Misnomers - 1

Animal kingdom has its own share of misnomers, i.e. the name has nothing to do with the features of the species.

There are two species of African rhinos- the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros. You might think that their names are given because of their color. But that isn't the case but the shapes of their lips have earned these names.

Image courtesy of [by suwatpo]
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Both share the characteristic of being gray in skin color,
The former (shown in pic) has a square-lip called 'wyd' (pronounced wide) in Afrikaans language, the origin of word 'white',  enabling it to only graze. The latter tends to have a lip like a hook enabling it to browse on plants and rarely graze gets the name black rhinoceros, again from native language.

Interestingly, the great Indian one horned rhinoceros knows both the arts -  browse and graze!

How do the big cats say?

The cat family is well known for boasting many features of its family members. Being divided into two groups- the big and small cats, this blog talks about big, wild cats and their means of communication. 

Image courtesy of [by James Barker]
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Scientists classify wild cats into cats which can roar and those which can't. Those who can roar belong to genus Panthera like Panthera leo (Lion). Roaring (and growling) are  sounds associated with four cats - lion, leopard, jaguar and tiger. Out of which, lions and tigers of course roar menacingly, but there is a confusion regarding leopard and jaguar. Many state that the word roar is very carelessly used in case of these two wild cats.  These cats actually can bark and cough, but seldom roar. Along with roar, the other popular sounds among these four include- grunts, coughs,hisses,screams and meows.

Cheetahs,snow leopards and clouded leopards are not gifted with this magnificent vocal rendition. 

Not to forget, the big cats are also known to make other distinctive vocalizations like the tigers are known to make various other sounds like chuffing (prusten),woofing and nasal sound which comes while growling. The prusten is also found in snow leopards,jaguars and clouded leopards. The king of the beasts, the lion is known to emit puffs and woofs during close contacts.