12 Animals in Chinese calendar

In Chinese calendar, one of the scheme for counting years is a 12-year cycle. One counts from Year 1,2,3,... up to 12. Then starts over from Year 1. (In modern mathematics, this is modulo 12.) Instead of inventing 12 special symbols for this purpose, 12 animals are used to represent these 12 years. They are rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and boar . Each year is also designated by one of the 12 Animals. For instance,

2001 is the Year of the Snake 
2002 is the Year of the Horse 
2003 is the Year of the Ram (sheep, goat) 
2004 is the Year of the Monkey 
2005 is the Year of the Rooster 
2006 is the Year of the Dog
and 2007 is the Year of Pig.

This system is extremely practical. A child does not have to learn a new answer to the question, "How old are you?" in each new year. Old people often lose track of their age, because they are rarely asked about their present age. Every one just have to remember that he or she was born in the "Year of the Dog" or whatever.

Since this is the Year of the Pig, any one who was born in the Year of the Pig is now either 0 or 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 or 96 years old.