The Taxonomy

[Kactima]

The current taxonomy of the Na'vi Race is "Homo Pandorus". Clearly they did not put effort into coming up with a "Suitable name". Who agrees and maybe give an example of a new one?

[Eyawng te Klltepayu]

I assumed that the naming system for Pandoran organisms is kept separate from Earth's, and so borrowing names from unrelated terrestrial genera for Pandoran binomial classification is considered valid. Maybe when Pandoran organisms are compared to terrestrial ones an extra word or symbol is added to the name of the Pandoran organism to indicate that there is no phylogenetic connection of any kind whatsoever and that these are not separate branches on the tree of life, but branches of completely different trees.



Maybe this is true for astronomical objects as well. 'Pandora' should be an invalid name because there is already a Pandora in orbit around Saturn, not to mention asteroid (55) Pandora. But perhaps astronomers of the future will decide that borrowing the names of solar system objects for extrasolar moons is legitimate.

[Kekerusey]

The current taxonomy of the Na'vi Race is "Homo Pandorus". Clearly they did not put effort into coming up with a "Suitable name". Who agrees and maybe give an example of a new one?

So, not Homo Imaginatius?

I know I'm not the boss or anything but I have to ask why this post is in the science section?

Keke

[ToktorGrace]

I think Homo pandorus is a suitable name. It is not uncommon for scientists here on Earth to name creatures after their location, the names of the scientists who discovered it, and other things that are not necessarily "neat" for classification purposes. Similar naming is done of other creatures on Pandora, including "Prolemuris" and other canon features which make up names similar to Terran species.

[Txur’Itan]

Black Hole... could have been better too, but there it is.

But Seriously

azureus gigantum

[Human No More]

I completely ignore it, because it's incorrect. The Na'vi and humans/hominids are NOT the same genus - the species is fine, if a little unimaginative naming it after Pandora, but Na'vi and humans are not at all evolutionarily related...

[Kekerusey]

I think Homo pandorus is a suitable name. It is not uncommon for scientists here on Earth to name creatures after their location, the names of the scientists who discovered it, and other things that are not necessarily "neat" for classification purposes. Similar naming is done of other creatures on Pandora, including "Prolemuris" and other canon features which make up names similar to Terran species.

Actually, as Human No More, seems to be saying ... Homo would be an inappropriate class name for the Na'vi if they were real because Homo implicitly means of the genus "Hominoidea" i.e. the great apes of which we humans are a member species.

Keke

[ToktorGrace]

Actually, as Human No More, seems to be saying ... Homo would be an inappropriate class name for the Na'vi if they were real because Homo implicitly means of the genus "Hominoidea" i.e. the great apes of which we humans are a member species.

Keke

Perhaps the first people to name some of the flora and fauna on Pandora were not actual trained scientists (or ..biologists) - plenty of people have misnamed creatures in the past; especially in the case of extinct animals. For example, we now realize that dinosaurs closely resemble birds but even the name "dinosaur" is then a misnomer. The name may be misleading, but no one has gone back to change it.

I dont think it would be appropriate for us to change it - as it is (sort of) already official. Unless we want to go back and edit a bunch of taxonomy that has already been provided?

[Kekerusey]

Perhaps the first people to name some of the flora and fauna on Pandora were not actual trained scientists (or ..biologists) - plenty of people have misnamed creatures in the past; especially in the case of extinct animals. For example, we now realize that dinosaurs closely resemble birds but even the name "dinosaur" is then a misnomer. The name may be misleading, but no one has gone back to change it.

I'm sorry but "dinosaur" isn't a class name (as far as I know it is only a common name and more-or-less irrelevant to biological classification) ... no competent biologist wouldn't make that mistake, certainly wouldn't be allowed to make that mistake these days. Homo is not an appropriate class name for the Na'vi and it betrays little but the scientific/biological ignorance of the person who came up with it as an idea.

I dont think it would be appropriate for us to change it - as it is (sort of) already official. Unless we want to go back and edit a bunch of taxonomy that has already been provided?

Were the Na'vi real it would be absolutely appropriate for someone (not me) to change it but, to be brutally honest, I don't really care (any more than I care about the so-called "Real Na'vi Tribe") because they are not.

Keke

[Eyawng te Klltepayu]

Does no-one like my idea?  I don't much like the use of the name of a terrestrial genus either but I think this may be the only way to make 'Homo pandorus' in any way defensible.

[Kekerusey]

Does no-one like my idea?  I don't much like the use of the name of a terrestrial genus either but I think this may be the only way to make 'Homo pandorus' in any way defensible.

I'm honestly baffled ... why do you even need to make it defensible? They're not even real!!!!

Keke

[Eyawng te Klltepayu]

Is it not fun to imagine that it could be real? The more cracks I can paper over the better, IMO.

[Kekerusey]

Is it not fun to imagine that it could be real? The more cracks I can paper over the better, IMO.

You can imagine all you like my friend ... that doesn't make it any more sensible, the Na'vi (even if they were real) would not be genus Homo, it's that simple.

Keke

[Eyawng te Klltepayu]

That's fine. It's from the ASG. I can explain away errors in that.

[Kekerusey]

That's fine. It's from the ASG. I can explain away errors in that.

ASG? I've looked it up and I've no idea what that is?

Keke

[Eyawng te Klltepayu]

Activist Survival Guide.


I'm hoping Homo pandorus, references to 'psionics' and a few other things get retconned out in the future.

[Kekerusey]

Activist Survival Guide.

Just looked it up and indeed they do ... which just goes to show their scientific ignorance doesn't it? As Einstein said, Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." ... go figure!

Keke

[Eyawng te Klltepayu]

An oversight I hope. I really, really hope it gets changed. I don't like having to come up with contrived rationalizations for things like this.

[Txur’Itan]

Off topic:

Discussions about the ASG are going to easily derail this thread.

In real world terms, the Activist Survival Guide was completed a full two years prior to the release of Avatar.  Everything in it content wise has a high potential for being considered erroneous.

The discussions thus far theorized the ASG as potentially a semi canonically RDA created disinformation book for reader consumption on Earth, disguised as an activists' guide.  Thus the title...

Considering the nature of fiction, one can only think in theoretical terms for things that do not have evidence of why they exist.

As far as the Pandorpedia, and the ASG are concerned, they are the only officially released sources of information, however erroneous they may be.  Anything from the fans, however accurate, is not canonical.

On Topic:

If Homo only implies evolving from genus Homo on Earth, no that would not be applicable.

Quite simply, homo from its Greek roots means "the same" not "human like".

The naming of "Homo" genus is applied to those that are the same as us Humans in some manner.

Should Genus naming being used in the same fashion at that future point as it is now, it still may not be likely to see Homo be used.  

The existence of extra terrestrials could have inspired some arbitrary straw-grasping at methods of classification.

Corporate sponsored scientific expedition may not have had their work peer reviewed for accuracy when terms were applied to the alien life on Pandora.

Maybe James Cameron picked the idea out of a hat, or had a scientific buddy of his dream up a scientific name for them.

We could come up with better names, we could come up with names we prefer. That does not necessarily make those names acceptable to everyone for various reasons, but it is moot if they are inaccurate for whatever reason.  Names are at times chosen in a way that have nothing to do with the validity of the name.

If someone were to name an extraterrestrial humanoid genus homo, it would most probably have a commonly understood reason for it by the time anything was published about it.

[Kekerusey]

Sigh!

Since species names exist purely to aid classification and, as said earlier,  "Homo" (when used in the Latin-like format <genus> <species> used for biological classification) actually refers to the genus "Hominoidea" (the great apes of which humans are the fifth member) then, since the Na'vi are not supposed to have evolved from ape or ape-like ancestors then it would be incorrect. It's like those loony creationists who try to claim that the duck billed platypus has a bill just like a duck because it looks so similar (when in actual fact it is an organ with an entirely different function) ... whilst it is entirely appropriate to refer to the Na'vi as humanoid (because they are similar in general shape and basic limb function) they are, as I understand it, cat-like creatures and so not "Homo".

No matter how much some of you guys might want it to be otherwise "Homo Pandorus" is therefore a technically incorrect taxonomic classification ... moreover I find that the most disturbing facet of this argument is that I am in any way bothered about the claimed taxonomic classification of creatures that aren't even real! I think it's because I am, always will be, passionate in my defence of something that actually matters i.e. science.

Keke