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So...penguins are mammals?!?!
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thatwhitegirl



Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Location: ROK

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:36 pm    Post subject: So...penguins are mammals?!?! Reply with quote

I'm doing the Winter Camp thing now, and am doing general knowledge quizzes each class (the boys seem to like them). One of the questions I've asked is: "Are penguins mammals". And to my surprise, many of them are adamantly arguing that indeed, penguins are mammals. Shocked
I have never heard this before...do they really think that these egg-laying/non-nursing birds are mammals? Anyone else run into this?
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mistermasan



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

no. "mammal" cognate to "mammary" relating to mammary glands.

all mammals:
give birth to live young (no hard shelled eggs)
have hair
females produce milk to feed young
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chris_J2



Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Location: From Brisbane, Au.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:49 pm    Post subject: mammals Reply with quote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme

The only 2 mammals that lay eggs, are the echidna & platypus from Australia.
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thatwhitegirl



Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Location: ROK

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I tried explaining that penguins are birds...and what mammals are (live births/nursing) but they were insistent. Made no sense, really.
Just wondered if anyone had run into this same thing, or of similar craziness. I'm thinking of going in with something from Wiki and showing them the facts.






edit: And these are 17 year old boys. I would have thought they would be more informed at this age.


Last edited by thatwhitegirl on Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:34 am; edited 1 time in total
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Young FRANKenstein



Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thatwhitegirl wrote:
I'm thinking of going in with something from Wiki and showing them the facts.

Use a trusted source. Encarta or an encyclopedia.
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SeoulFinn



Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Location: 1h from Seoul

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mistermasan wrote:
[...]all mammals:
give birth to live young (no hard shelled eggs)
have hair
females produce milk to feed young


Not all have hair, but most do. Dolphins and whales are mammals too. Smile
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ED209



Joined: 17 Oct 2006

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My students thought tigers were dogs
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mistermasan



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cetaceans (dolphins, whales, etc) have bristles. bristles are hairs.
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pkang0202



Joined: 09 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe they are confusing "mammal" with "warm blooded".
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VanIslander



Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

pkang0202 wrote:
Maybe they are confusing "mammal" with "warm blooded".

all birds are warm blooded...

wonder if the students know that

perhaps they think all birds are mammals
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TDR



Joined: 07 Feb 2007
Location: Busan

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 3:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just before winter break, I did a general knowledge quiz where geography was the topic and one of the questions was "How many continents are there?"
Out of seven classes of third year middle school students, each with six groups, only two of the 42 groups got it correct.

The answer had them listed and one of my co-teachers protested by saying, "But, we teach students that North America and South America are the same place!". I sort of gave her a blank stare and just told said that the rest of the world seems to teach it differently and kept on going.
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mistermasan



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

there are 7 continents if you are from the US. just about everyone else says there are six. but we know there are but four: america, antartica, australia and afroeurasia.

the division of europe, africa and asia is all about skin color and nothing to do with geography. you can walk from cape town to paris to beijing. it is one continent.
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crash bang



Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Location: gwangju

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i get what youre saying. europe, asia, and africa are only separated by relatively small bodies of water (the mediterranean, red, and black seas). you could say that afroeurasia CONTAINS those bodies of water, rather than they separate the three. hence 3 continents are really one.

but if you apply that same line of thinking to the americas, then you realize that, conversely, the americas are only CONNECTED by a relatively small body of land (panama). on a geological timescale, they will probably go their separate ways in a short amount of time. hence, what you call 1 continent is really 2. the ability to walk from one to another is rather arbitrary. i could (theoretically) sail from the ohio river to the arabian sea. doesnt make them one
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paquebot



Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Location: Northern Gyeonggi-do

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

crash bang wrote:
i get what youre saying. europe, asia, and africa are only separated by relatively small bodies of water (the mediterranean, red, and black seas). you could say that afroeurasia CONTAINS those bodies of water, rather than they separate the three. hence 3 continents are really one.

but if you apply that same line of thinking to the americas, then you realize that, conversely, the americas are only CONNECTED by a relatively small body of land (panama). on a geological timescale, they will probably go their separate ways in a short amount of time. hence, what you call 1 continent is really 2. the ability to walk from one to another is rather arbitrary. i could (theoretically) sail from the ohio river to the arabian sea. doesnt make them one


Not sure where you're coming from with the comment about Europe, Asia, and Africa only being separated by "relatively small bodies of water" (the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Black Sea).

The division between Europe and Asia is generally defined by the Ural Mountains. The Black Sea only divides Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Russia from Turkey. Why not go through Poland, Belarus, and Russia into Kazakhstan or North Korea? What body of water is it necessary to cross for that travel plan? Asia is connected to Africa by the Isthmus of Suez -- not divided by the Red Sea. The man-made Suez Canal is what 'separates' them today.

If you disregard the Isthmus of Suez in your first paragraph you should remain consistent and disregard the Isthmus of Panama as a "small body of land" connecting the Americas. The man-made Panama Canal 'separates' the two landmasses -- prior to that it they were a contiguous unit.

Also, what's your point in bringing up how you can sail from the Ohio River to the Arabic Sea? Continents are defined as landmasses, so an ability to walk between one point and another (over land) is much more relevant to the discussion than an example of your (theoretical) nautical exploits.
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paquebot



Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Location: Northern Gyeonggi-do

PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back on topic, I've never heard my students claim that penguins are mammals. In fact, my intermediate level class was pretty clear on the fact that whales are mammals and sharks are fish.

On the other hand, a Korean friend who went to university in Canada a couple years ago was quite adamant that tigers and lions are not related to cats. She also claimed that the largest species of tiger is the one native to Africa. Confused
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