Yes, I am recycling images - because recycling is a good thing to do, right? |
I am putting together an activity book which I am hoping to get printed so I can brainwash children to not litter, eat sustainable fish and love the ocean... Maybe brainwash isn't the appropriate word, but it is more fun to use. Actually, I don't currently have a way to get this printed (because that costs money - anyone know someone who would want to donate?) so in the meantime it is going to be up on the website when I am happy with it (and figure out how to make it visible - yes some of it is up there but you can't find it, in theory this is my master plan but, also, I am not sure how to add another tab to the menu).
I am finding this immensely fun. Who knew I could actually consider this real work! Of course it isn't really in my job description but today is Friday and my boss did say it is a useful thing to do. It is mostly crosswords, match up thingys, word searches etc.
Anyway, one of the pages I was thinking of making was to explain scientific names in a fun way (no really, I CAN make it fun). In my children's book (anyone know how to get that published) I gave a simple definition: "In biology we write the scientific names of animals in
Latin (or Greek) and in italics. Species names are made up of a family name which is
written first and in capitals, and a specific name which comes second (e.g. Littorina africana)" but that is because I name the characters with derivatives of their scientific names. (You already knew I was a nerd).
To be honest, I find scientific names quite fun... hold on, this isn't a symptom of my nerdiness. For instance, I love the the scientific name for the African Penguin, Spheniscus demersus, means "wedge-shaped diver" because it is shaped like a wedge and dives!!! How beautiful is that? And that seahorses are "hippocampus" because "hippo" means horse and the common octopus is Octopus (eight feet) vulgaris (common), also cephalopod = head/feet.
So today I have found out that the Large-scale mullet is Liza macro (big) -lepis (scale), the Northern bottlenose whale is Hyperodon ampullatus and ampulla means bottle. Cetacean (the word for dolphins and whales) means large sea animal - and I think the blue whale would agree. The Pelagic (Greek - of the sea) Cormorant is Phalacrocorax pelagicus so what does that make the Bank Coromorant, Phalacrocorax neglectus? Are you loving this as much as me? OK maybe I am a complete nerd and I did actually do Latin in standard 6 and 7 and loved it, so maybe that stuck with me.
Photo credit: Science Friday |
BUT, if you do love this as much as me, do any of you know cool definitions for scientific names? It is a surprisingly difficult thing to Google. (Not even Wiki has all the answers and I can't actually think of that many scientific names off the top of my head and no, I didn't know all of the ones mentioned either but Wiki does have this cool page). And, if you are just thinking I am a lost-cause nerd then even you will have to appreciate that there is a fungus from Malaysia called Spongiforma squarepantsii and they are thinking of naming an octopus Opisthoteuthis adorabilis because it is so cute.
Still not convinced? Try this word search which has a bunch of marine-related words but also the names of my family's pets.
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