A fox by any other name

last updated 8 January 2015

Ankara, Turkey

The Turkish government announced this week that it was renaming three native animal species to eliminate references to Kurdistan and Armenia. The sheep Ovis armeniana is now Ovis orientalis anatolicus; the fox Vulpes vulpes kurdistanica is just Vulpes vulpes; and the deer Capreolus capreolus armenius is Capreolus caprelus capreolus. The Environment Ministry said in a statement that the old names were given by “foreigners” and erroneously implied that Kurds and Armenians, two groups long at odds with the Turks, had claims on Turkish territory. “This ill intent is so obvious,” said the ministry, “that even species only found in our country were given names against Turkey’s unity.”