Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Q. I notice you sometimes include scientific names of animals in your columns. One time you identified a timber rattlesnake; ...

Animal names often say more about the people who coined them than the creatures themselves. Early explorers, sailors, traders, and scientists relied on first impressions, loose comparisons, and ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Scientists estimate there are over 8 million animal species ...

Animal names often sound precise, but many are the result of early guesswork that never got corrected. Explorers, naturalists, and translators labeled creatures based on appearance or limited ...