America's Animals

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Camera and Photography Information

All animal photos on this website were taken by this author. The majority were taken with a film camera, a Minolta Maxxum 330si RZ, an older model SLR (single lens reflex), to which I added a 70-300 mm zoom lens. Since I couldn't ask the animals to pose, and found myself shooting in variable lighting and sometimes in fast-action situations, my film speed of choice was 800.

One of the many things I have enjoyed being able to do with that SLR camera has been to put it into manual focus mode if I have had a little more time to take a picture. Manual focus allows me to adjust the depth of field, so that even if I am shooting through cage bars at a zoo, I can "fade" the bars almost into invisibility, and just show the animal.

However, in situations where an animal is moving, particularly if they're moving quickly, I recommend leaving the auto-focus on, as there are few things more frustrating than missing a wonderful moment because the camera couldn't be focused quickly enough in manual mode.

The view of North America from space came from a royalty-free website which credited NASA for the photo.

Scientific Names

Almost everyone has had some contact with the scientific names of animals before, whether on the tags or plaques at zoos, or in cartoons. The first "scientific" names I can remember seeing were from the "Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner" cartoons, where the fake-Latin parodies of the two animals' scientific names would be shown, e.g. Hot-roddicus supersonicus for the Road Runner, and Eatibus anythingus for the Coyote.

The cartoon graphic below is from two still images from "Fast and Furry-ous," the first of the "Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner" cartoons from Looney Tunes, by Warner Bros. Two other "scientific" names for the two animals may be seen there. After the first few episodes, the writers changed the "scientific" names for each episode.

All silliness aside, the reason for a scientific name is to have one name by which any single species may be known, so that people all across the world, no matter what language they speak, know exactly what animal (or plant, etc.) is being discussed. Even within this single country, one animal may be called by several common English names. For example, the coyote is also sometimes called an American jackal, a brush wolf, and a prairie wolf, although it is neither a jackal nor a wolf. But if the coyote is referred to as Canis latrans, then anyone who knows that name, knows exactly which animal is being referred to. It doesn't matter what language the person speaks, or what part of what country they are from.

This system usually uses a 2-part name, where the first name (the genus) starts with a capital letter, and the second name (the species) does not. They are usually shown in italics. The names are taken from an old system developed by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and are usually in Latin or Greek. If necessary to describe a sub-species, a third name is mentioned after the genus and species names.

• Coyote (Canis latrans)
• Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
• North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis)
• White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginanus)
• Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
• Red-eared Slider Turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans)
• Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
• Barred Owl (Strix varia)
• American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
• Elk (Cervus canadensis)
• Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
• Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
• Blackip Shark (Carcharhinus limbatus)
• Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
• Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)
• Firefly (Photuris lucicrescens)

For further information, I can suggest the following organizations. Click on their logos below to visit their websites.

And if you get the opportunity, go to see a live show put on by Wild Sky Productions. Among their other engagements, these are the folks who have put on the "Royal Falconer" show at the Texas Renaissance Festival for the last 20 years. Wild Sky Productions