There are many ways to be a mammal.

So I'm sitting in my favorite chair for hours this past weekend watching a marathon of YouTube videos I discovered on the TED channel when I hear National Geographic photographer Franz Lanting say "There are many ways to be a mammal." I become a merkat at attention.

Three days later I'm still holding the pose, the sentence looping through my mind, entertaining me. I watch the news and think "Yes, Franz, there are many ways to be a mammal." Someone asks me, "Can you believe what she just did?" And I answer, "There are many ways to be a mammal." It shows up again as I trail off to sleep last night, and I grin.

This mammal continues to be easy prey for the well-shaped phrase.

Hear Franz speak them for yourself - and be amazed at his photographic journey narrated in a sweet, understated way at YouTube