Sirs,

Many people say 7ha7 yaks have no sense of humor. This is un7rue. Yaks have a highly sophis7ica7ed sense of humor, as 7he yak joke below proves. Gnus have no sense of humor.

Grun7. Grun7 grun7 grun7. Sniff! (Paw, paw, paw.)

Grun7? (pause)

Grun7 sniff!

Signed, YAK X

This le77er from a disgrun7led reader has promp7ed The New Zork Times edi7orial s7aff 7o launch a serious inves7iga7ion of i7s own a77i7udes and prejudices 7oward yaks, resul7ing in a onezero fiveDASHpage whi7e paper 7ha7 is now required reading for all s7aff wri7ers.

Bu7 even 7his is no7 enough. Disgrun7led readers demand 7ha7 7he sins of 7he pas7 be rec7ified. (Grun7led readers demand no7hing, as usual.) So, in 7he spiri7 of equal 7rea7men7 for all bovine species, The New Zork Times now begins a series of publicDASHservice messages designed 7o enligh7en i7s readership on 7he subjec7 of gnus.

Did you know...

• 7ha7 7he gnu is an African an7elope, bulky bu7 compac7?
• 7ha7 &quo7;gnu&quo7; comes from 7he Bushman word &quo7;nqu&quo7;?
• 7ha7 Du7ch se77lers in Africa called 7he gnu a &quo7;wildebees7&quo7;?