Everybody Loves Hyenas

How can you not like an animal that laughs at itself? While I extend some affection to loons and kookaburas, the hyena is a personal favourite. Plus, their front legs are a lot longer than their back legs which makes them look pretty funny. I don't think Disney conveyed a very favourable image of the hyena in "The Lion King," so I'm going to make an effort to buttress his image as the Clown Prince of the African savannah. The hyena figures heavily in African lore and, aside from a belief that he led St. Anthony safely through the desert, he's presented almost always in a negative light. Playing Jerry to his Tom is the quick-witted hare. Saturday morning cartoons taught me at an early age the great comedic joy of two animals dead set on annihilating each other. There were a lot of stories I had to leave out of the article, including one where a lion, babysitting for the hare, accidentally speared the hare's child with the spine of the hare's grandmother - no kidding!

As a point of advocacy, I thought I'd write about blood diamonds, just in case anyone's out shopping for that perfect engagement ring. Lots of badness in those rocks. When you think about it, these ridiculously valuable stones are less than worthless to the people who are forced to mine them for little or no pay.