Questions I Am Not Qualified to Answer: “Do birds have stronger immune systems than people?”

Black-capped chickadee. (Photo: MDF via Wikipedia)

After seeing me toss the remains of her bag of freeze-dried fruit on the ground for the birds, The Five-Year-Old reached for a discarded slice of apple.

Mommyo, urgently: “Don’t eat that!”

The Five-Year-Old, curiously: “Why?”

Mommyo, definitively: “You’ll get sick!”

The Five-Year-Old, perplexedly: “But it’s ok for the birds?”

Mommyo, assuredly: “Of course.”

The Five-Year-Old, confoundingly: “Do birds have stronger immune systems than people?”

Anyone have any idea how to answer this? For now, I’m going with different. As in birds are used to eating food off the ground, and the bits of dirt and stuff that ends up on said food, so their bodies are able to handle it. But I — and it must be said, The Five-Year-Old — find that answer a smidge unsatisfactory.

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