# Zoological weirdness **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850 "2016-11-23T23:43:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/1 "2016-11-23T23:43:11Z")
Ok, so the wife and I are currently having cocktails at Parasol Down in Las Vegas, and our favorite cocktail waitress noted that my very loud shirt had animals on it that really don’t go together- like flamingos and lions and Indian elephants. Not to mention New World monkeys and bears, all in a jungle. But neither of us can recall the word for such a mess. Anachronistic means time-different. Geo something? A little help before the ice in my Manhattan melts? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/2 "2016-11-23T23:55:20Z")
I don’t know the word you’re looking for (or if it even exists), but it suggests one of my pet peeves – people mixing up dinosaurs from different locations and different eras. _Fantasia_ notwithstanding, the T. Rex didn’t live at the same time as the Stegosaur, or the brontosaurus/Apatosaurus. (It could’ve fought with a Triceratops, though – they lived in the same time and place). The ubiquitous predator of the time of the stegosaur was the allosaurus, which was much smaller, and could reach its mouth with its forelimbs. Most people know better than to put dinos with cavemen or wooly mammoths, but they tend to lump all the dinosaurs together. Your OP suggests those Gary Larson cartoons that show penguins and polar bears together. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/3 "2016-11-24T04:36:26Z")
TV Tropes simply calls it [Misplaced Wildlife](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MisplacedWildlife). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/4 "2016-11-24T05:14:27Z")
Isn’t “incongruous” the word? ETA: “adventitious” can mean “not native”, but I don’t think that’s quite what you’re looking for here. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/5 "2016-11-24T05:42:48Z")
Anomalous is a much broader word, but would fit in your case, as well as other circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/6 "2016-11-24T06:06:21Z")
Geographically incompatible? Geographically disparate? Geo-distributed? Geo-Illogical? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/7 "2016-11-24T11:44:48Z")
Disney. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/8 "2016-11-24T14:33:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Ok, so the wife and I are currently having cocktails at Parasol Down in Las Vegas, and our favorite cocktail waitress noted that my very loud shirt had animals on it that really don’t go together- like flamingos and lions and Indian elephants. Not to mention New World monkeys and bears, all in a jungle. **But neither of us can recall the word for such a mess.** Anachronistic means time-different. Geo something? A little help before the ice in my Manhattan melts? Garish? _flees_ ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/9 "2016-11-25T13:36:54Z")
Rocks which appear outside of their origin (as in, e.g. moved by a glacier) are **allochthonous**. Animals that appear foreign to their native area are **adventitious**. But I don’t know of a word to describe a group of such other than the aforementioned **incongruous**. Having said that: > [@silenus](#): > > animals on it that really don’t go together- like flamingos and lions and Indian elephants. Not to mention New World monkeys and bears, all in a jungle. While the New World monkeys & bears may be out of place, all the other animals could be found, if not together, at least in close proximity, i[n NW India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarat#Flora_and_Fauna), in/near a jungle - Gir Forest NP hosts the only remaining[Asiatic Lion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_lion) population, and the Flamingo Islands in the Rann of Kutch are nearby. There are no wild Indian elephants in that area AFAIK, but it wouldn’t be _totally_ weird to see them in that vicinity. Also, of course, _Indian_ monkeys and bears. And Dinosaurs, just for\*\* Cal\*\* 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/10 "2016-11-25T13:44:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t know the word you’re looking for (or if it even exists), but it suggests one of my pet peeves – people mixing up dinosaurs from different locations and different eras.[…] > > Most people know better than to put dinos with cavemen or wooly mammoths, but they tend to lump all the dinosaurs together. I love xkcd’s [illustration of the\* T. rex\*/_Stegosaur_ phenomenon](http://xkcd.com/1211/). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/11 "2016-11-25T17:05:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I love xkcd’s [illustration of the\* T. rex\*/_Stegosaur_ phenomenon](http://xkcd.com/1211/). Which lends credence to my theory that dinosaurs tasted like chicken. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/12 "2016-11-25T17:37:45Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Isn’t “incongruous” the word? I’d say it’s the exact word, even if common usage has a very slightly different twist (more “weird” or “unexpected”). But things that don’t fit together are indeed non-congruent, or incongruous. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/13 "2016-11-26T00:47:38Z")
But perhaps your shirt just depicts a zoo? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/14 "2016-11-26T01:33:49Z")
Anatopesthesia? An error in location, as opposed to anachronism, an error in time. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/15 "2016-11-26T02:48:17Z")
“Hot Mess”. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/16 "2016-11-26T08:34:56Z")
Gondwanan? Or Pangean? As in, of or from the supercontinents? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/17 "2016-11-27T14:54:57Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Which lends credence to my theory that dinosaurs tasted like chicken. 🙂 Ostrich is more like the best beef fillet (only cholesterol-free), and I’d rather use the biggest modern dinosaur as a guide to what Cretaceous dinosaurs tasted like. Which would be: damn tasty, especially with a port wine sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/18 "2016-11-27T17:16:24Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Garish? > > _flees_ [Here](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/4baebb4d-b438-466f-b726-90b2630256e9_1.f779ed4038c95623d978e53b960a490f.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF) [you](http://www.petlanddiscounts.com/webVirtual/products/425140.jpg) [go](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAwMFgxMDAw/z/hfUAAOSwqBJXVuCh/$_58.JPG). He didn’t say they were on the shirt; were the lions scratching? Yeah, I know fleas has an “a” in it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/19 "2016-11-28T16:31:20Z")
Are you just looking for the word “menagerie”? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zoological-weirdness/772850/20 "2016-11-29T13:42:23Z")
A menagerie is a collection of _captive_ animals, **silenus** is looking for a term for a anomalous grouping in the wild, it looks like.