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Rabbits and Hares | Cicadas | Bald Eagles | Pronghorns | Polar Bears
European settlers of the American Southwest likened the long ears of black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) to donkeys' ears, and so named the animals "jackass rabbits." Mark Twain endorsed this moniker in his book Roughing It: “...We saw the first specimen of an animal known familiarly...as the 'jackass rabbit.' He is well named. He is just like any other rabbit, except that he is from one-third to twice as large, has longer legs in proportion to his size, and has the most preposterous ears that ever were mounted on any creature but a jackass.� The common name was eventually shortened to "jackrabbit."
Black-tailed jackrabbits are really hares, meaning they are larger and leaner than rabbits, have longer legs, and have black tips on their ears. Whereas baby rabbits are born blind, naked, and helpless, baby hares are born wide-eyed, furry, and ready to hop. Only members of the genus Lepus are correctly called hares, while the rest of the Leporidae family are rabbits. In common parlance, "hare" and "rabbit" are often used interchangeably and sometimes incorrectly. Caprolagus hispidus, for example, is called both "bristly rabbit" and "hispid hare," even though it is a rabbit and not a hare.
—Emily Huhn
From the January/February 2005 issue of ZooGoer
Cicadas
By now the Brood X cicadas are gone, but their name hints at the centuries of mystery and awe surrounding cicadas.
The group of cicadas that emerges en masse every 13 to 17 years was originally placed in the genus that Linneaus named Cicada, which means “tree cricket� in Latin. In 1925, American entomologist W.T. Davis renamed this group's genus Magicicada; Magi- probably comes from the Greek word for “magician� or “magical.� Certainly it seems magical, if not miraculous, that these creatures emerge from the ground as flightless nymphs and metamorphose into winged beings. Ancient Greeks and Chinese likened this transformation to a resurrection and hailed cicadas as symbols of rebirth and immortality in art, literature, and poetry. According to an article by Garland Riegel in Cultural Entomology Digest, jade carvings of cicadas were placed on the tongues of dead people in China between 202 B.C.E. and 220 C.E. “to induce resurrection by sympathetic magic.� In Plato's Phaedrus , Socrates tells the titular character that cicadas were once humans so obsessed with music that they forgot to eat or drink and wasted away, then were turned into cicadas by the Muses.
Dog-day cicadas are so named because they breed in the hottest days of summer. One genus of dog-day cicada is Tibicen, which is Latin for “flutist, piper, or fifer.� While many people consider cicadas' songs obnoxious, ancient Greeks revered their chirps. A cicada brought the mythological musician Eunomos victory in a competition. When one of the strings on his cithara (an instrument similar to a lyre) broke, the cicada replaced the sound with its beautiful voice.
Modern-day scientists can be a bit more irreverent about cicada names. A.J. de Boer found two new species of Baeturia cicadas in 1986, which he named B. laureli and B. hardyi.
—Shannon Lyons
From the July/August 2004 issue of ZooGoer
Many would say that the term “bald� to describe the United States national bird is a bit of a misnomer considering the bald eagle has a dome of bright white feathers. The word “bald,� however, is simply an evolution of the Middle English “balled,� which meant “shining white,� suggesting the eagle's description originally implied white feathers, rather than a lack of feathers. The bald eagle's scientific name, Haliaeetus leucocephalus , comes from Greek words that translate as “white-headed sea eagle.� Haliaeetus come from halos meaning “sea� and aetos meaning “eagle.� Leucocephalus comes from leukos, which means “white� and kephale, which means “head.� Interestingly, the eagle genus Haliaeetus is the same as the species name for another marine bird of prey, the osprey Pandion haliaetus. Notice, however, the different spellings. Haliaeetus with the double “e� is, in fact, the correct spelling. The osprey's haliaetus is a mistake: The scientist who originally described the bird made an error translating the Greek alphabet to English. The name stuck, however, providing us with yet another interesting quirk of taxonomic etymology.
—compiled by Joshua Dietz
From the July/August 2003 issue of ZooGoer
Although known commonly as antelopes to ranchers—and singers of “Home on the Range”—pronghorn are not true antelopes, technically speaking. Their eponymous pronged horns demonstrate why. Biologists have long debated whether these animals are more closely related to the Cervidae family (the deer, moose, and elk) or to the Bovidae (the sheep, goats, cattle, and true antelopes). While cervids possess branching antlers that are shed and completely re-grown annually, bovids boast unbranched, permanent horns. However, pronghorn—if only for the purpose of baffling taxonomists—bear branched horns with an outer keratinous sheath that is shed annually, seemingly the best of both worlds.
As many as half of all pronghorn bucks sustain injury to their horns during the rut, reports John Byers of the University of Idaho. By shedding only their outer sheaths, pronghorn can repair such damage without needing to regrow their entire appendages from scratch. No other ungulate can match this feat. Scientists have placed pronghorn within their own unique family, the Antilocapridae, or “antelope-goats.” But “antelope-deer” might more accurately convey their seemingly split—or pronged—personality.
—Amy Himes and Alex Hawes
ZooGoer 30(6) 2001. Copyright 2001 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.
Ursus arctos is the scientific name not for the Arctic-living polar bear (Ursus maritimus), but for the brown (or grizzly) bear. This designation is rather redundant, as ursus is the Latin word for “bear” and arctos comes from arktos, the Greek word for bear. The derivation of these twin terms, however, is a stellar story.
According to Greek myth, the god Zeus fell in love with and impregnated Callisto, a young attendant of Artemis (the goddess of the hunt). As punishment, Callisto was transformed by Hera or Artemis (depending on the version of the myth) into a bear, or by Zeus to evade Hera’s notice. Zeus eventually summoned Callisto into the heavens to become the constellation Arktos, later known as Ursa Major in Latin. Callisto’s son, Arcas, himself is said to have turned into the constellation Bootes, adjacent to his mother’s domain, Ursa Major. Because of the position of these constellations in the northern skies, the word “Arctic” came to refer to the northern polar region. (Polaris, the North Star, itself is part of the Ursa Minor constellation.)
Alaska is the only U.S. state that boasts populations of both Ursus arctos and Ursus maritimus. Evoking the power of the bear, the Big Dipper—the brightest and most recognizable segment of Ursa Major—as well as Polaris appear on the Alaska state flag, which was designed by 13-year-old orphan John “Benny” Benson in 1927 (prior to statehood). It is not known whether Benson was an arctophile—a teddy bear collector.
—Alex Hawes
ZooGoer 31(2) 2002. Copyright 2002 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.
