takes the trouble to pick out favourite plants, from among all the alternatives

From this behaviour, it can be seen, that even a rabbit can be a bit of a gourmet. Our rabbits, in particular Mochi, have very individual tastes in food and go out of their way to meet those tastes. In a garden filled with different plants, they don't just nibble the ones at their feet, when placed in the garden - but go hopping off in search of particular treats - at least, they always seem to end up nibbling on these more unusual plants, in preference to more abundant, more readily available ones. Conscious choices seem to be being made.

It has been fun, so far, having rabbits in the house. More than that, however, it has been illuminating. I have come to better appreciate the intelligence of these seemingly simple animals. I think Man rather overestimates our place in the world. Yes, we have language and technology - but even quite humble animals have a degree of intelligence that too many overlook. They are not dumb creatures - they are just not as able as Humanity as a whole. That, however, does not make them unimpressive.

I recommend, to anyone, to have a pet or two in the house. The children will learn a lot - but so will you. The lessons you learn might surprise you and prompt you to reassess a number of your basic assumptions about the world's animals.

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An elephant for breakfast.

Last week, I had an elephant for breakfast. That might sound a little greedy and anti-green...but I shall explain.

At breakfast time, in Chiangmai, Thailand, where we were staying, an elephant walked past the window, right outside our hotel bungalow. As you can imagine, this was rather a surreal sight. Now, not being one who has elephants walk past his window every morning, I rushed out with a camera and my son, Tiarnan, three, to see what this elephant was up to.

We found the elephant just outside the main hotel building. Rather oddly, he was twirling a hula-hoop with his trunk, which he seemed to enjoy. I should point out that this was a "baby" elephant, or at least a child, because it was not fully grown, yet. He enjoyed playing. Standing beside the elephant was a "mahout".

Tiarnan was fascinated. Here was a baby elephant who liked to play games. He stood beside me, in entranced silence, his gaze upon the elephant's every deed.

The elephant turned out to be quite a versatile animal, with many a "trick" at his command. At one point, he played a harmonica with the air blown through his trunk. Tiarnan laughed at this: a musical elephant. At another, he took the proffered Thai Baht note from my hand, which I was trying to tip the mahout/elephant with, by sucking on it, and passed it to his mahout. He picked up a straw hat, nearby and put it on peoples' heads, then took it off again and put it on someone else's head. All of this, was with his trunk, of course. When we asked for a photograph, the elephant came toward us, somewhat, then lifted up one leg and raised his trunk into the air, to pose for it, rather dramatically. He kept the pose until he had heard the last click of our cameras (my sister in law was taking photos, too), then he dropped his leg and trunk.

Promisingly, the mahout had an easel available, but the elephant didn't seem in the mood for that and so we never saw the elephant paint.

By the time the elephant sauntered off back down the lane, outside our bungalow, back to its waiting mother, both Tiarnan and I were most impressed by this elephant's intelligence. Watching it at play, I rather felt there was a happy, experimental, human child stuck inside its massive body. Indeed, looking at the size of its head, and the brain that was no doubt there, I did wonder at just how intelligent elephants really are. It seems such a pity that some people see fit to shoot elephants for sport or their tusks. They are magnificent and intelligent animals.

Where had the elephant come from? Well, much as a hotel might keep a fine dog, in some countries, in Thailand, this particular hotel kept a young elephant and its mother (both female, I think), on the property. They were there to entertain the children, but seemed well looked after. While we were there, Tiarnan visited the elephants every day. He seemed most interested in their doings and beings. He was a lot braver than he should have been, however, and sometimes wanted to get rather too close to them, while they rested. I would have to pull him back, since, though they seemed friendly and tame enough...I wasn't sure they might not step on my little boy without really noticing him.

One thing is for sure: I will never forget the day I had an elephant for breakfast.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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