Osedax
Well-Known Member
The myth would come from the Japanese mythical creature Baku, which looks similar to a tapir and eats nightmares.
Misidentified Animals
- Thread starter Bengal Tiger
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I wrote down an anecdote from my experience, I have no intention of criticizing the people mentioned in the article, Just watch it for fun.
1. Many Koreans pride themselves on being a "Tiger Nation," but unfortunately, few people know real tigers well.
For the most serious example, I can see a person at some local zoos in Korea who calls a lion a "tiger" whenever I forget. If the child did, I would simply pass it on as a mistake, but most of those people I saw were parents with children. So I had no choice but to worry about their children.
In a recent absurd example, on Oct. 5, about a male lion named "Laon" at Dalseong Park Zoo. He has a ruffled face and a crooked nose, probably as a result of the terrible inbreeding at Everland. But apart from his appearance, he enjoys sitting close to the moat with his mate, lioness "huchu," looking curiously at the visitors.
That day, Laon was sitting on the edge of the moat, and a three-member family of father, mother and child came to Lion exhibit. Among them, my father arrived the latest, and when he saw Laon's face, he laughed and said: "It looks a fool!" and It wasn't long before he told his wife, who had taken laon's picture on his cellphone, "Send me that 'tiger' picture."
2023. 10. 05.
Laon's face at the moment
when the family's father saw him and called him a fool.
I don't know anything else, but it's clear that there was one "fool" in the place at that moment. I try not to say this, but I can't stop myself from thinking like this.
But the funny thing is, I've rarely seen people calls tigers to lions. Maybe, they remember "lion has no stripe" better than "a tiger has a stripe." Perhaps I should say "just a little bit relieved" that they know half exactly?
2. In the waterfowl aviary at Seoul Children's Grand Park, there is a pair of great white pelicans, which are very big and very pink.
Late last year, perhaps on November 30, I could see a young woman look at that two pelicans and utter admiration as if she were amazed. Soon after, she explained to her boyfriend, who had followed her, in a voice of great exultation, the wonder she felt at the sight of the pelican.
...Just like this: "Flamingo!"
3. Maybe it was winter of early 2022, when I was birdwatching on a telephoto lens in the riverside, an old woman asked me, pointing to a bunch of birds in the river. "Is that things are birds or ducks over there?"
I didn't know what to answer. There were eurasian coots, mallards, falcated duck, gadwalls, and eurasian wigeon, and I answered "It's duck" because the proportion of ducks was higher.
Then she asked me again: "A duck, not a bird?" I had no choice but to answer like this. "...Duck is a bird," and the old woman left with a smile.
1. Many Koreans pride themselves on being a "Tiger Nation," but unfortunately, few people know real tigers well.
For the most serious example, I can see a person at some local zoos in Korea who calls a lion a "tiger" whenever I forget. If the child did, I would simply pass it on as a mistake, but most of those people I saw were parents with children. So I had no choice but to worry about their children.
In a recent absurd example, on Oct. 5, about a male lion named "Laon" at Dalseong Park Zoo. He has a ruffled face and a crooked nose, probably as a result of the terrible inbreeding at Everland. But apart from his appearance, he enjoys sitting close to the moat with his mate, lioness "huchu," looking curiously at the visitors.
That day, Laon was sitting on the edge of the moat, and a three-member family of father, mother and child came to Lion exhibit. Among them, my father arrived the latest, and when he saw Laon's face, he laughed and said: "It looks a fool!" and It wasn't long before he told his wife, who had taken laon's picture on his cellphone, "Send me that 'tiger' picture."
2023. 10. 05.
Laon's face at the moment
when the family's father saw him and called him a fool.
I don't know anything else, but it's clear that there was one "fool" in the place at that moment. I try not to say this, but I can't stop myself from thinking like this.
But the funny thing is, I've rarely seen people calls tigers to lions. Maybe, they remember "lion has no stripe" better than "a tiger has a stripe." Perhaps I should say "just a little bit relieved" that they know half exactly?
2. In the waterfowl aviary at Seoul Children's Grand Park, there is a pair of great white pelicans, which are very big and very pink.
Late last year, perhaps on November 30, I could see a young woman look at that two pelicans and utter admiration as if she were amazed. Soon after, she explained to her boyfriend, who had followed her, in a voice of great exultation, the wonder she felt at the sight of the pelican.
...Just like this: "Flamingo!"
3. Maybe it was winter of early 2022, when I was birdwatching on a telephoto lens in the riverside, an old woman asked me, pointing to a bunch of birds in the river. "Is that things are birds or ducks over there?"
I didn't know what to answer. There were eurasian coots, mallards, falcated duck, gadwalls, and eurasian wigeon, and I answered "It's duck" because the proportion of ducks was higher.
Then she asked me again: "A duck, not a bird?" I had no choice but to answer like this. "...Duck is a bird," and the old woman left with a smile.
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A bit of a strange one of mine.
I recently went to Whipsnade Zoo, where they now have a few aardvarks. From what I know, they are let out into their outdoors at the end of the visitor hours... but most the day they are cooped up inside their house for nocturne reasons.
The house was dark, but still light enough - and the aardvarks were still enough - so to allow for some nice shots that I seized for the opportunity.
I did not use flash photography - only low shutter speed and high ISO.
Being pleased with how these turned out, I would later send one of these to a close friend without context.
They then respond;
'Is that a kudu?'
To which I obviously respond that no, it's an aardvark - completely different. Attatched with a picture of a kudu I took at Marwell. They took it well, thankfully.
Something I found a bit curious...
Sometimes people mistake aardvarks for anteaters. For rabbits. For pigs... but kudu was entirely unheard of in my experience... in my opinion few mammals look more unalike than an aardvark and a kudu.
Though part of me thinks they didn't really know what a kudu was either...
I recall for some part of my childhood I didn't really have a good idea of much anything... but my ideas of things were a pictorial 'mush'. If I were to think about evolution, say, I could picture a fish walking on legs, monkeys, dinosaurs... but couldn't put these together very well. I had seen concepts... but never ruminated them thoroughly.
And so now I wonder if that's how it is with many people... so the idea of an aardvark is mushed with other African animals... including a kudu.
I recently went to Whipsnade Zoo, where they now have a few aardvarks. From what I know, they are let out into their outdoors at the end of the visitor hours... but most the day they are cooped up inside their house for nocturne reasons.
The house was dark, but still light enough - and the aardvarks were still enough - so to allow for some nice shots that I seized for the opportunity.
I did not use flash photography - only low shutter speed and high ISO.
Being pleased with how these turned out, I would later send one of these to a close friend without context.
They then respond;
'Is that a kudu?'
To which I obviously respond that no, it's an aardvark - completely different. Attatched with a picture of a kudu I took at Marwell. They took it well, thankfully.
Something I found a bit curious...
Sometimes people mistake aardvarks for anteaters. For rabbits. For pigs... but kudu was entirely unheard of in my experience... in my opinion few mammals look more unalike than an aardvark and a kudu.
Though part of me thinks they didn't really know what a kudu was either...
I recall for some part of my childhood I didn't really have a good idea of much anything... but my ideas of things were a pictorial 'mush'. If I were to think about evolution, say, I could picture a fish walking on legs, monkeys, dinosaurs... but couldn't put these together very well. I had seen concepts... but never ruminated them thoroughly.
And so now I wonder if that's how it is with many people... so the idea of an aardvark is mushed with other African animals... including a kudu.
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czech_invertebrates
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I heard some kid shouting „Look an armadillo!“ to her dad it was in the nocturnum of the Indonesian jungle. In reality, it was a Chinese pangolin.
Those two are absurd.
Though they are by no means particularly similar in any way, I can understand the typical visitor making this mistake. Though sometimes I wonder if those people even know that this little thing called a sign exists at all.
Dr. Wolverine
Well-Known Member
The translation of the word "lemur" in Japanese is キツネザル(kitsunezaru), or "Fox Monkey".
Dr. Wolverine
Well-Known Member
I especially hate it when people misidentify a rare species with a common one. It feels like such a waste, seeing a rare species, and not realizing the wonder of that animal.
Examples of this that I have heard:
Dwarf Sawfish = Japanese Sawshark
Quokka = Rat
Sunda Colugo = Flying Squirrel
Kiwi = "Night Chicken"
Dugong = Whale
Proboscis Monkey = clown
Red Headed Woodpigeon = Yucky Pigeon
Dr. Wolverine
Well-Known Member
In Japanese, バク(Baku) literally translates to Tapier.
biggest_dreamer
Well-Known Member
Once, within a span of under 5 minutes, I overheard a Malayan tapir referred to as a bear, an anteater, a rhinoceros, and "some kind of elephant". Similarly, a binturong got called a weasel, a cat, and a leopard in a similar amount of time. Lemurs are monkeys, of course, but sloths are sometimes monkeys too. Ocelots are "baby leopards" with an impressive degree of consistency.
Just this past weekend I heard someone view some Brazilian porcupines and deduce "but they're not like, regular porcupines" and I was left somewhat amused, unsure whether they would be pegging North American or African porcupines as "regular" ones (neither are kept nearby enough to really hazard a guess) or if they were even sure what a "regular" porcupine would be and were simply sure that whatever it was, it wasn't that.
A fairly new but very consistent phenomenon I've noticed is the red panda call-and-response of "oh, it's like from Turning Red" followed by "I didn't know they were real!", sometimes further followed up with "these must be new" (red pandas have been in this location at this zoo for as far back as I can find evidence).
I think a lot of people, when confronted with a novel mammal species, just want to be able to contextualize it in terms of broad animal groups they're familiar with. They can't (or at least won't) commit to learning what a binturong or babirusa is but they can walk away comfortable with having just seen a (presumed very literal) bear-cat or deer-pig if that's what the sign said. Probably the worst example of this I've seen was when Zoo Atlanta had its raccoon dogs. I could spend up to an hour at a time watching them (see: my avatar) and it was astounding just how consistently everyone walked away under the impression that they had just viewed either a raccoon or a breed of domestic dog. Most people just don't have room in their perception of reality for species they didn't learn about as a child.
Just this past weekend I heard someone view some Brazilian porcupines and deduce "but they're not like, regular porcupines" and I was left somewhat amused, unsure whether they would be pegging North American or African porcupines as "regular" ones (neither are kept nearby enough to really hazard a guess) or if they were even sure what a "regular" porcupine would be and were simply sure that whatever it was, it wasn't that.
A fairly new but very consistent phenomenon I've noticed is the red panda call-and-response of "oh, it's like from Turning Red" followed by "I didn't know they were real!", sometimes further followed up with "these must be new" (red pandas have been in this location at this zoo for as far back as I can find evidence).
I think a lot of people, when confronted with a novel mammal species, just want to be able to contextualize it in terms of broad animal groups they're familiar with. They can't (or at least won't) commit to learning what a binturong or babirusa is but they can walk away comfortable with having just seen a (presumed very literal) bear-cat or deer-pig if that's what the sign said. Probably the worst example of this I've seen was when Zoo Atlanta had its raccoon dogs. I could spend up to an hour at a time watching them (see: my avatar) and it was astounding just how consistently everyone walked away under the impression that they had just viewed either a raccoon or a breed of domestic dog. Most people just don't have room in their perception of reality for species they didn't learn about as a child.
The thin-spined porcupine has been moved from the family of New World porcupines to that of New World spiny rats and back again
Brayden Delashmutt
Well-Known Member
I've acquired a new one! While watching the Humboldt penguins at Lincoln Children's Zoo, a man walked up with his daughter and exclaimed "oh look, the otters are out!"
I corrected him and the daughter was like "omg how do you know so much about animals"
like i thought that was common knowledge
I corrected him and the daughter was like "omg how do you know so much about animals"
like i thought that was common knowledge
Dr. Wolverine
Well-Known Member
Dr. Wolverine
Well-Known Member
Here's a couple I've heard recently:
Scarlet Ibis = Flamingo
Oriental Stork = Crane
Grey heron = Oriental Stork
Great Cormorant = Seagull
Scarlet Ibis = Flamingo
Oriental Stork = Crane
Grey heron = Oriental Stork
Great Cormorant = Seagull
NathanTheAsian
Well-Known Member
Werribee Zoo:
Female ostrich = emu
Male ostrich = cassowary
Waterbuck (male with horns) = donkey
Female Blackbuck = sheep
I should note that these were bogans. To be fair though the safari bus has no signage and they were too busy swearing at each other to hear the voice on the loudspeaker.
Melbourne Zoo
Sumatran Tiger = lioness
Red Panda = raccoon
Binturong = possum
KL Bird Park
Rhinoceros Hornbill (national bird of Malaysia) was called a toucan by a malaysian guy
Kinabatangan
Proboscis Monkey = macaque
Female ostrich = emu
Male ostrich = cassowary
Waterbuck (male with horns) = donkey
Female Blackbuck = sheep
I should note that these were bogans. To be fair though the safari bus has no signage and they were too busy swearing at each other to hear the voice on the loudspeaker.
Melbourne Zoo
Sumatran Tiger = lioness
Red Panda = raccoon
Binturong = possum
KL Bird Park
Rhinoceros Hornbill (national bird of Malaysia) was called a toucan by a malaysian guy
Kinabatangan
Proboscis Monkey = macaque
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Dr. Wolverine
Well-Known Member
I’ve had two instances where old ladies misidentified things right in front of me and I corrected them. One Instance was at Kasai Seaside Bird Sanctuary where I was looking at a flock of mallards and teals. This old lady walks up to me and points to the far shore and asks me if the herons are storks. I explained to her that Oriental Storks are endangered in Japan, and they are only locally common in (I think) Hyogo prefecture. This is understandable because most people’s image of a stork in Japan is a heron. Still, the next one shocked me. I was viewing the green pheasant enclosure when this old lady came up to me and said “ these are peacocks, right?” I corrected her, but I was shocked because almost every Japanese person knows exactly how a pheasant looks, and it’s the national bird of Japan.
Rizz Carlton
Well-Known Member
Probably a common mistake atleast in Indonesia, but a lot of people in places that I've visited mistook piranhas as pacus. I guess since the latter are more common and can be easily seen in fish markets and recreational fishing sites, so its easy for people here to mistook a fish that they don't often seen directly with a similar looking fish that they so happen to commonly seen and even eat.