organism a two part scientific name -genus(plural - ”genera”) andspecies(plural - ”species”)
names. The genus and species names would be similar to your first name and surname.
Genus nameis always written with a capital letter whereasspecies nameis written with a
small letter. The scientific name must always be either underlined or written in italics.
For example the scientific name of the African elephant isLoxodonta africana.
Genus:LoxodontaSpecies:africana
Figure 10.4: Elephant (Loxodonta africana).An organism will always have only one scientific name even though they might have more
than one common name. For example Blue crane, indwe (for amaXhosa) and mogolori (for
Batswana) are all common names for South Africa’s national bird (shown below). However,
it has got only one scientific name which isAnthropoides paradiseus.
Figure 10.5: Blue crane, South Africa’s national bird.Chapter 10. Biodiversity and classification 301