Better names for animals

G

Grant Rhino

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
As I was growing up I always knew the black/white/orange/brown/yellow/tortoise shell coloured dogs of Africa as "Cape Hunting Dogs" however these days they are known as "African Wild Dogs". I asked a keeper about this recently and he said that there are several names that they have been known as over the years including what I thought wouldve been the best name of all: "Painted Wolf"

I find that name "African Wild Dog" very bland whereas "Painted Wolf" is at least descriptive and sounds cool. "Cape Hunting Dog" isnt bad either...

What other animals can people think of which couldve had really good names yet have been given very bland and boring ones?

Something along that lines of "Killer Whale" instead of "Orca" or even come up with a new, better name for something!

Im very keen to hear what people come up with!
 
I think the name "Cape Hunting Dog" (and sometimes Painted Hunting Dog)was changed to "African Wild Dog" to improve its perception, being an endangered species. There has been discussions on this species name elsewhere on ZooChat. Likewise, the name Killer Whale has been abandoned to a degree in favour of Orca, presumably for similar reasons, which I think is a good idea.
 
To stay with your example about the Painted dogs. In earlier days ( 1970-ties, 1980-ties ) they were called Hyena dogs here in the Netherlands - I didn't like this name ! - but now-a-days htey are normale called African wold dogs ( in Dutch Hyena hond vs Afrikaanse wilde hond ).
Also the Orca has a second Dutch name which I not realy like Sword whale :( ( in Dutch :
Orka vs Zwaardwalvis ).
 
I hate the name "painted dog", it is ridiculous. They will always be Cape hunting dogs to me. (But, yes, as zooboy said, the name change was an attempt to make them more user-friendly [in Africa]).

Regarding killer whale and the Dutch name "sword whale" referenced above, the name "killer whale" is actually corrupted from "whale killer". The early whalers thought that they used the dorsal fin like a sword to slice open the bellies of whales to kill them. Again, the change to "orca" was for PC reasons, but I guess that only works if you don't have a classical education (i.e. if you don't know that Orca was god of the Underworld!). I still prefer the name killer whale because that's what I grew up with.
 
Chlidonias said:
and from post #97 here (where zooboy ended up getting lots of comments deleted throughout *shakes head sadly*): http://www.zoochat.com/2/tigers-lions-leopards-oh-my-big-295148/index7.html
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You're shaking your head at the fact that there was stuff deleted at all right, not my excellent contributions to the debate? :D

Looking back now, it seems like the only bits deleted were the "anagram of regig", to use jbnbsn's dreadfully confusing and ambiguous phrase, although other bits may have also been removed.
 
zooboy28 said:
You're shaking your head at the fact that there was stuff deleted at all right, not my excellent contributions to the debate? :D

Looking back now, it seems like the only bits deleted were the "anagram of regig", to use jbnbsn's dreadfully confusing and ambiguous phrase, although other bits may have also been removed.
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yes I had remembered it as more being removed, but it was just your continuous use of "that word" :p
 
I want to ask : Why 'hunting leopard' it's named cheetah now or 'gnu' it's wildebeest?
Thanks in advance for the answers ;)
 
I still use gnu. But it depends on the qualifier. I say white-tailed gnu but black wildebeest.

Hunting leopard is an ooooooold name, from well before my time. Not one I would ever use myself.
 
I say wildebeest because I can't pronounce 'gnu'.
I think Cheetahs were 'hunting leopards' because they were traditionally used for just that.
 
FBBird said:
I say wildebeest because I can't pronounce 'gnu'.
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it's an African name, from the alarm call of the animal "ge-noo", which means the common name is actually pronounced "gi'noo" (hard g and the i as in "bit") but you literally never hear it like that. Even all the dictionaries say it is "noo" (with a silent g because ever other word in the English language that starts with gn has a silent g). You do tend to sound like a right wally if you say the dictionary is wrong though, so I keep it to myself :D
 
Chlidonias said:
I hate the name "painted dog", it is ridiculous. They will always be Cape hunting dogs to me. (But, yes, as zooboy said, the name change was an attempt to make them more user-friendly [in Africa]).
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So do I.

The first time I ever heard the word 'Painted' used was as the title of a T.V. documentary about them- after that it seemed to become widespread and I think that description may then have been borrowed for the purpose Zoo-boy describes. And of course Zoos like any name that hypes up a species also.
 
Chlidonias said:
it's an African name, from the alarm call of the animal "ge-noo", which means the common name is actually pronounced "gi'noo" (hard g and the i as in "bit") but you literally never hear it like that. Even all the dictionaries say it is "noo" (with a silent g because ever other word in the English language that starts with gn has a silent g). You do tend to sound like a right wally if you say the dictionary is wrong though, so I keep it to myself :D
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Bolded bit must be geographic variation, 'g-noo' is much more common than 'nyoo' in the UK, in my experience.

I always genuinely thought 'nyoo' was the correct pronunciation and 'g-noo' came from the Flanders and Swann Gnu Song.

Most people I know would say 'g-noo' - myself included. I always thought it was wrong but easier for communication but if you're right it's the more correct option.

To be honest I'd feel more of a fool saying 'nyoo' over here.

Relevant amusing song:

 
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Maguari said:
Bolded bit must be geographic variation, 'g-noo' is much more common than 'nyoo' in the UK, in my experience.

I always genuinely thought 'nyoo' was the correct pronunciation and 'g-noo' came from the Flanders and Swann Gnu Song.

Most people I know would say 'g-noo' - myself included. I always thought it was wrong but easier for communication but if you're right it's the more correct option.

To be honest I'd feel more of a fool saying 'nyoo' over here.
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brilliant, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that. It was of course quite incorrect of me to say that it is "literally" never pronounced correctly, but I have honestly never ever heard anyone do so apart for myself. I don't actually know many people who would need to use the word "gnu" in a sentence, but I have always heard it "noo" or "nyoo" on documentaries and it is a mainstay of humorous zoo-related newspaper titles ("what's gnu at the zoo?"). Now if only the dictionary people would catch up!

Related question though: how would you pronounce gnat? :D
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with 'painted wolf' except that Cape hunting dogs aren't wolves and they aren't painted either (and if I'd actually painted one to look like that, I'd keep very quiet about it).
I do admit to liking older names, I still prefer 'Celebes black ape' to 'Sulawesi crested macaque' - although neither name is perfect: modernising place names is a fool's errand (surely we don't want to move our Muscovy ducks to Moskva) and Celebes is a good deal easier to say than Sulawesi, likewise describing tailless monkeys as apes is a historic English usage and perfectly simple and rational, it should be encouraged (how many times have you heard zoo visitors describe anthropoid apes as 'monkeys'?), on the other hand moor macaques and Heck's macaques are black apes from Celebes too, and I suspect that there are other species - but I'm too lazy to look them up.
One solution is to stick to scientific names, but then we are at the mercy of taxonomists like Prof Groves who change animals' names as soon as you look the other way and compete to invent unspeakable new names (the currrent champion may be Swedish ichthyologist Sven Kullander whose masterpiece is Tahuantinsuyoa macantzatza :eek:).
Moral: you can't win :)

Alan
 
Chlidonias said:
very good. Gold star.
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I still can't pronounce 'nyala' as 'N'yala' rather than 'nye-ala' without 'hilariously ironic' over-pronunciation though. That'll take some getting used to.

"Nnnnn-yallah"

It feels like saying 'bah-lenth-ee-a' instead of Valencia when speaking English - accurate but slightly pretentious! :D
 
Chlidonias said:
this is starting to turn into the pronunciation thread again.
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Yes - back on topic!

I would disagree with Alan in that I don't mind updating place names in common names where they are relevant, because I think that makes them more comprehensible (and of course, Muscovy Duck has no genuine association with Moscow so it's more akin to being named after a person than a place).

I also think I've heard more people get 'Celebes' wrong than 'Sulawesi', actually.

So yeah, Sulawesi Macaque, Amur Tiger, Taiwanese Sika - fine with those.

'Painted Dog' - don't like. African Wild Dog is what I use as standard, but I'll often use 'Hunting Dog' in conversation.

On the nomenclature angle of 'gnu' vs. 'wildebeest' - I shall add my standard weirdness that I refer to Connochaetes as 'wildebeest', and might use that word just in a general sentence ("Were the zebras still mixed with the wildebeest?") but if I'm giving a specific taxon name I'd always use 'gnu' (e.g. White-tailed Gnu rather than Black Wildebeest). I'm not sure that's entirely logical, but it's how I roll.
 
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