About the creative sense of humor

Hello, friends, hope you’re enjoying the season, and staying cool if you want to.

A comment: Whoever created flamingos must have had a sense of humor. For one thing, they can only eat with their heads upside-down. But also (according to Maja Salstrom’s Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts) they cool off by peeing on their own legs. This design feature doesn’t seem to be the product of a serious imagination.

And on that subject, it would be a mistake not to note that male goats pee on their own heads to be more attractive to females. How could a serious-minded animal designer come up with that idea? It’s a challenge to most people’s imaginations just to picture a goat trying to do such a thing.

Still, I can imagine that, having created so many beautiful blossoms, flashing fish and stunning sunrises, you might long for a good belly-laugh. Which might have been the origin of animal designs like these.

Do whales have belly buttons?

The fact that whales have belly buttons is really not something to chalk up to the designer’s humor, because the thing wouldn’t be humorous if it weren’t a matter of scale. Most belly buttons we’re familiar with are ticklish or cute or otherwise small and endearing. But it seems more funny than cute to have a belly button as big as a dinner plate.

We all love the one who makes us laugh, just as much as we love the one who straightens us out when we need it and the one who listens when we’re down. I’m guessing that the Animal Design Department laughed through a lot of rough sketches, and some of the brainstorming surprised everyone by making it into production.

Trial balloons?

Some animal designs might even be the remains of abandoned experiments. Example: clownfish. In Maja Salstrom’s book you find out that they are all born male, and when the one female in the neighborhood dies, the most dominant male turns female to replace her. We don’t see this design idea repeated everywhere, so it might be one that was rejected after testing. But clownfish seem to have been left around as a novelty anyway.

When I think of the creation of creatures like these, I can imagine the designer chuckling.

We all have our creative senses of humor.