The Worst Name Given to a Zoo Animal in History

R

RhinoHippoElephantGiraffe

Well-Known Member
At Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich, Germany, a baby Common Hippo was born on August 10th, 1952. If you notice the animals name, then you'll know why the name was very inappropriate and unkind. It is the worst name given to a zoo animal in history. Here is the link:
Tierdetails
It was an extremely good decision for others zoo to rename him "Wiggerl" and "Dango".
 
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birdsandbats said:
Not a zoo animal but: Osama bin Laden (elephant) - Wikipedia
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In the same vein in Florida there was a legend of a giant hammerhead named "Old Hitler".

The search for Old Hitler, Florida's legendary hammerhead shark

To take this topic to a more comically horrific rather that truly horrifying place, I nominate the African elephant bull Calimero at Safaripark Beekse Bergen. Naming a giant elephant after a cartoon chick is truly bizarre.

Calimero at Beekse Bergen Safaripark in Netherlands - Elephant Encyclopedia and Database

Calimero - Wikipedia
 
Can someone actually give me one valid reason why we have to post about slur-named animals on this website? Or animals named after some of the most atrocious humans to have walked the Earth? I do not believe there should be any reason for me to elaborate on this.
 
ZooBinh said:
Can someone actually give me one valid reason why we have to post about slur-named animals on this website? Or animals named after some of the most atrocious humans to have walked the Earth? I do not believe there should be any reason for me to elaborate on this.
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I discovered this hippo's name when I was looking at hipposworld.de earlier today for the purposes of seeing where the origins of Common Hippos in European zoos were. I would not have started this thread without proof of this "poor" hippo's given name.
 
ZooBinh said:
Can someone actually give me one valid reason why we have to post about slur-named animals on this website? Or animals named after some of the most atrocious humans to have walked the Earth? I do not believe there should be any reason for me to elaborate on this.
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The matter is being discussed by the moderation team - the thread concept does not contravene any forum rules per se, the issue is whether the concept is prudent/wise/salvageable.
 
ZooBinh said:
Can someone actually give me one valid reason why we have to post about slur-named animals on this website? Or animals named after some of the most atrocious humans to have walked the Earth? I do not believe there should be any reason for me to elaborate on this.
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I do agree here.

Rather more appropriate names for this thread would be something along the lines of the name I mentioned:

Jambo said:
A Tasmanian Devil at the Monarto Safari Park was named X-Box...
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Corangurilla said:
To me, no name is worse than a re-name, especially a rename to fit with a trend (*cough* San Francisco & Nashville both naming Red Pandas after Mei Lee from Turning Red *cough*).
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That's just rampant populism - exactly like renaming every single clown fish "Nemo".

It's a (rather cynical in my opinion) attempt to engage the general population more by hooking into popular culture.

I'm not a fan of this practice - but if it works to get more engagement or encourages more people to visit the zoo, then I guess it's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
I'm not a fan of sponsorship names. A carpet company named a rhino at Orana Wildlife Park "Eco", while two lion cubs at Mogo Zoo were named "Holden" and "Commodore."

I think sponsorship is an asset to zoos, but there's better ways to recognise them. Gallagers for example were one of the main sponsors for Hamilton Zoo's Sumatran tiger exhibit and are content with a plaque to this effect hung on the wall.
 
Simon Hampel said:
That's just rampant populism - exactly like renaming every single clown fish "Nemo".

It's a (rather cynical in my opinion) attempt to engage the general population more by hooking into popular culture.

I'm not a fan of this practice - but if it works to get more engagement or encourages more people to visit the zoo, then I guess it's not necessarily a bad thing.
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San Francisco has a history of renaming their animals for arbitrary (sports-related) reasons. Just look at Tucker/Bruce/Wilson the Hippo.
The Mei Lee example annoys me because now there’s two female Red Pandas with the same name, and Nashville decided to copy San Francisco’s homework (and San Francisco is an all C’s student, so never copy them if you want to succeed). But that’s a story for another day and another thread.
 
ZooBinh said:
Can someone actually give me one valid reason why we have to post about slur-named animals on this website? Or animals named after some of the most atrocious humans to have walked the Earth? I do not believe there should be any reason for me to elaborate on this.
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You can't re-write history. It is a fact that in 1952 an animal was named this. Nobody is celebrating this - it is clearly pointed out that this was a bad name.

Although I'm not personally a fan of naming zoo animals - the fact is that many of them generally are named, and their names are very important to many people, especially on this site.

The fact that names are sometimes inappropriate is also important to highlight. We can't just put our fingers in our ears and yell "la la la la" about stuff like this. It's important to highlight how critical it is to choose appropriate names - and how names can become inappropriate over time, due to the changing nature of our language.

I am very aware that the name in question linked to in the first post is particularly triggering to some people - which is why the moderation team are discussing the thread. I would also assure people that I do take this stuff very seriously - for those who aren't aware, both of my children are of African descent and so I am extremely aware of how they might be treated in the largely white society in which we live (although thankfully this part of Sydney is quite multicultural).

So while it's funny to laugh at stupid names like X-Box or Trunky McTrunkface (has anyone actually tried to name an elephant that yet?) - there is a more serious side to the discussion that I think might be worth having.

As already mentioned - the moderation team are discussing it.
 
Simon Hampel said:
Trunky McTrunkface (has anyone actually tried to name an elephant that yet?)
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No, but there *was* an owl at a collection near me - Kirkleatham Owl Centre - which was named Hooty McOwlface about 15 years ago :p and in fact, this is the event which inspired the whole "Boaty McBoatface" thing!
 
Simon Hampel said:
You can't re-write history. It is a fact that in 1952 an animal was named this. Nobody is celebrating this - it is clearly pointed out that this was a bad name.

Although I'm not personally a fan of naming zoo animals - the fact is that many of them generally are named, and their names are very important to many people, especially on this site.

The fact that names are sometimes inappropriate is also important to highlight. We can't just put our fingers in our ears and yell "la la la la" about stuff like this. It's important to highlight how critical it is to choose appropriate names - and how names can become inappropriate over time, due to the changing nature of our language.

I am very aware that the name in question linked to in the first post is particularly triggering to some people - which is why the moderation team are discussing the thread. I would also assure people that I do take this stuff very seriously - for those who aren't aware, both of my children are of African descent and so I am extremely aware of how they might be treated in the largely white society in which we live (although thankfully this part of Sydney is quite multicultural).

So while it's funny to laugh at stupid names like X-Box or Trunky McTrunkface (has anyone actually tried to name an elephant that yet?) - there is a more serious side to the discussion that I think might be worth having.

As already mentioned - the moderation team are discussing it.
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The perception of the names given to the animals is subject to changes over time, as well as the human patronyms (a topic that interests me).
Some of the names depicted in this thread weren't seen as ridiculous nor outrageous at the beginning. Before February 2022 the name of "Putin" wasn't perceived as especially infamous for Western Europeans (not much more shocking as Caesar or Napoleon, that may be the name of other zoo animals, even if these [real] men were actual autocrats).
We can arrive to the same conclusion for the names perceived as racist : in the early 1950's European nations had still much of their colonial empires and the large anti-discriminations campaigns (Civil Rights Movement...) haven't started in the USA, so many references seen as racist in current times were common in popular culture (we have only to watch some Disney cartoons as Dumbo or Jungle Book to see that).
 
Lost in translation:

One thing I’ve noticed is how names are often derived from translations of everyday words - rather than being actual names themselves.

For example, Besar is a name widely used on Sumatran tigers. It translates to “big.” I’ve struggled to find this listed anywhere as an Indonesian boys name, but did find it as a (Malay) adjective - meaning “big.”

I’ve similarly seen this used in reverse, with tigers in non English speaking countries named “Orange” etc.

It personally doesn’t both me. Besar is a cracking tiger’s name, but people who speak the language it derives from would wonder at our lack of originality.
 
KevinB said:
To take this topic to a more comically horrific rather that truly horrifying place, I nominate the African elephant bull Calimero at Safaripark Beekse Bergen. Naming a giant elephant after a cartoon chick is truly bizarre.
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It might have been an elephan from Rome's zoo, though it may be another Calimero...

Edit: it is in fact Rome's african elephant, did a bit of research on the website
 
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