|
1-7 of 7 messages
|
Page 1 of 1
|
|
Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by Az on December 2, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
Can i just ask what is it with the Latin names. I have books etc and many of the index section etc use the snakes names in latin. What was it that brought about the use of Latin names and is there a easy way of learning them. Ill be honest you could count on one hand the amount of latin names of snakes i no but i know it helps to know the majority of them when reading advanced books which use Latin names rather than what we say in English. PS sorry if this has been asked anytime recently). Keep safe peeps Aaron
|
| |
|
RE: Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by MoccasinMan on December 2, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Latin names cross boundries of language and locality. They are the most discriptive accurate way to identify animals. The entire scientific community uses them. Common names and locality names can vary and possibly cause confusion. Latin is specific and universal. Your new animal is Python sebae.
Andrew
|
| |
|
RE: Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by GREGLONGHURST on December 2, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Every animal..and plant..on Earth has a scientific name. These are expressed as a Genus, a species & in most instances a subspecies. When written, the genus is capitalized, but the species & subspecies are begun with lower case. Species is the singular of the word. It always ends in s. Not every animal or plant has a common name, & to make it more interesting, many animals have different common names in different parts of their ranges. With snakes, the only way you can be certain that everyone is talking about a given animal is to use the scientific name.
To give some examples of this..there are garter snakes in North America as well as Africa, but they are totally unrelated. There are a half- dozen or so different snakes in Central & South America all called the Fer-de-Lance.
As far as learning them, I would suggest that you start with snakes that you are familiar with or interested in. Memorize them. All snakes in the same genus are closely related & have quite a bit in common, usually body shape & other physical characteristics. Pituophis is the genus for the North American Bull, Pine, & Gopher snakes. They are all fairly large constrictors with a loud hiss.
Ignoring the scientific names will only put you at a disadvantage when others are using them.
~~Greg~~
|
| |
|
RE: Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by LarryDFishel on December 2, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
> Every animal..and plant..on Earth has a scientific name.
Just to be irritatingly specific, this is not correct. Only those plants and animals that have been formally described have latin names... :)
There are perhaps millions of species (mostly insects and bacteria) that no one has ever seen. And just as there are species that have latin names but no common names (either because no one other than researchers have ever seen or cared about them or because they are not obviously different from a similar species) there are certainly places where there are common names for species that have not yet been formally described and assigned a latin name.
|
| |
|
RE: Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by buzzard on December 2, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
It took me awhile to give in to silly latin too, But now I am coming around. The first name meaning the broad spectrum and the second and third identifying right down to the last sub species like a last, middle,and first name of a person is how I could better understand how it works....Why latin? I guess we may need to translate some day. I am tryin to do just that.Only the other day I said pitcat instead of Pituophis catenifer...well I guess the world is not ready for my translations just now. For me this is a temporary exile.........
|
| |
|
RE: Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by Az on December 4, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
thanks all ill have to get stuck into some more books etc and start learning as you said snakes names that i prefer. thanks all :)
|
| |
|
RE: Latin names
|
Reply
|
|
by Hotherps on December 10, 2005
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
To throw another spanner (wrench) in the works, the names should ideally be referred to as “Scientific Names” and not Latin, for the reason that although Latin is the root of many of the words used, there are many others that you will not find in the Latin language. Many of the words that make up the name for a given species have been created using a strict taxonomic formula or set of rules.
Scientific names are important, especially when dealing with venomous species…….
You would not want to rely upon common names when requesting anti-venom for example!
It is not that difficult to learn the scientific names of the animals you keep. Best thing to do is have labels on all your cages with both sets of names…..glance at them every time you look at the cage and you will soon remember them.
Don’t worry about pronunciation, everyone makes mistakes at first! People might have to correct you, but at least they will be pleased that you are making an effort.
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
