Moose Baby vs Deer Baby

[Orleander]

Why is a moose baby called a calf while a deer baby is a fawn? Are moose more closely related to cows that deer?

[Anti-climactic]

yes

[Orleander]

why, do they chew a cud?

[vslayer]

they are both members of the deer family, id assume that the physical appearance of moose affected the naming conventions when they were first discovered though.

[Anti-climactic]

they are both members of the deer family, id assume that the physical appearance of moose affected the naming conventions when they were first discovered though.

that makes sense

[Read-Only]

Why is a moose baby called a calf while a deer baby is a fawn? Are moose more closely related to cows that deer?

Sure. Which is the same reason that a whale's baby is also called a calf.

I'm just kidding!:D Relationship has nothing to do with it.;)

[Fraggle Rocker]

Why is a moose baby called a calf while a deer baby is a fawn? Are moose more closely related to cows that deer?they are both members of the deer family. . . .Moose are a species of deer, in the family Cervidae. Cows are a species of, well, of cow, in the family bovidae, which also includes goats, sheep and antelope. Both families are ruminants, mammals that chew their cud. Other families of ruminants are the giraffes, pronghorns, musk deer and chevrotains.

Ruminants are a suborder of artiodactyls, which are ungulates (hooved mammals) with an even number of toes on each foot. Other artiodactyls are (and not all authorities agree on the breakdown) pigs, hippos, peccaries, camels (including llamas) and... are you sitting down?... the cetaceans. I know whales and dolphins don't have feet, much less toes, but DNA analysis indicates that they are descended from primitive hippopotamuses who swam all the way down the river to the sea, liked what they found there, and kept going.

The ruminants and several other families of artiodactyls are pure herbivores, so well adapted to it that they've got mile-long intestines full of bacteria that can break down cellulose. The ruminants in particular have a four-chambered stomach that allows them to keep redigesting food--including passing it back into their mouths as cud. The pigs and peccaries are more omnivorous, even scavengers and occasionally even predators, whereas the cetaceans are pure carnivores. (The krill that giant whales "graze" on are tiny animals, not plants.)Sure. Which is the same reason that a whale's baby is also called a calf. I'm just kidding! Relationship has nothing to do with it.Indeed. Cougars are in the same genus as housecats, Felis concolor vs. F. sylvestris, but we call their babies cubs instead of kittens. Dogs and wolves are two subspecies of the same species, Canis lupus familiaris and C. l. lupus, yet we call wolf babies cubs instead of puppies.

[Repo Man]

"To err is human, too moo bovine." - National Lampoon

[Orleander]

Fraggle, that explains what they are, but not why a baby deer is a fawn while a baby moose is a calf. What is a baby elk or antelope?

[Read-Only]

Fraggle, that explains what they are, but not why a baby deer is a fawn while a baby moose is a calf. What is a baby elk or antelope?

I'm not Fraggle ;) but I can answer that. For the same reason a cow is called a cow or a dog is called a dog. Everything probably had various and different names to begin with, but that's just the ones that were generally settled on.

If you really want something fairly odd, why is a hatchling swan called a signet?:D

[Orleander]

I'm not Fraggle ;) but I can answer that. For the same reason a cow is called a cow or a dog is called a dog. Everything probably had various and different names to begin with, but that's just the ones that were generally settled on.

If you really want something fairly odd, why is a hatchling swan called a signet?:D

LOL, my son has a classmate named Signet. Guess what her last name is.
Yep, Swann

And I want to know why! Not because they just were. Why? What was the reasoning behind it?

[Read-Only]

LOL, my son has a classmate named Signet. Guess what her last name is.
Yep, Swann

Heh - yeah, that figures.;)

And I want to know why! Not because they just were. Why? What was the reasoning behind it?

Sorry to have to dissapoint you but not everthing (especially like that) has a real reason.

Why is a tree called a tree and a rock called a rock? Because that's what some called them and it just caught on, that's all there is to tell.