A few questions of the whole ABC thing

[tigris115]

So here are some questions I have

1. Who originally created the term ABC and when?

2. What is the official definition of the term?

3. What do you think of the term when used in the zoo context?

 

[DavidBrown]

I don't know that there is an "official" definition to "ABC animals".

What people mean by it here are the animals that people want to see when they go to the zoo and that most zoos have as the main focus of the collections. It usually includes megafauna like giraffes, elephants, big cats, bears, hippos, great apes etc., monkeys, penguins, parrots, etc.

 

[Chlidonias]

you wouldn't be able to track down an original source for the term - it comes from childrens alphabet books: A for Antelope, B for Bear, C for Cat, etc. Basically it just means the "common" animals, i.e. the animals everyone has heard of no matter what their level of interest in zoological matters.