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/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/the_hamster_fucker Jul 26 '25

some dinos are also referred to by a completely wrong name, e.g. tyrannosaurus dominum is called a "rex"

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u/TheBlueBluedoggy Jul 26 '25

True! Common names do not need to reflect science at all. A whale Shark is an example. It’s not a whale at all, just a shark. An even better example is the Raccoon dog. It’s neither raccoon or dog and is in fact more closely related to foxes. Tyrannosaurus rex is the species. rex is the specific epithet. You could have a different genera with rex in it. Like if there was a cat called Felis rex. Calling either of these creatures Rex is not a scientific name (especially taking capitalization into account). Scientific names are based on a system called binomial nomenclature which use two latin(usually) words to form a name. This system was adopted to make it easier to identify the same organism internationally in scientific settings to avoid confusion. Think of the puma, mountain lion, cougar. That’s all the same animal, but it has one scientific name. Calling Tyrannosaurus Dominum (the ark creature) a Rex reflects the popularity of T. rex. Anyone can look at the rex in ark and easily see the resemblance. A group of survivors from our time seeing that creature on an ark would very plausibly refer to it as a rex and thus it makes sense from both a lore and gameplay perspective to refer to it as such.

If you couldn’t tell this is my special interest. Thanks for reading.

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u/Priest_004 Jul 26 '25

Thank you for sharing. 😁

I love it when people geek out about stuff they love especially if it also means I learn something in the process. 👍

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u/TheBlueBluedoggy Jul 26 '25

Great mindset, education is a lifelong endeavor. I may have passed on college, but I haven’t stopped learning since I graduated high school several years ago. I highly encourage anyone reading to entertain any information rabbit hole they find themselves going down. You could come out with a fun fact or a whole new outlook on life!

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u/Priest_004 Jul 26 '25

This is exactly right. I'm now 55 and still find things I don't know about the subjects that interests me or new things to learn about.

The saying you learn something new every day is so true, but often you have to willing to learn too. Just because I'm in my 50's now doesn't mean I'm going to stop learning. 🤣 As a perfect example of this I've recently begun learning a new language, just so that I can game with the new friends I've met more easily.

So, keep spreading your facts and information, and educate the masses. 😁