a conversation of the old and new (bird speak part 3)

Location: Invercargill

Baskets Left: 3

still here in invercargill. today bright and early in the morning i've set off for the invercargill museum to try and accomplish my task of getting rid of these three artifact baskets as per my bosses instructions.

so heading off to the museum this morning i ran into a part of the botanic garden i missed in my exploring last night, due to the darkness, of one of the animal enclosures of the mini-zoo.

an ostrich!

the ostrich in the enclosure immediately perked up as a i walked by.

figuring it won't really pan out (as it only has twice in dunedin) i tried to say hi in bird.

"hello," i was greeted back!

i stopped. i really understood... her if i caught that all right!

"how are you?" i ventured.

"me good," she, definitely a she, answered.

it was heavily accented, but this ostrich was speaking coelurosaurian...

"how you?" the ostrich asked back as she walked closer to me.

"i'm good" i said slowly. i could tell my long necked friend wasn't used to my dialect.

"my name is traumador," i offered. "what is your name?"

"camelus," she replied.

"nice to meet you camelus," i happily said.

"you ancient one yes?" camelus asked.

ancient one? i was confused for a second. i was only 4 years old.

oh it dawned on my peanut sized brain. "yes i am a dinosaur," i answered. "you know of us?" i asked. i had no idea birds still remember us. there's been so many generations and extinctions separating us.

"stories of you kind are told by my kindred the ratites," camelus replied.

ratites, that's the whole family of flightless birds including not just ostriches, but kiwi birds like the moa and well kiwi!

"why do they tell stories of us?" i pushed.

"your return was expected. you said to be bringing back the world that once was," camelus said. "i never believed i see one of you. so i did not listen well."

that ended that, she couldn't tell me anymore. i wanted to know though!

i tested what she could and couldn't understand. i was mostly small talk. i found out things like her likes and dislikes for things like food, colours, numbers, other birds, and humans.

based on this i think ratites for whatever reason have kept their language more primitive and ancestral than other birds... i can't help feel it ties into their having stories about us, and knowing what a dinosaur is...

oh well i've got a job to do. so i'll have to stick a pin in this mystery for now