GeoZoo Falcon Search

Use Falcon Search to go directly to an animal species’ or group’s home or main page.

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 paired 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.