Mammal bodies are not usually very distinctive -- just four legs and a tail.
There are maybe a dozen or so characteristic body shapes that we can illustrate
-- bats, giraffes, dolphins -- before we start getting to the more common body
types that are shared by hundreds of species apiece, such as the skittering
varmint, the galloping ungulate, the prowling carnivore. Once we've exhausted
those options, it becomes easier to show individual mammals by drawing faces.
After that, we'll have to start translating scientific names.
In designing names for animals, it's probably best to start with the ones we
talk about every day -- like cats -- rather than the more obscure animals --
like naked mole
rats (three words I never wanted to hear in the same sentence) -- so
I went to Yahoo and tallied the world's most popular mammals:
| CRITTER |
YAHOO |
GLYPHIC |
COMMENT |
| Dog |
3332 |
 |
|
| Cat |
818 |
 |
 Cats have a rather
distinctive profile, but it's probably easier to imply a cat with pointy ears
and whiskers. |
| Horse |
374 |
 |
|
| Whale |
265 |
 |
Whales are commonly indicated by a
diving
tail. |
| Bear |
93 |
 |
We'll use the profile of a generically lumpy quadruped to
illustrate a bear. This reflects both European heraldic and Native American
conventions. |
| Dolphin |
85 |
 |
Dolphins are traditionally shown leaping. |
| Seal |
82 |
 |
|
| Rabbit |
80 |
 |
|
| Ferret |
70 |
|
|
| Antelope |
66 |
|
|
| Bat |
63 |
 |
|
| Elephant |
57 |
 |
As long as you show the ears, trunk and tusks, you don't
really need to show the body. |
| Wolf |
54 |
 |
Pointy snout, pointy ears and shaggy mane are the
characteristics of a wolf. If you don't believe me, you take a look at what is
added to a human face to make a
werewolf. |
| Rat |
40 |
 |
See mouse, below, at 21. |
| Hamster |
39 |
|
It looks like almost every word for hamster just means "hamster"
It's called a hamster in English,
German and French, (but
probably not from the
German word hamstern, "to hoard"). The scientific name,
Cricetus, means ...? |
| Tiger |
38 |
|
|
| Guinea Pig |
37 |
|
|
| Deer |
37 |
 |
|
| Pig |
36 |
 |
The round benostrilled snout, little piggy eyes and tiny ears
are customary in drawing a pig. |
| Goat |
31 |
|
|
| Cougar |
29 |
|
|
| Killer Whale |
26 |
|
|
| Chimpanzee |
26 |
|
|
| Gorilla |
23 |
|
|
| Mouse |
21 |
 |
Without being a trained nature illustrator, it's darn near
impossible to draw a mouse that doesn't look just like a rat [40 above]. We
might as well use the same glyph, with the difference being that a rat faces
right and a mouse faces left. This should be easy to remember because it's an
accurate reflection of politics as well. |
| Squirrel |
20 |
 |
|
| Orangutan |
20 |
|
|
| Mole |
20 |
|
|
| Hedehog |
20 |
|
|
| Black bear |
18 |
|
|
| Gerbil |
17 |
|
A gerbil looks too much like a mouse to draw by itself. The
English/French name is a diminuative of jerboa (which isn't a gerbil) from the
Arabic yerbo,
meaning "big thighs". Its
scientific name, Meriones, comes from a Cretan warrior in the Illiad who
apparently had teeth on
his helmet. The Germans, however, use a name we can translate -- Rennmaus
-- "runmouse" |
| Polar Bear |
16 |
|
|
| Fox |
16 |
|
|
| Kangaroo |
15 |
 |
|
| Otter |
15 |
 |
The main thing that differentiates [otter] from [rat] is the
long neck. |
| Marmot |
15 |
|
|
| Lemur |
15 |
|
|
| Donkey |
15 |
 |
The traditional way of caricaturing a donkey is with
long
ears, a long face
and a bulbous
snout. Without those, it's just an ugly horse. |
| Bison |
15 |
|
|
| Sugar Glider |
14 |
|
|
| Reindeer |
14 |
|
|
| Grizzly Bear |
14 |
|
|
| Chinchilla |
14 |
|
|
| Rhinoceros |
13 |
 |
|
| Mongoose |
13 |
|
|
| Hippopotamus |
13 |
|
|
| Giant Panda |
16 |
|
|
| Humpback Whale |
15 |
|
The Latin name, Megaptera , means Big Wing |
| Gazelle |
15 |
|
|
| Cow |
15 |
|
|
| Right Whale |
15 |
|
|
| Wombat |
15 |
|
|
| Sperm Whale |
15 |
|
I'm not going to be the one to change the most embarassing
animal name in the English language to something with no character whatsoever. |
| Sheep |
15 |
 |
Basically, a cotton ball on four legs. |
| Manatee |
15 |
|
|
| Cheetah |
15 |
|
|
| Bobcat |
15 |
|
|
| Beluga Whale |
15 |
|
|
