The thing about naming wildlife is funny but honestly very true in so many realms.
Homeowners who find young or injured wildlife can name things in my experience within minutes sometimes including bats, skunks, raccoon, coyote, etc....
Always makes me laugh a little, although the point about emotional bonding is true as well, you name it and it changes the stance, though most of you guys who grew up on a farm know that it is common to have names for pigs, cows, etc... and still be eating them at the end of the growing season.
Just natural I suppose for humans to name animals and "beings" of all kinds.
In research we were always told not to ever name or even nickname your study animals (radio collared coyote, etc...)
In MI we used the animals frequency as their "name" however I will have to admit through the years even if you named them after a swamp where you captured them to collar, you'd eventually have some tie to that animal mentally.
Had a coyote radio frequency is still in my mind to this day some 15 years later, this coyote lived in the middle of jack pine country that was heavily hounded, trapped, called, etc....
We would roll up to check location and record data and during winter months was common to be standing a few yards from h hunters with hounds and we'd converse.
That female coyote probably saw more hounds than most and we had it on air for 4 years before she was finally harvested one winter. We knew the guy whose son had finally caught up to her and we shared the bio data with him and his dad in terms of weight, home range size and ultimately age when we received cementum analysis back.
That coyote was 9 years old and a prime size and condition. That one and many others stick in my head even if only "named" a radio frequency.
What talk show was discussing that? I'm curious to see the video, odd tip to give folks thats for sure.
I am easily distracted. BigBob mentioned “horses name”, this immediately made me think of a song I enjoy-“ A Horse With No Name”. Sorry for the hijack.