![[Many small birds are diving and floating in shallow water. There are birds floating in the foreground and background, while the middle ground is full of birds mid-flight. They all look similar and may be the same species.]](https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/files/2022/02/Screenshot-923.png)
When you read about an animal on Wikipedia or in a textbook, one of the first things mentioned is its scientific name — genus and species. But, how do we define a species? First, why are we concerned with classification? Humans have an innate need to categorize. It’s ingrained in our minds from our days as hunter-gatherers, when we needed to remember what each plant was and whether it was safe to eat or poisonous. Taxonomy is a hierarchical system that classifies the biological continuum. It comes from Greek philosophers (including Plato and Aristotle), who ranked animals as closer or farther from God. Darwin then focused on common ancestors, and his ideas on how to draw phylogenies are still used today…
Tag: taxonomy
What’s in a name? How the Black Lives Matter movement is reshaping bird taxonomy
![[A drawing of a black bird is centered on the image. The bird is enclosed in a blue circle with a gold border. A black box with white text that reads “Bird Names for Birds” is located on top of the bird’s legs.]](https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/files/2020/10/Bird-Names-for-Birds.png)
Since May 2020, millions of people around the world have shown their support for the Black Lives Matter movement by attending protests, posting on social media, and signing petitions. In the scientific community, perhaps one of the most vocal groups of researchers for this social justice movement has been birders. The birding community was the first group of scientists to create a social media initiative to celebrate diversity in STEM in May 2020: Black Birders Week.