A Little Bit More
The names of animals and plants are not arbitrary – each and every name is chosen for a reason. Of course, over time we’ve lost some of those “reasons” and don’t always understand the original intent. So bird names like vireo, quail, and thrush, are names that we recognize, because we use them all the time, but may have no immediate connection to our current language.
Every culture has labeled the plants and animals they come in contact with. Naming each organism makes it possible for us to know what people are talking about and allows people accurate communication. Since we take labeling so much for granted, we tend to forget that many of these names have meaning that goes beyond a mere label too. The name Dolly Varden immediately brought to peoples’ mind a character in a well-known book during the 1800’s and helped reinforce the color combination of this interesting trout. But today, few know who Dolly Varden was and that connection is quickly being lost.
As the poster notes, there is a wide range of information that can be gleaned from a name. So, the Northern Waterthrush is likely to be found north of the Louisiana Waterthrush, the Indigo Bunting is obviously blue, the Prairie Rattlesnake probably lives in the plains, the Curve-billed Thrasher must have a curved bill, and the Townsend’s Chipmunk was likely to have been discovered by Mr. Townsend. Amazing how much you can know just by taking a second look at an animal’s name!
Activities
Science - Name Game
Objectives: Closer look at the names of animals or plants
Materials: Field guides to animals and/or plants
Have your students take a look in a field guide (birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, insects, plants, trees, etc) and see if they can find some names that provide information beyond a mere label. I’ve provided 6 categories for students to look for when looking at names. See how many they can match up with the 6 provided. (for younger students, you may want to provide only one category for them to search)
Here are some helpful characteristics that are often found as part of common names along with some examples to get you started.
- Color – eg. Yellow Warbler
- Anatomy – eg. Long-horned Grasshopper
- Habitat preference – eg. Prairie Rattlesnake
- Named after – eg. Townsend’s Chipmunk
- Geographic preference – eg. Northern Cardinal
- Look-alike – eg. Rainbow Trout
If you’d like to take this a step farther, you can look at the kind of labels we use in our daily lives. Can you come up with some names of other everyday objects that provide additional information beyond just being a label?
Example
- Ferriswheel
- Empire State Building (a special building in the Empire State – NY)
- Phillips screwdriver
- Armchair
- Shoestring
Or you may want to have the students look up these animals and plants and see if they can find out who they were named after.
- Dolly Varden
- Queen Anne’s Lace
- St. John’s Wort
- Abert’s Squirrel
- Douglas’s Squirrel
- Townsend’s Chipmunk
- Nelson’s Pocket Mouse
- Fraser’s Dolphin
- Bryde’s Whale
- Hammond’s Flycatcher
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Baltimore Oriole
- Henslow’s Sparrow
- Blanding’s Turtle
- Baird’s Rat Snake
- Strecker’s Chorus Frog
- Fowler’s Toad
- Darwin’s Finch
Key Concepts
Identification
Questions
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