User blog:StaraptorEmpoleon/Why animals and plants have scientific names

So this is my first blog post!

Why animals and other living things have scientific names
A lot of people think "why do we have scientific names?"

Simple reason: many animals and plants have similar names. I'm going to use the the peacock.

etc.
 * English: Blue peafowl, Congo peafowl, green peafowl, [peacock pheasant, peacock bass, peacock butterfly]
 * Spanish: Pavo real
 * Japanese: Kujaku
 * French: Paon
 * German: Pfau
 * Chinese: Kǒngquè

How about our feline friends, the cat?

etc.
 * English: Cat
 * Spanish: Gato
 * Japanese: Neko
 * French: Chat
 * German: Katze
 * Chinese: Māo

See how confusing it is? The peacock and cat have several names in different languages! Besides, which kind of cat am I talking about? Pallas's, African golden, marbled, wild, jungle, sand, Andean, fishing, flat-headed (see how many different types of mammals have the name 'cat' in them)? Oh, there's the Congo peafowl and green peafowl too. Note that there's also a peacock pheasant, butterfly and bass! Confusing, isn't it?

But what do we do to solve this? We give them scientific names. Scientific names are usually a mix of Greek or Latin and sometimes other languages as well.

So what are the scientific names of the peacock and cat?


 * Pavo cristatus
 * Felis catus

That clears things up. Turns out I'm talking about the domestic cat and the common peafowl ("peacock" is technically a male of the species).

Scientific names can be used in any language, not just English, but Japanese and French as well. Scientific names help tell people what a person is talking about. When a person says "Oh, that's a Pavo cristatus!", another can say "oh! I know what you're talking about!"

Some simple taxonomy
So... how do we classify living things? Most animals, including the common peafowl and domestic cat, have a classification.


 * Kingdom: A rank in the classification of organisms, below domain(*) and above phylum; a taxon at that rank (e.g. the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom)
 * Phylum: A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class; also called a division, especially in describing plants; a taxon at that rank
 * Mammals belong to the phylum Chordata.
 * Class: A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank.
 * Order: A rank in the classification of organisms, below class and above family; a taxon at that rank.
 * Family: A rank in the classification of organisms, below order and above genus; a taxon at that rank.
 * Genus: a rank in the classification of organisms, below family and above species; a taxon at that rank
 * Species: A rank in the classification of organisms, below genus and above subspecies(*); a taxon at that rank.

(I have completely forgotten the saying that goes along with remembering this...)

(*) There are other classification terms, but we won't go in depth with that yet.

Classification of the common peafowl

 * Kingdom: Animalia (animals): In scientific usage, a multicellular organism that is usually mobile, whose cells are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing it from plants and fungi) and which derives energy solely from the consumption of other organisms (distinguishing it from plants).
 * Phylum: Chordata (chordates): numerous animals having a notochord at some stage of their development; in vertebrates this develops into the spine.
 * Class: Aves (birds): A member of the class of animals Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, and laying eggs.
 * Ducks and sparrows are birds.
 * Order: Galliformes (gal-ih-FOR-meez ) (gamebirds, fowl, gallinaceous [gal-ih-NAY-shus ] birds): a taxonomic order - the turkeys, grouse, quails and pheasants etc.
 * Family: Phasianidae (fay-sih-AN-ih-day ) (turkeys, pheasants, etc.): Terrestrial, ground living species of birds
 * Genus: Pavo: the peafowl (peacocks).
 * Species: cristatus: crested or having a crest.

Classification of the domestic cat

 * Kingdom: Animalia.
 * Phylum: Chordata.

To be finished later.