• Question: how did you get your name?

    Asked by hannahannah to Catshark, St Kilda Wren, Hazel Dormouse, Barn Owl, Emperor Dragonfly, Brown garden snail on 8 Dec 2017. This question was also asked by anyanya, mw72117, miamia, eday245.
    • Photo: Lesser-Spotted Catshark

      Lesser-Spotted Catshark answered on 8 Dec 2017:

      A long time ago a not very creative ichthyologist looked at a catshark and thought ‘hey, that shark has eyes that look vaguely like a cat’s eyes’. And so I was called a catshark. The ‘lesser-spotted’ in my name is to distinguish me from my larger sister species the ‘greater-spotted’ catshark, or nursehound which is about twice as large (and has much larger spots!) It’s not the best name in the world but it works! I don’t know if I could have done better. What name would you have come up with if you were the discoverer of this species?

    • Photo: Hazel Dormouse

      Hazel Dormouse answered on 8 Dec 2017:

      I am neither a Door or a Mouse! My name actually comes from the french word ‘dormir’ which means ‘to sleep’ as I spend over half of my life hibernating. The Hazel bit comes from people believing I exclusively ate hazel and lived in hazel forests!

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