Someone really messed up these scientific names of animals

Many moons ago, scientists had a conundrum on their hands. How do we ensure every scientist on earth, no matter what language they speak, can identify the same animals consistently?

The living organisms classification system was created to solve the issue. Every living organism is classified by a kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species name in that order. That’s how you get the scientific names for animals, written in Latin for ease of use around the world.

You’re no doubt familiar with at least a few of the more common scientific names for animals. Panthera tigris, for example, is a tiger’s formal identifier. You might already know that cows go by Bos taurus when they’re feeling fancy. And Whiskers, your family cat? He’s Felis catus to scientists.

These ‘species names’ actually consist of both the genus and species name to come up with a unique identifier for every species, hence the double-barrelled names given to these critters. But there’s one flaw with this system. Sometimes a species can have the same genus as its species name…

People have recently taken to Twitter to nominate their favourite animals with less than favourable Latin names, and some of them are pretty funny.

Hey #sciencetwitter – off the top of your head, name your favorite species whose genus & species names are the same?
Examples:
Vulpes vulpes – red fox
Alces alces – moose
Gulo gulo – wolverine

Thanks!

— John P. Rafferty (@john_p_rafferty) January 16, 2019

The tweet that started it all. User @john_p_rafferty says:

Hey #sciencetwitter – off the top of your head, name your favorite species whose genus & species names are the same?  

Examples:  

Vulpes vulpes – red fox. 

Alces alces – moose. 

Gulo gulo – wolverine. 

Thanks!

Chinchilla chinchilla! pic.twitter.com/QqvTzvQfVC

— Ashley Hammond (@ashleyshammond) January 16, 2019

The scientific name for this cute and cuddly animal is Chinchilla chinchilla. Or, as it’s better known in plain English… uh, chinchilla.

Boops boops forever!!!

(pronounced bow-ops, unfortunately)https://t.co/jEkcDnCVIy

— Virginia Schutte (@vgwschutte) January 16, 2019

This seabream definitely looks boopable to us.

Bison bison pic.twitter.com/UcfLmmNXgB

— Raymond Vagell 🏳️‍🌈 (@PrancingPapio) January 17, 2019

That’s a video that we did not need to see.

The Western gorilla is Gorilla gorilla. It just makes me laugh whenever I think about it 🦍

— Aaron Van Neste (@AaronGpeterson) January 16, 2019

I really like saying Tinca tinca – tench. But am forever amused by the Western lowland gorilla, who is clearly the most gorilla ever with the name Gorilla gorilla gorilla pic.twitter.com/8TMoS3eQ2G

— Tiff 🐟🐠🐡 (@Tifftastic87) January 16, 2019

Scientists: lazy, or comedic geniuses? You decide.

Puffinus puffinus – manx shearwater 🙂

— Chloë Dalglish (@ChloeDalglish) January 16, 2019

So, we just checked. ‘Manx shearwater’ is A) Not the title character of a spy blockbuster coming out this month, and B) looks like this…

… and not like this?

…That's not a puffin?? pic.twitter.com/2YkvShLuZ5

— Dr Patricia Dark (@therealdrdark) January 17, 2019

Our thoughts exactly.

Not enough plant love…

Rubus cockburnianus https://t.co/Qvd2urj8Sl pic.twitter.com/7bC8oUFVDQ

— Adam Kim (@atomadam2) January 17, 2019

This one doesn’t quite fit the bill, but it’s a bonus for the budding biologists. A beautiful flower with a… dear god, terrible name.

So, the next time you complain about what your parents decided to name you, count your lucky stars you weren’t named by a scientist! Which one is your favourite?

Author: Eliza Brockwell

Eliza is passionate about creating content that encourages diversity of representation in STEM.