How did those animals with the word "king" in their names become kings?

In nature, some animals are "crowned kings" by humans for some reasons!

For example, king snakes, king lizards, and even king butterflies...

Do you know why these animals were crowned kings?

King snake: the "king" covered with a shining shield

This snake, which is directly named "King Snake", is neither an extremely powerful python nor an extremely poisonous cobra, but a seemingly ordinary but actually amazing colubrid!

Weird, right? Don’t worry! Take a look at the king snake’s impressive statistics and you may understand why it is the king:

1. Prey of King Cobra: It can prey on other snakes that are 20% larger than its own body size.

2. Physical data of the king cobra when strangling its prey: The king cobra has the best strangling power among snakes.

The outstanding fighting ability is an important reason why the king snake is named "king". In addition, the bright colors attached to the scales of the king snake look like "shining scales". Therefore, when the Austrian zoologist Leopold Fechinger described the king snake genus in 1843, he borrowed the Greek word Lampropeltis, which means "shining shield".

In ancient Greece, the shield was an essential weapon for soldiers going to war and had the symbolic meaning of kingship.

Scarlet King Snake (Source: Wikipedia)

King lizard: lucky to have the "crown" on its head

This is a strange reptile that knows how to run away - the king lizard.

How did the king lizard get its name? In fact, the king lizard is not an official species name. Its scientific name is "Double-crowned Lizard" (genus), belonging to the family of Cretaceous Lizards. When you first hear this name, your first reaction may be "two crowns on the head". In fact: males have two crowns, while females have only one "crown".

Whether it is male or female, the "crown" on its head easily reminds people of a crown. The official Latin name of the double-crested lizard is Basiliscus, and there is an interesting legend about this word. In 1768, the famous biologist Carl Linnaeus cited this mythical word origin and used the word Basiliscus to describe the genus of double-crested lizard.

Double-crowned lizard (Source: Wikipedia)

Interestingly, the double-crested lizard has an even stranger nickname - the Jesus lizard. What is the relationship between Christian gods and reptiles?

Monarch Butterfly: The Biggest Butterfly? Forget It!

The official species name of the monarch butterfly is the monarch butterfly, also known as the black monarch butterfly and the large birch butterfly. When a species is named monarch, the first thing we think about is: is it the largest?

Not really: the monarch is much larger than the world's smallest butterfly, the brown lily, but it can't compare with the birdwing butterfly.

British writer Rick Mikula believes that the monarch butterfly was named in honor of the famous 18th-century politician, Prince Wilhelm of Orange, who served as the ruler of the Netherlands and concurrently as the King of England. This butterfly is given the domineering name of the monarch butterfly because of its lucky color - orange.

Female monarch butterfly (Source: Wikipedia)

King Penguin: Who is more powerful, the "King" or the "Emperor"?

In 1778, the British nature illustrator John Frederick Miller described the "giant penguin" that was discovered twice in the early 18th century and named it Aptenodytes patagonicus (Chinese translation: "King Penguin").

Then, things took a turn for the worse. In 1844, British zoologist George Robert Gray believed that the two species were not completely the same.

Gray then distinguished the two discovered giant penguins. The first discovered giant penguin continued to occupy the name of "King Penguin". The second discovered giant penguin was named Aptenodytes forsteri (Chinese translation: "Emperor Penguin") based on its larger body. This is the "King Penguin" and "Emperor Penguin" we are familiar with, and they are both classified as Aptenodytes (Chinese translation: "King Penguin Genus").

King penguin (Source: Wikipedia)

Now you know, the one who can be called king in nature is not necessarily the "best" in some way. The above magical species that have had a deep encounter with humans have been given the title of "king" by humans by virtue of their unique shining points and an accidental and lucky opportunity.

【References】

King cobra with super strong strangulation power. Kedongfang "Science Grand View Garden" 2017 Issue 14

Design of driving mechanism and dynamic simulation of the king lizard robot. Li Bing et al. Mechanical Design, 2011, No. 9

Who discovered the emperor penguin? A historical survey from James Cook to Robert F. Scott© Cambridge University Press 2018

The Family Butterfly Book Paperback – October 11, 2000

Zoological Nomenclature Resource: Ciconiiformes (Version 9.004)". www.zoonomen.net. 2008-07-05.

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Author: Yin Yuanzong

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

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