why do animals have scientific names??

Question

well...i'm trying to study some animals 'n stuff right now when i'm constantly bothered with scientific names of the animals.how am i supposed to remember that celepnoptera('er whatever it was...)mean 'beetle'??they should speak ENGLISH!!!you got any idea why they keep speaking latin ('er whatever it is)?well,TELL ME!!

Answer 1

Consistency, consistency, consistency.

Scientists around the world need to agree on a single name for each species, regardless of whether they speak English or German or Swahili. If every language relied on its own names, translating them would result in too many errors. How would someone translate "blue-spotted stingray" into Japanese in a way that distinguishes it from the "blue spot stingray"? (Those are real English names for two separate species of stingray in the Indo-Pacific.)

They also need to have a naming system that requires official publication and review. Anyone can give an animal a name, and just about anyone does. The same species often goes by several different common names, even in the same language. (Look at corn snakes and red rat snakes.) And sometimes the same common name is used for multiple species, especially in the pet trade. (Look at the fish called the "golden cichlid.") Only by agreeing to one standard name that must be published in a scientific journal can such confusion be avoided.

And why do scientists use Latin instead of English as the official naming language? Tradition. It dates back to Medieval Europe, where the only language anyone wrote down was Latin. (Other languages were considered "vulgar", and consisted of many rapidly changing dialects.) Since Latin has been in use for so long, scientists have seen no good reason to change it.

Answer 2

So they know exactly which species is being studied. There are over 300,000 species of beetles, when doing a scientific study it is important to identify what you are studying precisely. They use Latin because not all scientists are English speakers. Latin has long been used as a common language in science.

Answer 3

My answers are same as other.

For example, same animal can have many General Names as opposed to Scientific Name.eg. felis catus, can be Cat, House Cat, Domestic cat. Sometime different country use different names. To avoid confusion, a scrintific name is used. It is sometime named after the person who first discover the animal or plant. or the area it was found eg Madagascar Pygmy Kingfisher, Ispidina madagascariensis. or the physical features.

The basic system used is binomial, a genus follow by the species name. However, animal of the same species can have some distinct variation, so trinomial system is used to again avoid confusion.

Answer 4

The scientific names are universal.
No matter what the native language of a scientist is that is studying a creature, he can access or submit information via the scientific name without having to know that animal's name in a hundred different languages.

Answer 5

Are you serious? Scientists wanted to name things with one language so that scientists from any country could understand. The universal language for science is Latin. Not only animals and plants use Latin, body part names derive from Latin as well.

Answer 6

The scientific name of an animal means that all scientists, without speaking the same language, can all be sure they are talking about the same critter.
Also, a scientific name includes a genus, so if I saw felis sivestris, and I knew felis domesticus was a housecat, I'd know sivestris was a cat.

Answer 7

because the common names can mean different, or more broad meanings, so the classification system identifies species at a more complex level, and the preferred language is Latin, which all scientists use. the only exception is ornithology, where common names are excepted.

Answer 8

If I were to say "black snake" I could mean any number of snakes with black coloration, just in my area off the top of my head, there's black racers and eastern indigos, and depending on who you're talking to, they're both black snakes. However, if I say colouber constrictor (spelling might not be spot on, I'm not looking it up, I know how to say it.) and you're a fellow serious snake person, you know I'm talking about the black racer, not the indigo.

Answer 9

carl lineus