Lewis wouldn't want people to link his stories to it even accidentally. The talking animals in Narnia follow the sweet little tales for  children from the preceding few decades. 

That can probably be taken as canonical, so it reinforces the assumption that many — though not all — common farm animals weren't given the power of speech in Narnia. As I know I mentioned earlier, we meet a Talking Lamb in The Last Battle, but there are also references to Narnians eating lamb in the books (and in the cookbook, where we're told "it is a favourite dish of the Telmarines"), so there are obviously non-talking sheep as well.

(Now I'm wondering if Lewis ever read Animal Farm by George Orwell and that was what put him off the idea of having talking pigs in Narnia... but I doubt that was the sort of book he would have been interested in, even if it is an amusing thought. {ym}:wink: )

Posted by: @courtenay

For that matter, Aslan as a lion is not native to Britain either

He's only native to British heraldry. {ym}:wink:  

I did find the entry for "poor kangaroo", on page 155 of my edition of LWW, opposite a picture of many of these unpetrified animals and other creatures, including the Giant. Whilst everyone was rushing around to find more victims of the White Witch's wrath, it was impossible to tell who it was who identified as a kangaroo. But if being native to British heraldry is one criterion for inclusion, why not a kangaroo, even though it comes from the Southern hemisphere? But then, you'd have to include an emu as well, when the Australian coat of arms has both an emu and a kangaroo supporting a shield. But then you'd have to include a black swan, the emblem of Western Australia. And of course, owls, and also the idea of a "parliament of owls", especially in Parliament are not unknown Down Under. 

We went to a place called Joadja, a little shale mining venture for what used to be called paraffin or kerosene, a community that has long since died & moved away & has been kept on as a countrified day excursion for things to see around Sydney. Lining the fences as we were bussed in, were all these kangaroos, resident to the area, being entertained by the unwonted activity, and I've noted this sort of curiosity displayed elsewhere, by horses, cows etc, including the kangaroos. I expect that is why we have now this expression "a kangaroo court", meaning a farcical court where fair procedures are jettisoned. It would be interesting to know just how a kangaroo might have riled the White Witch, or was it merely brought into her grim palace on Maugrim's say-so?

@col-klink

Also, no talking farm animals except for donkeys (and horses, I guess, depending on the breed.)

Plenty of evidence for both across the Narnia series. In HHB, we have both Bree and Hwin, in Calormen, having both been stolen from Narnia's Southern slopes, by Calormene traders, who also appear in the Lone Islands in VDT, as well as in the Last Battle, not to mention in Silver Chair, where we hear about a talking stag like Chervy, the deer, being caught & eaten for a venison lunch by the giants of Harfang, & the shock and horror of Puddleglum, in particular, at being put in that sort of situation, equivalent to cannibalism to him. 

All those animals given the power of speech, in MN, only stayed in Narnia, or maybe in Archenland, the only places where free speech were originally guaranteed, by the way. Under the Telmarines they were forced to go underground, just like Trufflehunter, and the Dwarves, whilst Reepicheep, when taken prisoner by Pug and his mates on Felimath, was considered quite the catch precisely because he wouldn't shut up. The treatment of slaves, including the dumb escorts of the Tisroc, indicate just what sort of society Calormen had become, not always evil, but definitely not a free society, a place where the likes of Bree and Hwin preferred not to give away their powers of speech.

Did someone mention amphibians and reptiles not being included? What about Puddleglum or Eustace as a dragon? Of course, Eustace couldn't talk as a dragon, and it seems that Rabadash as a Donkey couldn't, either. But then, when Ginger the Cat, an ally of Shift the Ape, lost her powers of speech, having seen Tash, wasn't that a consequence of any animal who committed evil? 

For that matter, Aslan as a lion is not native to Britain either

He's only native to British heraldry. {ym}:wink:  

I had completely forgotten about the kangaroo! In my new head cannon he or she is definitely not a dumb beast. They'll definitely have an Aussie accent as well. 

"Far out, I must've been asleep!"

So long as he doesn't then see the One who brought him back to life and respond with "Ah, Assa mate, is that you? Fair dinkum! G'day, cobber!" {ym}:cool:

(And no, we don't all talk like that in Oz, really — I'm just doing the most extreme send-up I can manage. But seriously, it's no worse than that scene in the Walden version of LWW where Mr Beaver declares of Aslan: "He's the top geezer!" {ym}:eyebrow: ) 

"Far out, I must've been asleep!"

I like the point the writer makes about certain incongruities in Tolkien's world as well — I hadn't thought of that! {ym}:wink:  

I have heard of that organization before, and I am guessing that there are others protecting birds and other wildlife since a single group of people cannot do everything for conservation.  There are probably more conservation groups in the UK today than there were in Lewis’ time. Here in the US we have the National Wildlife Federation and American Bird Conservancy besides Audubon. They protect non talking birds and animals, which Lewis would have considered a good thing.  If Lewis were living today with the need to save wildlife habitat which is disappearing he probably would have supported conservation groups. The Narnia books show his love for nature and its creation by Aslan. Saving the wildlife habitat was very important to him.