from Paul Graham | by Paul Graham

Since 10 yo's current career plans are field biology and fiction, on the drive to school I suggested he try combining them by inventing some fictional creatures. Agreeing that nothing could be more logical, he immediately set to work.

Hence the striped butter lizard, which exudes a toxic grease and is striped to warn predators; the arctic butter lizard, an invasive species accidentally brought north by Vikings; and the false butter lizard, which mimics the striped butter lizard to scare predators.