Today’s Rhymes With Orange, with an extraordinary plant-animal hybrid, accompanied by a portmanteau name:
This is recognizably a daffodil with giraffe properties; in a compound, it’s a giraffe daffodil.
Other plant-animal hybrids go the other way — for instance in the cauliflower sheep depicted in this posting.
And now there’s a book, Catato and Friends, by Renie B. Adams (2012). The catato (a potato cat):
In this delightfully imaginative children’s book, by Renie B. Adams, Professor Peach inspires her students to envision a breed of hybrid creatures that are part plant and part animal. Readers of all ages will smile and giggle at the oddball “Plantanimals” the children create. … Follow the story of doubtful and discouraged Freddy page by page as he witnesses the other children quickly fulfill their assignments. Helen has no trouble imagining how her pet otter would look with a belly painted with watermelon stripes-like a perfect Ottermelon! Clever Peter dreams up his Plantanimal without delay; when his mother said, “Peter, please! No sweets until those peas are gone,” he imagined them as Bumblepeas and watched them fly from home! With the encouragement of his good friends, Freddy overcomes his anxiety and hesitation and creates a charming Plantanimal of his own. You’ll enjoy meeting all of Renie’s creative Plantanimal creations, including Flamangos (flamingo + mango), Raspbear (raspberry + bear), Llama Bean (llama + lima bean), Piggle (pig + pickle), Brussels Trout (Brussels sprouts + trout), and many more, in her fun-to-read poems and beautifully rendered illustrations.
The ottermelon poem:
(“Her otter, Walter” is a nice half-rhyming touch.)
So Walter would seem to be a watermelon otter.
