Chapter 2 Solutions — Wit and Humour

Yes, Doctor Dolittle would become famous as an animal doctor.

He could actually speak and understand animal languages, which no other doctor could do.

This ability allowed animals to describe exactly where the pain was and how they felt, making diagnosis and treatment easy.

Animals spread word of his skills among themselves — 'every living thing for miles and miles got to know about John Dolittle'.

Birds even told animals in foreign lands about him, making him famous worldwide.

Polynesia sat with Dolittle 'all that afternoon' while it was raining, giving him bird words to write down — showing patience and dedication.

She taught him systematically, starting with 'the Birds' A.B.C.' and going slowly so he could record everything.

She also explained that animals talk 'with their ears, with their feet, with their tails—with everything', broadening his understanding beyond just spoken sounds.

She demonstrated live examples, like interpreting what Jip the dog was communicating through his body language.

As a result, 'the Doctor got to learn the language of the animals so well that he could talk to them himself and understand everything they said.'

1. 'Step on no pets' — the entire sentence reads the same backwards (S-T-E-P-O-N-N-O-P-E-T-S). Palindrome sentence.

2. 'Naman' is a palindrome name (N-A-M-A-N); 'race car' is a palindrome word (R-A-C-E-C-A-R).

3. 'Nitin' is a palindrome name; 'Malayalam' is a palindrome word (M-A-L-A-Y-A-L-A-M).

4. 'rotator' is a palindrome word (R-O-T-A-T-O-R); 'level' is a palindrome word (L-E-V-E-L).

5. 'radar' is a palindrome word (R-A-D-A-R).

6. 'Eva can I see bees in a cave?' — reads the same backwards. Palindrome sentence.

Sample palindrome: 'Madam, I'm Adam.'