An Addition to the Mini Republic

There has been a recent addition to the Mini Republic: AJD has gifted me with a gnu.  Here he is; the Chinese lion with him is Sheng.  At least, I think that one is Sheng.  (The other lion, not pictured, is Fergus.)

Isn't he darling?  He's remarkably coordinated; he likes dancing and balancing on his head, neither of which are activities I would have predicted as canonical for gnus.

The new gnu is named Gyork.  This was the suggestion of our friend WMPT (who was visiting us for the day with his wife EHC), and the rationale ought to be clear with a second's reflection.  Gnus create far too many possibilities for terrible puns.

For the moment, Gyork seems to be enjoying hanging out with Sheng, although I'm not sure he's going to stay there.  Initially he was getting to know Henri; they had a good time talking about their mutual beloved homeland of Africa.  Here they are, along with a bat.  (There's a story behind the bat, as it happens, but now is not the time to tell it.)

It is my dearest wish (in a manner of speaking) that "bovines must have names related to New York" is not actually a rule, because if so, it's even worse than felines requiring nature names, which is bad enough.