subspecies
- Thread starter anidude
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What groups of mammals and birds are you looking for lists of? There would be many thousands of subspecies within each group, probably tens of thousands.
My experience has been that Wikipedia articles generally do a good job of listing the subspecies of specific groups of animals. Being Wikipedia though, you should check the veracity, but the primary references with the actual taxonomy (and hopefully pictures) should be listed there.
Field guides can be very good for subspecies pictures. The Kingdon African mammals guide is good for African mammals. The Peterson and National Geographic guides are good for North American birds. I'm sure that there are equally good field guides for birds from the rest of the world too.
My experience has been that Wikipedia articles generally do a good job of listing the subspecies of specific groups of animals. Being Wikipedia though, you should check the veracity, but the primary references with the actual taxonomy (and hopefully pictures) should be listed there.
Field guides can be very good for subspecies pictures. The Kingdon African mammals guide is good for African mammals. The Peterson and National Geographic guides are good for North American birds. I'm sure that there are equally good field guides for birds from the rest of the world too.
it should be remembered that most (but not all) subspecies are impossible to separate without measurements or only differ in tiny details of color hue. In species, at least most can be separated based purely on visible features that don't require in-the-hand examination.
And yes, there are tens of thousands. In birds, there are 10000+ species and 20000+ subspecies (excluding nominotypical). In mammals, there are 5000+ species and I have no idea how many subspecies, but certainly 10000+.
For a complete illustrated work of all bird species, you should visit the nearest major library and check if they have Handbook of the Birds of the World. It is in 16 LARGE volumes. It is the first and so far only work that has illustrations of all described species in an entire animal class. You can also buy it, but it isn't cheap (~2700€/3500 US$). The same publishers are working on a similar publication for mammals called Handbook of the Mammals of the World, but so far they've only published the first 2 volumes and it'll be many years before they're finished with the rest. You can also look at smaller publications, e.g. field guide type, but there are many regions, especially in mammals, without decent field guides. In mammals, there are many species that never have been illustrated or photographed, especially when looking at smaller, primarily nocturnal species such as rodents, shrew and bats. For example, while Kingdon's guide to mammals of Africa is excellent and easily the best single guide available for this continent, it only has one illustration for most small mammal genera, no matter how many species the genus actually has.
If you're just looking for a taxonomic list with all species and subspecies:
Mammals (not updated since 2005) Mammal Species of the World
Birds IOC World Bird List
In both, keep in mind that there are many different ideas of taxonomy and it is almost impossible to find two biologists that agree on all.
There really isn't much in terms of free mammal photo sources on the net. You can do a random google or flickr search and hope that whoever took the photo actually got the identification right. For birds, there are various local photo databases (e.g. covering Africa only) that are quite reliable and fairly complete. Bird photo databases that cover the entire world are far from complete, but the nearest are probably http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/index.html (5641 species) and http://www.flickr.com/groups/birdguide/ (scroll down for index, about 7000 species).
And yes, there are tens of thousands. In birds, there are 10000+ species and 20000+ subspecies (excluding nominotypical). In mammals, there are 5000+ species and I have no idea how many subspecies, but certainly 10000+.
For a complete illustrated work of all bird species, you should visit the nearest major library and check if they have Handbook of the Birds of the World. It is in 16 LARGE volumes. It is the first and so far only work that has illustrations of all described species in an entire animal class. You can also buy it, but it isn't cheap (~2700€/3500 US$). The same publishers are working on a similar publication for mammals called Handbook of the Mammals of the World, but so far they've only published the first 2 volumes and it'll be many years before they're finished with the rest. You can also look at smaller publications, e.g. field guide type, but there are many regions, especially in mammals, without decent field guides. In mammals, there are many species that never have been illustrated or photographed, especially when looking at smaller, primarily nocturnal species such as rodents, shrew and bats. For example, while Kingdon's guide to mammals of Africa is excellent and easily the best single guide available for this continent, it only has one illustration for most small mammal genera, no matter how many species the genus actually has.
If you're just looking for a taxonomic list with all species and subspecies:
Mammals (not updated since 2005) Mammal Species of the World
Birds IOC World Bird List
In both, keep in mind that there are many different ideas of taxonomy and it is almost impossible to find two biologists that agree on all.
There really isn't much in terms of free mammal photo sources on the net. You can do a random google or flickr search and hope that whoever took the photo actually got the identification right. For birds, there are various local photo databases (e.g. covering Africa only) that are quite reliable and fairly complete. Bird photo databases that cover the entire world are far from complete, but the nearest are probably http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/index.html (5641 species) and http://www.flickr.com/groups/birdguide/ (scroll down for index, about 7000 species).
@Stacey, that is because there is no "correct information", species and subspecies are humun invented names for variation seen in nature.
There are a lot of names where scientists have agreed about a name and classification, but much more species where there is still al lot of debate...
There are a lot of names where scientists have agreed about a name and classification, but much more species where there is still al lot of debate...
As lintworm said, there's no correct, 100% known information. Species and subspecies are split and put back together all the time. Even with well known animals like Tigers, White Rhinoceros, and Grey Wolves there is constant debate whether this subspecies is valid or if this one shouldn't be considered its own species/subspecies or if this one is really a separate species. For someone like me who likes to list the species/subspecies his seen, I find this extremely annoying but unavoidable.
~Thylo
Should of worded that differently, more like a section on animals found in zoos currently ie Name, latin name, where found in the wild, current info and population status. whoops
You mean my website?
Its that but it's the species I've seen there and some of them have lefted the collections between my visits and now (ie. Blesbok and Chinese Alligators at the Bronx Zoo and Aldabra and Galapagos Giant Tortoises at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo).~Thylo
stacey101
Well-Known Member
That works to, I was just suprized that there wasnt a thread or something here surrounding species and information about them
forget I mentioned it ^_^
ungulate nerd
Well-Known Member
Anidude, Here is something about mammals that may be helpful for you, there are some problems with the website though. The problems are that many of the "subspecies" listed on there may not be valid subspecies and may actually be variations of subspecies, the other big issue is that the photos they show of the subspecies much of the time are completely inaccurate, for example the subspecies fact sheet for Mongolian goitered gazelles (Gazella subguttorosa hilleriana) actually shows a photo of Thomsons gazelles and not mongolian goitered gazelles. The reason I share this website with you is because when you click on links on zootierliste it comes up as a recomended website and also you said you were looking for a website with lists and photos of subspecies, so I thought I would share it, here it is
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