History Main / CallASmeerpARabbit

** Though in light of science, "river''whale''" might be more accurate...

*** WordofGod claims half-cat, half-hedgehog.

* In ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'', there's an animal that's called a "rabbit", and it ''looks'' just like a rabbit -- but there the similarity ends...

The [[InvertedTrope inverse]] of CallARabbitASmeerp. When ''already'' fictional creatures [[SadlyMythtaken bear little resemblance to their mythological counterparts]], it is, depending on the case in question, either OurMonstersAreDifferent or CallAPegasusAHippogriff. See also HorseOfADifferentColor and SpaceX. Not to be confused with InNameOnly.

* [[Starcraft Starcraft 2]] gives Zerg "Roaches", 10 foot long acid spitting organic tank beasts.

** Similarly, the titular creature in the short story ''The Hurkle is a Happy Beast'' has got six legs, the middle pair of which is essentially a pair of prongs it can rock back and forth on, and turns invisible when anxious among other things. The author happily calls it a "kitten" anyway.

** Then, of course, there's six-legged "Bison" that can somehow ''fly''.
*** It is a ''flying'' bison (also known as a sky bison), and is always referred to as such (which implies there exist land-bound bison as well, lord knows what they look like). Momo the "lemur" (he has retractable bat-like wings and big batty ears) has no such explanation.
*** Momo is a ''winged'' Lemur.
*** He's a [[TheLastAirbender flying lemur bat!]]

* The animal (''Rangifer tarandus'') known to most of the world as a reindeer, is for some reason called a caribou in Alaska and Canada.

* The above-mentioned venomous, bipedal, reptilian "horses" are from {{Sheri S Tepper}}'s novel ''Grass''.

** The so-called "[[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060601214908/wowwiki/images/a/ab/Spore_Bat_Art.jpg Spore Bats]]" bear practically no resemblance to bats.

And for whatever reason, everyone thought that [[UndergroundMonkey every animal would have an "alien" equivalent]]. [[SpaceIsAnOcean The closest equivalent to outer space back then was the ocean]]. Have you noticed how many sea creatures have names like "[[SpaceX Sea/Mer + Name of Land Animal]]", IE Sea Lion, Cow, Horse, and Cucumber? [=RPGs=] like to run with this too.

*** TruthInTelevision: Small children tend to call any plush a "teddy bear", regardless of whether said plush looks anything like a bear. Even adults do it sometimes - just check eBay.

* In ''{{Willow}}'', Queen Bavmorda's vaguely canine hunting beasts look more like giant furry/scaly rats but are consistently referred to as "dogs".

* In ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'', there's an animal that's called a "rabbit", and it ''looks'' just like a rabbit, but there the similarity ends...

* {{Sheri S Tepper}}'s novel ''Grass'' contains the above-mentioned venomous, bipedal, reptilian "horses".

** It's a reference to something that has got anthropologists and structural linguists very excited in the real world: that just about every culture that worked out how to distill drinkable ethyl alcohol on a widespread basis went on to name the resulting spirit "water of life" - whiskey, aquavit, vodka, ouzo, etc. (look them up!)

* A variant occurs in David Weber's ''{{Safehold}}'' books. The humans who have settled on the planet Safehold have named many local animals after mythical beasts. Examples include the kraken (described as a cross between a squid and a shark, fitting the latter's place in Safeholdian ecology), the [[OurdragonsAreDifferent dragon]] (a massive, six-legged animal that comes in both carnivorous and herbivorous varieties), and the wyvern (''four''-winged flyers that are the Safeholdian analogue of birds).

* Asimov's novel ''Nightfall'' is preceded by a foreward explaining that the characters, creatures, etc., are technically alien, but would be described in Earth terms to avoid CallARabbitASmeerp.

* The {{Dragaera}} novels use elements of this trope, as WordOfGod holds that the "orcas" of Dragaera could use an Earth Orca (Whale) for a chew toy. The Dragaeran word for "hawk" is a special case, as it refers to diurnal birds of prey of any sort, and hence applies both to genuine hawks and to non-hawks with similar habits (IE Shrikes, Falcons, Ravens, Keas...)

* It happens from time to time on ''StarTrek''. Calling Targs (spikey warthog-looking things) and Sehlats "cats" comes to mind. The Sehlat is also called the Vulcan equivalent of a teddy bear, despite not appearing all that similar to a terrestrial teddy bear. It's alive, for one thing. As Spock was quick to point out (when [=McCoy=] seemed amused that he owned a "teddy bear" as a child) it also has six-inch fangs. According to the animated series, Sehlats resemble a cross between a polar bear and a smilodon, and they are quite large.

** For the record, the name is a translation error.

** And aligators do not have a three-part jaw. Or fur.

** The American Robin was named by colonists for the European Robin, probably due to the red breasts on both birds ("Robins" are more archaically known as "Robin ''Redbreasts''"). Later, biologists classified both birds (and their related species) as thrushes, but recently the European Robin and its Eurasian cousins have been put in the family of Old World flycatchers.

** Also in the Icteridae family: American Blackbirds (genus ''Agelaius''). They were named for their predominantly black colors, much like the Common Blackbird, a European thrush whose body shape is almost exactly like the American Robin's.

** As an aside, the thinking that ''anything'' that lived in water was a "fish" proved to be a convenient loophole during Lent. You couldn't eat chicken -- but you could eat goose.

* Pterosaurs: Usually generically called pterodactyls, are actually reptiles, not dinosaurs. They were actually "archosaurs", diapsid cousins of dinos like crocodilians. If you want a real look at a winged dinosaur, look at a bird.

* Then there's the Elk. Get a snack for this one. When westerners first encountered what Europeans generally refer to as "Wapiti" (''Cervus canadensis'') in North America, they called it the "elk", since they deemed it closest to that European deer in appearance and size. However, when they encountered the same species that ''Europeans'' call elk (''Alces alces''), they used the Algonquin name "moose". To further complicate matters, ''C. canadensis'' is closely related to and is sometimes classified as the same species as the European "Red Deer", ''C. elaphus'' (though the Red Deer is somewhat smaller). Even so, it seems both cultural spheres have kept their respective namings to the present day. This, kids, is why using Latin nomenclature is important.