GeoZoo Search

One of the most frustrating things about studying animals is the sheer number of animals to study. The other frustrating thing is the confusion that so often surrounds both common names and scientific names.

GeoZoo offers several ways to find animals. One of the simplest is to simply explore the Life section, where various animal names are accompanied by lists of “parents,” “children” and various groups they belong to.

You can also use the Google Search function below to search for every page that features a particular word or combination of words. For example, typing in leopard “a versatile predator” would yield any page that features the word leopard AND the words a versatile predator.

More sophisticated searches include Falcon Search, Species Search and Octopus Search. Use Falcon Search to quickly find an animal species’ or group’s main page, using either its scientific or common name. For example, typing in either wolf or Canis lupus would lead you to the wolf’s home page at http://www.geozoo.org/Life/Canis_lupus Falcon Search includes auto-completion, spell check and special tips to help you find what you’re looking for.

If you’re looking for a species, and all you know is the last half of its scientific name, or you fear it’s scientific name has changed, try Species Search. Octopus Search is a creative search function that lets you display lists of names that meet a variety of .

Falcon Search

The other simple way is to use GeoZoo’s Falcon Search function. Simply type a name (either common or scientific) into the search box below and press the Submit button.

You can accomplish pretty much the same thing by typing http://www.geozoo.org/Life/?, replacing ? with an animal name, like Animalia, Carnivora or Canidae. However, you must replace spaces with underscores. For example, to find information about the wolf (scientific name Canis lupus), you could type Canis lupus into the search box below, or type http://www.geozoo.org/Life/Canis_lupus into your browser.

Falcon Search offers one big advantage: You can also search by common names. (The Life section is currently driven by scientific names only.) But there’s a catch: Common name searches are only as good as the information in one’s database, and GeoZoo has a long, long ways to go. GeoZoo’s database holds the scientific names of most vertebrates, but only relatively few common names. However, the list of common names will continue to grow as this site evolves.

Species Search

Scientific names sometimes change, for a variety of reasons, often causing confusion. In a sense, animals can wind up with two or more names, and the preferred or proper name isn’t always the most popular. For example, the puma, or mountain lion bears the scientific name Puma concolor. However, it was once classified as Felis concolor.

GeoZoo’s database doesn’t currently include retired scientific names, like Felis concolor. But it does offer a special search function that can help you track down elusive species. Notice that the puma’s first name (genus name) changed from Felis to Puma. But the last name, concolor, didn’t change.

Although species “last names” (the species name proper) can and do change, they usually don’t. GeoZoo’s Species Search simply allows you to type in a species name to see what genus names might be paried with it.

So let’s say you think the puma’s scientific name is Felis concolor, but that yields no results in Falcon Search. If you type concolor into Species Search, you will see that it matches Puma concolor.

Note that some species names match several genus, or first, names. But if you have some idea about what kind of animal you’re searching for, then the results will help you pick the right one.

Octopus Search

Octopus Search is one of GeoZoo’s most creative features. It allows you to search for and display lists of animal names based on a number of variables. You can create lists based on scientific or common names and restrict them to particular animal groups, like mammals or birds. Or you can restrict them by taxonomic rank, distribution or the first or even last letters of their names. Cooler still, you can apply a combination of variables. For example, you could search for the names of every mammal order that is native to North America and whose name begins with A and has more than ten letters.

Caution: Attempting to view large lists of names (like 10,000 species of birds) could freeze or crash your browser or even computer if you have insufficient memory. It's best to start with small categories or combinations and work your way up. To get started, click the JumpLink below, which displays just one name (the scientific name of the only mammal order whose name starts with A). To view all 27 mammal orders, click ALL at the top of the letters column. Then begin experimenting with various combinations.

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