History Main / ImprobableTaxonomySkills

See also YouFailBiologyForever.

And a lot of them happen to look and behave very similarly to each other. Unfortunately, Hollywood thinks that any person who is sufficiently intelligent is also able to name any animal or plant they come across with its specific (and correct) Latin name, taxonomic history, habitat, diet and favorite color. In reality, unless you happen to be a foremost expert in studying that specific creature, it's unlikely that you could say anything more about it than "Hey, that's a bug!".

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_of_the_Unicorn Unicorn Tapestries]], a group of seven tapestries dating from circa 1500, show at least 20 distinct types of flowers with more scientific accuracy than botany textbooks from the same period.

* Col_Rutherford's "[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/board/thread/146506319?d=146508542&p=2#146508542 revised script]]" of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' changes Indy's line when he sees the carnivore ants from "Siafu!" to "''Paraponera clavata!''". According to the author, this is because siafu are from Africa, while the other are South American, [[MisplacedWildlife where the film takes place]]. Now, as to why would an archaeologist know how to identify ants to species level, let alone from a distance...

* In ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', the tiny kids are running away from a gigantic lawn mower and jump into a hole in the ground. Nick immediately identifies the exact species of worm that made the tunnel (despite the worm not even being present). Possibly justified in that they are in his backyard and since he is a science geek, it's at least remotely possible that he knows what species of worm lives in their area.

* Subverted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' where Sheldon thinks he can identify the specific species of a cricket by its chirping. He was in fact wrong, as pointed out by Howard (who spent his youth collecting insects), though Sheldon refused to believe it. In the end they turned to an associate with a [=PhD=] in entomology to settle the dispute... who identifies the cricket's species with a cursory glance, playing the trope straight. In fact, when asked, Professor Crawley claims he can identify every insect and arachnid in the world. There are 950,000 insect species and 50,000 arachnid species, making this claim rather unlikely. Even more so, arthropods are the single most diverse group on Earth; it is estimated that there are quite literally several ''million'' species of insects and arachnids that have ''not yet been identified'', which would make it difficult to ID "any" one finds.

* Subverted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' where Sheldon thinks he can identify the specific species of a cricket by its chirping. He was in fact wrong, as pointed out by Howard (who spent his youth collecting insects), though Sheldon refused to believe it. In the end they turned to an associate with a [=PhD=] in entomology to settle the dispute... who identifies the cricket's species with a cursory glance, playing the trope straight. In fact, when asked, Professor Crawley claims he can identify every insect and arachnid in the world. There are 950,000 insect species and 50,000 arachnid species, making this claim rather unlikely.

And a lot of them happen to look and behave very similarly to each other. Unfortunately, Hollywood thinks that any person who is sufficiently intelligent is also able to name any animal or plant they come across with its specific (and correct) Latin name, taxonomic history, and favorite color. In reality, unless you happen to be a foremost expert in studying that specific creature, it's unlikely that you could say anything more about it than "Hey, that's a bug!".

And a lot of them happen to look and behave very similarly to each other. Unfortunately, Hollywood thinks that any person who is sufficiently intelligent is also able to name any animal or plant they come across with its specific (and correct) Latin name, taxonomic history, and favorite color. In reality, unless you happen to be a foremost expert in studying that specific creature, it's unlikely that you could say anything more about it than "Hey that's a bug!".

In the same vein, this is also when somebody sees a Latin name and can automatically tell you the rest of its taxonomy from that information. If the character is already familiar with the species or genus, this makes sense, but since the Latin name only gives genus and species, and since even a person who knows Latin generally can't determine anything about an organism without context, it sticks out as serious research failure.

* ''Film/TheBeast'', the TV-movie adaptation of PeterBenchley's giant-squid-on-the-rampage novel ''Literature/{{Beast}}'' has the resident scientist instantly identify the squid as ''Archetuthis dux'' from a single sucker-claw and a whiff of ammonia. Especially bad because ''Architeuthis'' the giant squid ''doesn't have claws''. (The colossal squid ''Mesonychoteuthis'' does, though.) And most deep sea squid have a lot of ammonia in their systems.

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* Jane Porter from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'' is able to identify a ([[RaptorAttack typically grossly inaccurate and quite oversized]]) velociraptor at a glance. Worse still is that fact that she isn't a paleontologist of any sort and in fact the series takes place before velociraptors were scientifically described and named, and many decades before they were recognized in popular public consciousness

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* Slightly done in Litearture/SherlockHolmes when he correctly identifies the lion's mane jellyfish as the killer of the victim when he sees it at the bottom of a small pool. Very much justified, however, in that this is one species which is very distinctive (it's really, really big) and that the victim's last words were "the lion's mane."

* Averted in one of Creator/BarbaraHambly's ''Literature/{{Darwath}}'' novels. Rudy can instantly identify a small animal from its bones, but he was highly trained in botany/zoology/magic and the question is: 'rabbit or chicken'.

* Averted in one of Creator/BarbaraHambly's sequels to the ''Rising of the Dark''. One character can instantly identify a small animal from its bones, but he was highly trained in botany/zoology/magic and the question is: 'rabbit or chicken'.

* Slightly done in SherlockHolmes when he correctly identifies the lion's mane jellyfish as the killer of the victim when he sees it at the bottom of a small pool. Very much justified, however, in that this is one species which is very distinctive (it's really, really big) and that the victim's last words were "the lion's mane."
* Averted in one of BarbaraHambly's sequels to the ''Rising of the Dark''. One character can instantly identify a small animal from its bones, but he was highly trained in botany/zoology/magic and the question is: 'rabbit or chicken'.

** Amusingly, while Conseil had a remarkable memory for the taxonic classification of species, he had very little idea what they actually ''look'' like. By contrast, talented sailor and harpooner but rather BookDumb Ned Land knows nothing much about taxonomy but can recognise many species of fish by sight. As Arronax remarks, [[ByYourPowersCombined by their powers combined]] they are one extremely talented marine biologist.

** In all fairness, the character ''does'' have a doctorate in paleobotany, and many high-ranking and distinctive taxonomic groups of plants do have few or no living representatives (for instance, the entire phylum of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridospermatophyta seed ferns]] has been extinct since the Eocene at the latest, and the order [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgoales]] is represented by only one living species, ''Ginkgo biloba'').

* ''Film/JurassicPark'': Elly, a paleobotanist, knows from a cursory glance that a certain plant is an extinct species.

** But the cake is taken by Conseil, a ''manservant'' to prof. Arronax in ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea''. The man was a living classification handbook.

* Subverted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' where Sheldon thinks he can identify the specific species of a cricket by its chirping. He was in fact wrong, as pointed out by Howard (who spent his youth collecting insects), though Sheldon refused to believe it. In the end they turned to an associate with a [=PhD=] in entomology to settle the dispute (who identifies the cricket's species with a cursory glance, playing the trope straight).

* Subverted in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' where Sheldon thinks he can identify the specific species of a cricket by its chirping. He was in fact wrong, as pointed out by Howard (who spent his youth collecting insects), though Sheldon refused to believe it. In the end they turned to an associate with a [=PhD=] in entomology to settle the dispute.

* Subverted in ''TheBigBangTheory'' where Sheldon thinks he can identify the specific species of a cricket by its chirping. He was in fact wrong, as pointed out by Howard (who spent his youth collecting insects), though Sheldon refused to believe it. In the end they turned to an associate with a [=PhD=] in entomology to settle the dispute.

In the same vein, this is also when somebody sees Latin name and can automatically tell you the rest of its taxonomy from that information. If the character is already familiar with the species or genus, this makes sense, but since the Latin name only gives genus and species, and since even a person who knows Latin generally can't determine anything about an organism without context, it sticks out as serious research failure.

* In ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'', everyone has a comment on the monstrous and unearthly creatures you'll inevitably encounter if you tick the "Sci-Fi" option. Most mercenaries express various forms of surprise, but the medical doctors of your team will immediately start pinning down their taxonomy on first sight. (Crustacea, they seem to agree, which [[ReverseFunnyAneurysm amusingly]] makes them [[GiantEnemyCrab Giant Enemy Crabs]].)

* In 1839, Richard Owen was sent (among other things) a 6-inch bone fragment from Australia, which he identified as belonging to a previously-unknown-to-science extinct giant bird. This turned out to be the giant Dinornis or Moa.
** Owen actually was an example of the aforementioned "[=PhD=]-qualified taxonomist", who specialized in paleontology and comparative anatomy.
*** Not only that, Owen was world-renowned for being the best comparative anatomist of his generation. He was the ''only person in the world'' who could do this (at the time, anyway. The generation before him had Georges Cuvier, who invented the field of comparative anatomy. Owen was even known as "The British Cuvier").