Probably, for anyone that can count!
Not necessarily clever-clogs
They could just look like 8!General Zoo Misconceptions
- Thread starter CZJimmy
- Start date
Not necessarily clever-clogs
They could just look like 8!
Jordan-Jaguar97
Well-Known Member
I did recall a few weeks back whilst at Blackpool, a female Hartmann's Mountain Zebra was called a juvenile Eastern Bongo!
Equus zebra hartmannae wins for me.
Equus zebra hartmannae wins for me.Not necessarily clever-clogs
I was only pointing out that if anyone had looked in the tank, they would have seen 3-5 sharks, so the number of sharks would be obvious.
Pootle
Well-Known Member
I was only pointing out that if anyone had looked in the tank, they would have seen 3-5 sharks, so the number of sharks would be obvious.
Not if one was hiding.
I was only pointing out that if anyone had looked in the tank, they would have seen 3-5 sharks, so the number of sharks would be obvious.
I thought they were saying there were a mixture of sexes and was wondering how obvious that was in sharks, rather than a vague multiple number of sharks.
scott.c.hansen@
Member
I once heard a child (of about 7) ask her mom why there were so many different types of monkeys. The mother’s response was “because there are so many different types of people.” And they say we don’t need to teach evolution in our public schools!
nanoboy
Well-Known Member
That's a fair answer though, to some extent.
It's plainly someone who doesn't know and just gives a quick answer to shut the kid up (
) but the more you think about it, it's actually quite deep and meaningful. Has a lot to say about the inherent diversity and ineffable multitudes of permutations that make up life on Earth.Or something like that.
It's worth remembering, when getting outraged, the general level of literacy is not what one would expect! A child at Chester asked what the tapir was, his mother was standing next to the sign, looked at it and eventually said "I don't know, it's a ... thing." I was amused but then belatedy did wonder how good her reading was, maybe she was to embarrassed to attempt what is a slightly odd word in the English language.
We need people to read forms where I work and people know that "I've forgotten my glasses" often means the person can't read, or read well enough to understand the form. It's more common than you'd think.
We need people to read forms where I work and people know that "I've forgotten my glasses" often means the person can't read, or read well enough to understand the form. It's more common than you'd think.
Frankly all the more reason to be outraged, just in a different direction... no-one should be allowed to reach school leaving age unable to cope with an unfamiliar five-letter word.
From my limited exposure in recent years I've noticed literacy teaching seems to be tending towards a letter-by-letter approach rather than taking words or syllables at a time, and I'm sure this isn't actually helping long-term, as it slows reading down and makes a new word a more complicated prospect - T-A-P-I-R then think how to say it rather than TAP-IR which deals with the sound of the world as you go along (you may not get the pronunciation right first time, but you'll get the word out). Just an interested layman's view, but it pains me seeing adults still spelling words out letter-by-letter.
Anywho, wildly off-topic and I could be well wide of the mark so I'll stop there.
scott.c.hansen@
Member
Whoa Nanoboy and Maguari, you guys are blowing my mind! Are you saying without people measuring, observing and naming plants and animals the whole construct of species is moot? It's like the name of the rose and, if a tree fell in the woods; all rolled into one! 
Whoa Nanoboy and Maguari, you guys are blowing my mind! Are you saying without people measuring, observing and naming plants and animals the whole construct of species is moot? It's like the name of the rose and, if a tree fell in the woods; all rolled into one!
Really, all science is about human observation and learning and human development - we're not currently aware of any species we could communicate this learning with so it's all for our own benefit or usage. The main function of taxonomy is to allow us to get our head around the diversity out there, but it's unlikely to ever present it definitively. And if we weren't here (and assuming no other species took our evolutionary place), the idea of a 'species' as such would never have occured - animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, archaeans, viruses and all the rest would just get on with it without worrying about things in those terms. They'd 'know' what they had to do to keep their own genetic material alive in the next generation and would simply get on with it.
As a wise man once said:
"Humans - always seeing patterns in things that aren't there..."
(On a more serious note, there are plenty of species complexes - the Herring/Lesser Black-backed Gull complex for example - that make mockeries not only of any traditional definition of a species, but also the concept as whole. But that's for another thread!)
mazfc
Well-Known Member
As a teacher of small children, i don't teach letter by letter but phoneme by phoneme, which allows children who came to my class unable to read to be able to decode pretty much any word.
Teaching people to read is the hardest thing to teach, but when it works (and my way does) it opens the world up, and takes away a lot of fear and self-doubt. Sermon over
scott.c.hansen@
Member
I do very much agree with this statement. I am also pleasantly surprised our conversation has taken such a philosphical turn. My original intent for the post was to express my discontent for the appauling state of science education in the Untied States. I think we are now touching on material worth a whole new thread.
Yes you have buddy, yes you have.
In Florida, I overheard someone say a hippo was a manatee. In addition, there was a sign at Naples that said PARMA WALLABY. The result? "Hey look at the kangaroos."
The strangest one though was hearing someone call a Thomson's Gazelle a Cheetah.
The strangest one though was hearing someone call a Thomson's Gazelle a Cheetah.
I do have a bit of a success story. As some of you might know Melbourne Zoo recently got coatis and they make really great exhibits so attract a lot of attention. I was recently watching them and a small group came up and started watching them too. None of the group knew what they were and some of the guesses were way off. Skunks, numbats, badgers, raccoons, etc. Eventually one of them read the name off the sign and when no one knew what they were the one that had read the name read the rest of the sign out loud.
I der here another strange one on the same visit though. At the top of the zoo are two exhibits next to each other. One has collared peccaries and the other has a Brazilian tapir but only the peccaries are marked on the map. A mother was looking at the tapir and then told her kids that it must be a peccary because that's what the map says. Then they walked along to the next exhibit and saw the real peccaries and the mother told her kids that these must be the babies and they had to be separated from their mother.
I der here another strange one on the same visit though. At the top of the zoo are two exhibits next to each other. One has collared peccaries and the other has a Brazilian tapir but only the peccaries are marked on the map. A mother was looking at the tapir and then told her kids that it must be a peccary because that's what the map says. Then they walked along to the next exhibit and saw the real peccaries and the mother told her kids that these must be the babies and they had to be separated from their mother.
I've heard someone think a black rhino was a flamingo.
Also I was on the edge of a Mexican wolf exhibit when a 7-8 year-old girl said, "Hey guys coyotes!" Now coyotes are understandable, but I was like, "Sweetie, those are wolves, coyotes are smaller." Girl: "Nope, nope, nope, those are coyotes!" And then walked away after this happened 3 more times.
Alligator snapping turtle-Big scary turtle thing that looks like a dinosaur .
People thinking king penguins are, "Happy Feet".
Someone thought the reason elephantw fling sand on their backs was just for exercise.
Also I was on the edge of a Mexican wolf exhibit when a 7-8 year-old girl said, "Hey guys coyotes!" Now coyotes are understandable, but I was like, "Sweetie, those are wolves, coyotes are smaller." Girl: "Nope, nope, nope, those are coyotes!" And then walked away after this happened 3 more times.
Alligator snapping turtle-Big scary turtle thing that looks like a dinosaur .
People thinking king penguins are, "Happy Feet".
Someone thought the reason elephantw fling sand on their backs was just for exercise.
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