Fixing Animal Names

[DarthQuell]

Something that @Urufu1997 said reminded me of this:

That one's clearly a North American Subspecies though. You can see it in the Body Shape. Also Timberwolf is a Term that includes multiple North American Wolf Subspecies and it seems to be the Northwestern Wolf/Mackenzie Valley Wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) (it's called that in a Scenario). A Shame that they chose the probably most colorful Subspecies but only gave us different grey and brown Variants. Also that white Face that the Wolves in the Game have seems to be rather uncommon. If they would at least get the Zoopedia right.
In my Opinion if we should get a third Wolf Subspecies it should be the European Wolf because we already have two from North America

Here, it's clear that the timber wolf was originally going to be a North American subspecies. Also, the only decorations for the timber wolf are in the New World theme, which again is North American. A last minute name change made it into the species gray wolf, which would've been ok, but then they added a SPECIFIC subspecies of gray wolf, the Arctic wolf. Why add the Arctic wolf when we technically already had it in-game? What's worse, why didn't they just call it the gray wolf? Wouldn't that have been better? Timber wolf is a North American term, if I remember correctly...

Which goes to show a few other animals that must need some name revisions. On the top of my head:

1. Colombian white-faced capuchin monkey
2. Pronghorn antelope
3. Mackenzie wolf - timber wolf

What else is there that y'all suggest?

 

[SalamAnders]

Mackenzie wolf - timber wolf

As long as it is only Canis Lupus in the Zoopedia, it should just be called gray wolf.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

A couple I can think of:

- Raccoon: Should be either 'common raccoon' or 'Northern raccoon' - there are three different raccoon species, and the exact identity of the Planet Zoo ones should be specified.

- Pygmy hippo: This may be a more personal one, and not such a high priority to others, but I cannot stand colloquialisms in animal names. I would much rather it be called 'pygmy hippopotamus'. It's especially annoying that the larger species is called 'hippopotamus', while the smaller has this colloquialism.

 

[Chuditch]

Not a common name but a scientific one - the red kangaroo should be changed from Macropus rufus to Osphranter rufus to reflect the recent splitting of Macropus.

 

[Firestar97]

Why add the Arctic wolf when we technically already had it in-game?

Normally I hate that Argument because it doesn't really make that much Sense (especially considering how different the Arctic Wolf looks) but I agree when it helps with fixing this

Pronghorn antelope

It's really called Pronghorn Antelope in the english Version of the Game? I know some People call it that in Real Life but in a Game that is also about Education it should definitely be just called Pronghorn. They aren't even Antelopes. They are way closer related to Giraffes

Not a common name but a scientific one - the red kangaroo should be changed from Macropus rufus to Osphranter rufus to reflect the recent splitting of Macropus.

Exactly. I didn't even know about that until relatively recently because I only saw it refered to as Macropus rufus before

 

[DarthQuell]

Normally I hate that Argument because it doesn't really make that much Sense (especially considering how different the Arctic Wolf looks) but I agree when it helps with fixing this

It's more of a pet peeve of mine, but noice

It's really called Pronghorn Antelope in the english Version of the Game? I know some People call it that in Real Life but in a Game that is also about Education it should definitely be just called Pronghorn. They aren't even Antelopes. They are way closer related to Giraffes

As far as I remember, yeah

 

[ElectricMonk]

Normally I hate that Argument because it doesn't really make that much Sense (especially considering how different the Arctic Wolf looks) but I agree when it helps with fixing this

I don’t. I disagree that there’s anything wrong with Timber wolf. It’s a term, used in America, to mean (broadly) forest wolf. It is used fit many subspecies and does not refer to just one. The game model is a generic forest wolf ecotype, just as much like a Eurasian forest wolf as it is like a North American forest wolf. The arctic wolf being a particular subspecies is justified, since it is morphologically very distinct from all other wolves - this is not as true of any other subspecies. As is true for a number of animals, there is more morphological variation within subspecies (especially Eurasian in this case’ than there is between subspecies (subspecies being defined generally, by genetic, not morphological differences between taxonomic units)
‘Timber Wolf’ generally means the American subspecies because the people who use the term live in America/Canada, not because it means a wolf belonging to one of three subspecies…. As a term that means ‘non-sub specific forest wolf’ the term ‘Timber wolf’ is very well chosen.

 

[Calleo]

Personally I’d rather they turned the wolf into a subspecies. Probably the European Grey Wolf but alas.

I’d also like then to rename the Siberian Tiger to Amur Tiger as that’s generally more widely used now in zoos and science.

Also agree about the raccoon. It bugs me that it’s just ‘raccoon’ and not Common Raccoon or Northern Raccoon (would prefer name to be ‘common’).

Also a bit disappointed the red deer isn’t down to subspecies level as something like a ‘Scottish Red Deer’.

 

[DarthQuell]

Time to revive this thread, y'all.

So, I've been looking at the West African lion, and I think it's kinda obvious that it's the Northern lion, so that deserves a fix. Furthermore, since it's the Northern subspecies, it should be updated to include India in its range.

Also, in keeping up with tigers, how would y'all do it? Because if the Bengal tiger and the Siberian tiger are technically the same subspecies, then that means it's a literal repeat. But I dunno

 

[SalamAnders]

Also, in keeping up with tigers, how would y'all do it? Because if the Bengal tiger and the Siberian tiger are technically the same subspecies, then that means it's a literal repeat. But I dunno

The only way to fix the tigers is to kick the ''Bengal'' out of the game and give that spot to the Sumatran.
The Siberian/Amur will represent the Continental tiger and the Sumatran the Sunda Tiger.
Breeding programs in zoos are still tied together with the old subspecies (as far as I know), and since these can still work as populations, I think it is fine to use the population terms for their common English names.

What should be changed is their scientific names. Panthera tigris altaica should become Panthera tigris tigris (Continental tiger). Here the Bengal tiger is again the issue since P. tigris tigris is used for that one.

The only thing special about the creature some zoos refer to as ''Bengal Tiger'' in real life, is its controversial white color variations. But in PZ the Siberian can also be white (for some reason), so the Bengal is a pointless animal.

As long as the Siberian and the Bengal are the ''subspecies'' we got, there is no logical way to fix it.

 

[Angeł]

A couple I can think of:

- Raccoon: Should be either 'common raccoon' or 'Northern raccoon' - there are three different raccoon species, and the exact identity of the Planet Zoo ones should be specified.

- Pygmy hippo: This may be a more personal one, and not such a high priority to others, but I cannot stand colloquialisms in animal names. I would much rather it be called 'pygmy hippopotamus'. It's especially annoying that the larger species is called 'hippopotamus', while the smaller has this colloquialism.

On the hippos note, we should get the larger renamed to ‘Common Hippopotamus’ as well as the smaller to ‘Pygmy Hippopotamus’.
Both are species of Hippopotamus, it would be great to have ‘Common’ in front of the larger of the two to distinguish it as its own hippopotamus species.

 

[Eletan888]

I have so many things about Zoopedia I wish were different.
1. African Buffalo- Cape Buffalo
2. Formosan Black Bear- Asiatic Black Bear (This may be cheating but I don't care. The model I think is standard enough to represent the whole species. Tell me if I'm wrong though)
3. Indian Elephant- Asian Elephant
4. Pronghorn Antelope- Pronghorn
5. Pygymy Hippo- Pygmy Hippopotamus
6. Raccoon- Common Raccoon
7. Timber Wolf- Gray Wolf
7. West African Lion- Northern Lion (or ideally just "Lion" for my personal preference)

I honestly think there is no reason generally to break the species down to a subspecies level. There are obviously instances where I think it is super necessary (i.e. Southern white rhino v.s. Northern white rhino), however, I think if the species as a whole is generally kept in captivity, why limit creativity by choosing a very particular subspecies/population? I'm no taxonomist, so correct me if I'm wrong on any of these.

 

[SalamAnders]

People who haven't played the game in other languages than English don't know the real pain.

 

[yoav_r]

Worth noting that the Timber Wolf is not actually the entire Gray Wolf.

Decorations and name imply it's meant to be an american subspecies.

Range map implies the enture gray wolf.

However, its biomes, model and temprature range, whjch are the only factors affecting gameplay, imply it is an amalmagmation of all temperate subspecies if the grey wolf, which exckudes the hot climates wolves and the arctic wolf.

So it works as a eurasian wolf (yeah I know the model is not 100% accurate), but it can't be put in a desert zoo as the mexican or indian wolf.

 

[Aramar]

The scientific name of the proboscis monkey is also for a subspecies (Nasalis larvatus larvatus), but then on the education board we have the species level (Nasalis larvatus). The same happens with the dhole (cuon alpinus alpinus vs cuon alpinus). In both cases, the map of the zoopedia shows the general distribution of the species in general.

 

[SallinDaemon]

It might be worth mentioning that what constitute the official tiger subspecies is still something debated in taxonomic spheres.
I did a little digging just now and I found a recent species assessment article by the IUCN Red List published in 2022. (Panthera tigris, Tiger. Goodrich et al.)

On taxonomy, it is noted that there is conflicting data, with one study from 2015 (Planning tiger recovery: Understanding intraspecific variation for effective conservation.. Wilting et al.) with evidence suggesting that the two-subspecies approach is more accurate - Sundaland and Mainland tigers. I believe this lead to a reclassification by the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group to two subspecies in 2017.

There is also, however, a later study from 2018 (Genome-wide evolutionary analysis of natural history and adaptation in the world’s tigers. Liu et al.) with different evidence to suggest 6 extant subspecies (including the Bengal as one of the more distinct after the Sundaland tigers).

The IUCN article says that the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group is reviewing things (again).

A quick hop over to the Cat Specialist Group's website and their main tiger page repeats the same, although the individual tiger subspecies pages mention the 2017 reclassification... and also that the Amur tiger specifically still counts as distinct for captive population management. Go figure.

I don't expect Planet Zoo will be changing anything about the tigers and their intraspecific taxonomy if the real experts in the field aren't even sure of what's going on with our biggest of cats, haha. I would like Siberian -> Amur, however.

 

[DarthQuell]

So, why is Amur tiger better than Siberian? Just outta curiosity. The 1st I've heard of Amur tiger is actually in this forum

 

[Captain Callum]

So, why is Amur tiger better than Siberian? Just outta curiosity. The 1st I've heard of Amur tiger is actually in this forum

Amur is the more modern name which better reflects it's range compared to Siberian. Rather than the range covering a good chunk of Siberia, it has changed to just the amur river region. I personally use amur but revert to Siberian for the sake of not confusing anyone

 

[DragonNTiger]

Time to revive this thread, y'all.

So, I've been looking at the West African lion, and I think it's kinda obvious that it's the Northern lion, so that deserves a fix. Furthermore, since it's the Northern subspecies, it should be updated to include India in its range.

Really? Because all the pictures of various lions I've seen leads me to believe our lion is the Southern Lion... and you'd have to be blind to think it should represent an Asian Lion; looks nothing like them.

 

[Captain Callum]

Really? Because all the pictures of various lions I've seen leads me to believe our lion is the Southern Lion... and you'd have to be blind to think it should represent an Asian Lion; looks nothing like them.

I agree looking at comparison images aswell:

Southern lion:

Northern Lion:

Planet Zoo Lion:

Information from ZSL London notes that the West African lion is a recognised sub population of the northern lion but ingame we have the southern lion.