Why do scientists use Latin terms to name plants and Animals?
Using Latin terms to identify plants and Animals was Carl Linnaeus’s idea. When he was alive people everywhere spoke Latin. It was a common language throughout Europe. It may seem silly that scientists use Latin to name plants and animals but it’s actually good that they do it that way. If they didn’t use Latin it would be hard to understand which plant or animal they are talking about if they don’t speak the same language. Now Latin is a dead language (which means no one is speaking it to change what the words mean). There are many thousands of common names that are different in different languages around the world Latin terms mean the same to scientists everywhere. A scientist uses 7 ways to classify the plant or animal to get the final name.
