I’ve heard the Painted Turtle called “Painted Terrapin” before. Of curse, that’s also a name for Batagur borneoensis.
Good point. Painted Terrapin is still in use for Batagur borneoensis, presumably to distinguish it from Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta).
I suppose terrapin could be useful as an alternative name for things called turtles. Like having the terms “frog” and “toad” for those Anura that don’t really fit into the original definitions for a frog or a toad (as understood by Old World English-speakers). Many families within Anura don’t fit well under either common name, unless you consider all anurans to be “frogs” as is the convention used by herpetologists.
Now I’m left wondering if I’m a relic of the recent past or truly historical. 
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Flying squirrels. It was the most common mammal I encountered one night (20-30 individuals) and yet everyone I spoke to who lived there genuinely seemed to believe they weren’t real animals, and certainly not found where they lived.
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Goldenrod vs ragweed! IMO they don’t look anything alike so it’s just a case of longstanding misinfo… but people are so stubborn. No matter how nicely I explain the misconception and tell people how to know the difference, they’ll still point to the goldenrod I just identified for them and go “so this is the allergy one?” Nope!
It’s especially a problem since goldenrod is more prevalent in the immediate area. Not only are there so many people wanting to spray goldenrod as a “weed,” but ragweed is native as well! Simply just leave nature be, please :)
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With children being curious, and rather spongy drinkers of knowledge, I changed tactics with my second child. ( The 1st was chatterbox, and I let her chatter.) While on daily walks, starting at <1year, I constantly pointed out and named everyone:” that’s a big Red Maple,””look, the Sandhill cranes are overhead,” that’s a baby rabbit, it’s not really a bunny, it’s a kit!””baby deer are fawns, baby horses are foals.”
At 3, she knew what an arachnid is, but no concept of a “pider” like some agemates. Her language skills were above age-level, and now, in her 30s, she’s a park ranger.
I moved 9 years ago, and at that time my “swamp” was a “green wall”, thanks to iNat I know who’s out there, from the sphagnum mosses to the leather leaf!
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What organisms am I surprised people are unfamiliar with? Just about everything that I’m trying to move out of “state of matter Life”!
I never imagined that so many people would assume that long, thread-like mosses were all Old-Man’s Beard Lichen.
I never imagined that so many people would assume that everything microscopic must be Protozoa.
Nor did I ever imagine that so many people would assume that every yellowing of a plant leaf is a virus.
I often find it hard to explain to people that all of terrestial snails, slugs, nudibranchs, marine snails, bivalves, squids, octopuses, bivalves, etc are molluscs.
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Talking insects, for most people beetle == cockroach.
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In 2002, when I was also a child, this would have been true for me too. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t playing around with outside and learning about plants even if I couldn’t name them, but I had time in my life and room in my brain for pokemon too. Now I’m obsessed with botany.
And to be fair, there were a lot of pokemon then and even more now. Recognizing the differences between them, what they do, and where they’re found is arguably an exercise in the right kind of pattern recognition that makes one a good naturalist. So how about we don’t fret about what children don’t magically know.
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You can only know what you’re exposed to, your diet includes what you see and hear too. Parents can only try to strike a difficult balance.
And yes, Pokémon can help.
I was one. But then I got video of a slug having lunch. Oh my, my iNat glee!
I am now learning what I need to photograph them well for you.
It’s now my favorite video to share. So many people I know are also amazed by that. It’s now making the rounds through this family’s generation grands➡️ kids➡️ grandkids.
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I had to look it up. This belongs on a list of things I’d be surprised people know.
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But it’s in a school course?
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As I work through more of the State of Matter Life, I am continually surprised to see natural growths of treetrunks assumed to be Chaga or some kind of bacterial disease.
And any encrusting growth that appears even somewhat yellowish will inevitably be erroneously IDed as Gold-Dust lichen.
I think people don’t learn about molluscs well unless they take biology in seniors.
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I dont think so,because there are many people in India whom I know who study about molluscs even when they haven’t choosen biology as their subject
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I think they’re taught in 7th or 8th grade, maybe 6th, but, here you won’t ever confuse them as each common name has mollusc in them, so nudibranchs are “голожаберные моллюски”, cephalopods are “головоногие моллюски”, etc. so you can expect everyone to know that (ofc memory works differently in people).
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Years ago my wife and I were at a local zoo here in Southwest US and were looking at the captive Collared Peccaries or Javelina. A zoo employee or maybe volunteer was talking about the natural history of these animals with a small tour group. He provided some good info and then said “many people think Javelina are wild pigs but they really aren’t”. So far so good. But then he said “they’re actually rodents.” My wife commended me for biting my tongue.
With that kind of nature information being provided by individuals who should know better, I can forgive the general public for often being ignorant of biodiversity.
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Last night I saw a post in an insect-related community asking for an ID for a moth. It was very obviously a luna moth. Come on, how can you not recognize one of the most iconic moth species in the world?! It’s like not knowing what a robin or a goose is to me. I try not to be judgemental or anything since we all start from somewhere, but this is the first one to genuinely surprise me.
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