More zoo language
You can find many other animals and plants at the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary. Here, you can find additional language for naming them too.
What other animals can you see at the zoo? As you walk around the Folsom Zoo, keep an eye out for other animals who are just visiting, like you! At the Folsom Zoo Language Trip, we shared a poster highlighting a few of the wild animals that we have seen at the zoo and which you may have seen too, along with their Nisenan and Miwok names:
Acorn Woodpecker
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Some Nisenan and Miwok bird names imitate a call that the bird makes. If you hear a bird saying "panák panák panák" or "paláttata paláttata", look around and you may find Panák / Paláttata!
American Robin
Dark-Eyed Junco
Hummingbird
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Different Nisenan speakers call Hummingbirds by different names. The name we share here, Lisnó, comes from speakers of the Valley dialect including SSBMI Matriarch Pamela Adams and her brother Tom Cleanso. Speakers of the Southern Hill dialect call them Liic’iic’í, which is probably related to the Miwok name Líiciici.
Gray Squirrel
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Different Nisenan speakers call Gray Squirrels by different names. The name we share here, Kɨɨhɨ́, comes from SSBMI Matriarch Pamela Adams, who spoke the Valley dialect, as well as from speakers of the Southern Hill dialect like Bill Joe and Ida Starkey. Speakers of other dialects call them C’áambaw.
Butterfly
Dragonfly
Western Fence Lizard
What plants can you see at the zoo? Here are Nisenan and Miwok names for a few of the native plants you may have found at the Folsom Zoo:
Blue Oak
California Buckeye
Deer Grass
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Nisenan and Miwok basketweavers use Deer Grass, among other plants, to make baskets. In fact, the Miwok name Cɨ́ɨlɨpɨ is probably related to the verb cɨ́ɨlɨ- (to weave baskets) and the noun cɨ́lleenɨ (basketweaver).
Poison Oak
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) The Folsom Zoo hosts two colonies of Honeybees, but did you know that Honeybees are an introduced species? At the Folsom Zoo Language Trip, we shared signage highlighting two native bee species and their Nisenan and Miwok names:
Bumblebee
Yellowjacket
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Roasted Yellowjacket larvae is a traditional food source. According to Nisenan and Miwok speakers who were interviewed in the 1930s, adult Yellowjackets were baited using a Grasshopper leg painted white or with grass tied to it (which could be seen while the Yellowjacket is in flight) and followed back to their nest.
So what do you call a Honeybee? When a new species is introduced to an area, speakers have many options for naming it. Sometimes speakers come up with a new name for that species. Sometimes they borrow or adapt the name from another language (such as English or Spanish). And sometimes they re-purpose the name of a native animal that resembles the new species.
Northern Sierra Miwok speakers borrowed the English word "honey" and call Honeybees Háne. We do not know what Nisenan speakers of the past called Honeybees, but Nisenan speakers today can re-purpose the Nisenan name for Bumblebees and call both them and Honeybees Múlka.
Did you see it? While the zoo is not home to any Condors, you may have seen a metal Condor statue honoring them when you were visiting the Folsom Zoo. These massive birds once lived throughout California. Here are their Nisenan and Miwok names:
Did you see it? When you find Poló (Nisenan) / Úunu (Miwok) / California Buckeye, see if you can identify its seeds. These large, husk-covered balls, which are known as "buckeye balls" in English, are called the same name as the tree in Miwok but have their own name in Nisenan:
Buckeye Ball
Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Pakáat plays an important role in a traditional Nisenan Coyote story, where he bites off the foot of Olé (Coyote). You can listen to this story and learn more about it by clicking here.
