The higgledy piggledy poems return… (The first higgledy piggledy post is here.) Once again I have not quite followed all the rules.
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Parental care
Tentacled vermiform
mother caecilian
what simple kindness your
offspring must lack:
Un-altruistically
cannibalistically
eating their mama’s own
skin for a snack!
Yellow-striped caecilian. Photo by Kerry Matz*
Caecilians are a kind of amphibian. Some caecilians feed their babies by growing a special layer of skin that the babies then eat. (Hey, is it really any weirder than what we mammals do to feed our babies?) All caecilians have little tentacles on their faces. See, goofy poetry is so educational!
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Beginnings
Jewel-bright hummingbird
aerial wizard with
sword-like proboscis and
insectile buzz:
Even the gems of the
avian kingdom start
out, from the egg, just a
beak with some fuzz.
Hummingbird chicks. Photo by Cathy Cole*
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Mother
Big-eyed and gracile, you
thought of the children, a
humanitarian
Thompson’s gazelle.
Nursing your own fawn, then
(involuntarily)
dinner for lion cubs
after you fell.
Thompson’s gazelle and fawn. Photo by roger smith*
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Unnecessary
O! Caprimulgiform
wide-smiling Oilbird
living on fruit in your
cave dark with night:
high-pinging chirps give you
echolocation but
would’t not be nice to just
live in the light?
Oilbird. Photo by barloventomagico*
(More information on the Oilbird’s ability to echolocate is at the end of this post.)
*Photos obtained from Flickr and used via Creative Commons. Many thanks to these photographers for using Creative Commons!
Tough Little Birds 
Tell me, can tortoises become dehydrated?
This one’s oblivious most of the time,
Ignores his water dish (unless he’s spilling it):
Harder to care for than tease in a rhyme.
(He’s an enigma
Inside an aquarium
Not really fluffy,
Although that’s his name.)
Many reptiles are adapted to environmental extremities.
The lovebirds can enjoy his unused amenities.