Punter to Zoochatter Dictonary

I'm sure we've all heard some strange misidentification down the years, but some seem to crop up again and again. What have been the strangest ones you've heard, and what ones happen most often?

Tapir = Anteater
Regal tang = Dory
Clownfish = Nemo
Parma Wallaby = Baby Ones/Baby Kangaroos
Giraffe = Zebra

 

No bs..

About 10 years ago at Durrell..

Gorilla=Rhino

 

warty pigs = warthogs
warty pigs = water pigs

Pretty obvious you might think; but in both cases an adult was reading the label for children

Alan

 

Coati = coyote

 

I meant this to mostly cover things that I consistently hear. I don't think I've seen a clownfish in years without "Nemo" echoing in the background, and it seems every time I see parma wallabies someone calls them "baby ones", especially in mixed exhibits.

Signs that say in big bold letters "NOT AN ANTEATER" seem to have the opposite effect when trying to explain what a tapir is. The presence of the word anteater seems to overwhelm everything else.

 

Just this week a video is circulating of a normal spotted cheetah mother giving birth at Hoedspruit and the sites that are posting it are titling it rare king cheetah giving birth.

 

Punter...

And a Moorhen is always a duck. People only want to know two things about a bird: 'What's its name?' And 'Does it talk?'
There are of course only four kinds of bird:
If it talks, it's a Parrot.
If it swims, it's a Duck.
If it's bigger than you, it's an Ostrich.
If it eats you, it's a Vulture.

 

I see a lot of people refer to African Wild/Painted Dogs as hyenas. Saw this one time where a kid asked his mom what the animal was, she said hyena, and rushed the kid off to go see the elephant. I was thinking, turn your head slightly to the left! You'll see the sign! It's not a hyena! THEY'RE NOT EVEN IN THE SAME TAXONOMIC FAMILY

 

I hear a lot of "Look at the lion, honey!" at the tiger exhibit. And vise versa. And Im the type of person to turn and stare directly at that parent until they realize what they said. You get the same thing for cheetahs and jaguars, it seems like any spotted cat is a "Leopard" to people. Oh and first time I went to Pittsburgh I was around 12 they had a White River Dolphin on exhibit. I will remember until the day I die a father calling that dolphin a "Ugly Motherf…ing Monster fish" -_- I was just a kid and I remember realizing I had a higher IQ than that man

 

For real. Parents take their kids to the zoo to teach them about animals, then they do stuff like this. Bleh.

 

Ditto. You'll see a lot of Internet social/moral activists say zoos don't educate people but its not the lack of info all around every exhibit or staff informing the guests, its the fact that most people don't care about learning something or even teaching their children correct facts while at a zoo. If you take your kid and can't read off a sign explaining what the animal theyre look at is because you don't want to take the time to read then maybe you shouldn't have kids. Imho