Wikipedia:WikiProject Animals

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WikiProject Animals
Founded 28 September 2007
General information Main page Participants Task list Article requests Attention requests Taxobox requests Image requests Audio requests Image ID requests
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Shortcuts: WP:WPAN WP:ANIMAL WP:ANIMALS

Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better organize information in articles related to animals. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the Task list. To join the project, add your username to the list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Animals/Participants.

Contents 1 Scope and goals 2 WikiProject family tree 2.1 Potential descendant projects 3 Similar WikiProjects 4 Naming conventions

[edit] Scope and goals

This WikiProject aims primarily to describe all animals, that is, all species belonging to the kingdom Animalia. This project's scope also includes zoologists and zoology-related articles.

Goals:

1. Describe all families, genera and species of the kingdom Animilia.
2. Maintain Category:Animals and its subcategories.

[edit] WikiProject family tree

• WikiProject Science
  • WikiProject Biology
    • WikiProject Tree of Life
      • WikiProject Animals
        • WikiProject Animal rights
        • WikiProject Arthropods
          • WikiProject Lepidoptera
          • WikiProject Phasmatodea
          • WikiProject Spiders
        • Molluscs:
          • WikiProject Cephalopods
          • WikiProject Gastropods
        • Vertebrates:
          • WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles
            • WikiProject Dinosaurs
            • WikiProject Pterosaurs
          • WikiProject Birds
          • WikiProject Fishes
            • WikiProject Aquarium Fishes
            • WikiProject Sharks
          • WikiProject Mammals
            • WikiProject Monotremes and Marsupials
            • WikiProject Cetaceans
            • WikiProject Primates
            • WikiProject Cats
            • WikiProject Dogs
              • WikiProject Dog breeds
            • WikiProject Horse breeds
          • WikiProject Sea Monsters

[edit] Potential descendant projects

There is still much potential for further descendant projects or work groups. Ideas may be discussed on the talk page.

• WikiProject Animal behavior

[edit] Similar WikiProjects

• WikiProject Plants is the project concerning the Kingdom Plantae, which WikiProject Animals was modeled after.
• WikiProject Fungi is the project concerning the Kingdom Fungi.

[edit] Naming conventions

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna).

The issue of the capitalization of the common names of animal species is unresolved on Wikipedia and our pages are inconsistent. A large majority of reliable sources do not capitalize and thus there is a strong descriptive argument against doing so. Capitalization will often not "feel" right for editors for this reason. Conversely, because species names are proper nouns there is also a strong argument in favor of capitalization. Upper case usage is well-established with Aves species, for example. There are actually three possibilities in capitalizing:

1. Never capitalize.
2. Always capitalize.
3. Capitalize when the species itself is referred to, as this is proper noun usage, but not where the phraseology indicates a common noun. Thus: "The Tiger is a carnivore" but "three tigers were observed in the conservation area."

The third is most correct orthographically, but it is also the most difficult to maintain. In the absence of consensus:

• Respect the original or primary authors; do not up and change something without notification, as you may be reverted. See Wikipedia:Requested moves for the proper procedure and use the {{move}} template on the talk page prior to moving it.
• The form chosen should be used consistently across an article.