I have a question about scientific names.?

Question

Lets say, hypotheticlly, since the word 'sapien' means smart, thinking, then if their was a species, like wolves that could think like we do, are as smart as us, then would they be calles 'canis sapiens' remember this is just a question, not literal

Answer 1

Interesting question. The bottom line is that species names are pretty arbitrary and depend on the whims of the person who first discovers (or names) the species.

So yes, the person naming the species could have called it 'Canis sapiens' instead of 'Canis lupus' if he or she thought that wolves were much smarter than other members of the genus 'Canus' (they wouldn't even have to be as smart as us).

Incidentally, I believe that 'sapiens' doesn't mean 'smart' as much as 'wise'. It was definitely a bit of hubris on the part of the one doing the naming (which, as luck would have it, was a human).

In fact, our subspecies name is 'Homo sapiens sapiens' so we were *really* full of ourselves ... the other subspecies, 'Homo sapiens idaltu' means "elderly wise man" so we were the "wise wise man". But as idaltu is extinct, and we are the only surviving subspecies, it is never necessary to include the last 'sapiens'.

As an example of how arbitrary these names are, other (now extinct) species of our genus Homo are:
Homo habilis (Handy Man)
Homo rudolfensis (Rudolf Man)
Homo ergaster (Working Man)
Homo erectus (Upright Man)
Homo floresiensis (Flores Man — discovered 2003)
Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man)
Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthal Man)
Homo georgicus (Georgia Man)

Note how some of them are named for the region in which they were discovered (Heidelberg or the Neander Valley in Germany, or Flores Island in Indonesia), or for some arbitrary characteristic that the discoverer found interesting.

Answer 2

Taxonomy is rather arbitrary, and often at the discretion of the namer, especially as far as the secnd (species) name is concerned. Often the species name is taken from the name of a famous scientist as a tribute, or from the place that the species occurs. Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, actually came up with many of the names still in use today.

If wolves were as smart as humans, they would likely have their own scientific name to describe themselves (and us!). They might choose to name our species after its cruelty or destructiveness to the environment.

Answer 3

clinical names are names given to residing organisms. These names can also be both the species identify, that's a binomial, or it would be some other taxonomic class, similar to kingdom, phylum, elegance, order, household or genus. All clinical names as opposed to species names ought to be unmarried phrases. For illustration, Hylidae is the unmarried phrase that defines a household of treefrogs. The European treefrog, nonetheless, is Hyla arborea, that's a binomial. The species identify is made of two elements: one million. the genus or universal identify, is the primary side and it ought to be capitalized. two. the distinctive identify follows, and it's in no way capitalized. the genus identify is usually a Latin phrase, a Greek phrase, or in a few instances, similar to Tiktaalik, that's a genus of extinct fishes notion to be ancestral to tetrapods, the identify can also be in any language. Tiktaalik is an Inuktitut phrase. The species identify is a Latin word, and it ought to comply with Latin grammar. For illustration, the distinctive identify ought to be the identical gender because the genus identify. The distinctive identify needn't be Latin however it's latinized. For illustration, the distinctive identify of Tiktaalik is roseae, which means it used to be named after a character whose identify is Rose, and it turns into roseae after it's been Latinized.

Answer 4

No, because not all Cains are wolves, dogs are also in that classification of animals.