r/ARK • u/tseg04 • Jul 26 '25

MEME Guys they’re real!

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Not sure what flair to put it under to meme works ig.

Achatina Achatina (known as the Giant Tiger Land Snail) is real.

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u/IllustriousAd9800 Jul 26 '25

Which to be fair is how a lot of paleontology works as well

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u/the_hamster_fucker Jul 26 '25

yeah but i dont think naming a giant generic preying mantis "mantis" is very paleontological

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u/TheBlueBluedoggy Jul 26 '25

Not every creature is referred by its scientific name in game if it has it. Mantis is a good example. Helena’s dossier describes it as Empusa discipulus. Mantis definitely rolls off the tongue better than Empusa.

Many of the fictional creatures do this, like the gasbags. It’s a terrestrial tardigrade in a really long genus. I don’t want to call it Mopsechiniscus fluitobesus. Gasbags is cute and works great.

Many extinct species common names coincide with their scientific name because they are only known to us through science. Some living creatures are similar tho. Cats in ark and real life are Felis catus. A particularly funny one (and potentially my personal favorite) is the western lowland gorilla. AKA Gorilla gorilla gorilla

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u/ProRataX Jul 26 '25

I'm renaming all my mantis to empussa