Wiki Rules

## Rules of the Unsung Animals Wiki include

1. **Do not** post unwanted content on someone's message board/wall, respect their wishes, it is their wall.
2. **Do not harass other users**. Harassments will not be tolerated, and will result in consequences such as banning.
3. **Take the wiki seriously**. The Unsung Animals wiki is a place to provide others information on amazing animals, so no joke pages will remain on the wiki, and will be deleted quickly. Unfortunately, no extinct or cryptid animals are allowed on the wiki either as they are either completely extinct species or false accounts of animals that never existed.

## Formatting and Pages

### Pages should be formatted in the chronological order below.

1. **About:** Describe the animal's general appearance and size (in both metric and imperial) and include the scientific/Latin name of the species. This section can also be used to explain the animal's taxonomy. Use the 'Insert' tap at the top of the Visual Editor tool bar in order to access templates, the 'Ari Infobox' will allow you to list the animal's classification as well as a display image of that animal and even if the species has any known subspecies. If no image of this animal exists, rather than having no display image, use this graphic as the display instead. The 'Ari Infobox' will make articles look much more professional, and is required for all articles about animals however, not required for order pages. Side-note; Whilst creating an article for a subspecies, don't list its Latin name in the 'species' tab of the 'Ari infobox', but rather the 'subspecies' tab. Also, if an animal has a common name which includes accents such as in the Kākāpō ***(Strigops habroptila)***, the accents should be included in every mention of the species in the article, including the title.
2. **Diet:** Pretty straight forward, explain the animal's diet and its hunting method if possible. This section does not have to be long, as long as it efficiently explains what the species eats.
3. **Conservation status:** Go in depth on the animals threats, whether they be natural or human caused and list its IUCN conservation status. Along with threats, it is encouraged that you explain conservation efforts for the species and whether they have been effective.
4. **Range and Population:** Discuss where the animal lives and describe the environments the species can be found in. Provide a distribution map to convey this information. The distribution map should be sourced from IUCN if possible, but can also be from another credible source such as WWF.
5. **Behaviour:** Explain the animal's behavioural characteristics, whether they be its breeding and mating habits or otherwise.
6. **Relationship with Humans:** Discuss how the animal acts around and towards humans, whether this be aggressively, passively, skittishly or otherwise. Also discuss the relationship humans have with this species, is it positive? Or negative? This section can also discuss the species' place in culture, such as in the ring-tailed cat ***(Bassariscus astutus)***. This section should also be considered a sub-section of behaviour, so title it using 'sub-heading 3' rather than 'heading'
7. **In Captivity:** Explain where the animal can be found in captivity, whether it be conservation institutes or facilities such as roadside zoos. We recommend that the website ZOOINSTITUES should be used as a source for this section in the article.
8. **Gallery:** Provide four images of the animal in a gallery. Galleries can be accessed through the 'Insert' tab on the Visual Editor tool bar. If videos are inserted into an article, they should also be placed into this section.
9. **Sources:** List your sources in the format of: 'Article name | website - Link to source'. As a wiki that aims to be credible, this is one of the most important steps in our eyes to having an informative page.

The reasoning for this more linear article layout, is in order to create easily digestible content that anyone can enjoy.

### Order Pages

When creating pages about an Order, like Ratites for example, it is mandatory that you detail every family in that order (unless information cannot be found). This includes going over the Order's extinct families. At the beginning of an Order page, create an About section, similarly to a regular page and describe the characteristics of the animals in the Order as well as the Order's taxonomic origin.

The reason why it is discouraged to create pages on singular families, genera or other classifications (obviously apart from species, subspecies or ecotypes), is because we feel that Orders accurately portray a group well, as well as allow the reader to grasp a basal understanding of the families within them without becoming overwhelmed.

### Categorise

After completing an article you will need to add it to the appropriate categories. These categories can be either added brand new or used before by other articles. Categories can be added to an article at the bottom of the page (outside of editing mode). Here is a list of all the wiki's current categories.

### Disambiguation Pages

Disambiguation pages are made for the purpose of creating a location that houses links which link to similarly titled articles in order to alleviate confusion. An example of this would be referring to a species but not in a specific context for example.

*"The coelacanth is a lazarus taxa"*

In the above excerpt, the term coelacanth could refer to multiple species, warranting a link to a disambiguation page. This differs from the excerpt:

*"The African coelacanth is a lazarus taxa"*

In this excerpt it is made clear that the author is referring to the African coelacanth in specific, meaning it can be linked to a specific page rather than a disambiguation one.

## Now you know how to make an article!

Knowing these rules, you are now well equipped to make your own page about an unsung animal! click the 'ADD NEW PAGE' button at the top right hand corner of the screen, or click on a broken link to get started!

### Trusted Sources

***Here are some credible sources we recommend:***

* Africa Freak *(Specific: African Species)*
* African Wildlife Foundation *(Specific: African Species, Conservation)*
* American Cetacean Society *(Specific: Cetaceans)*
* American Oceans *(Broad: Aquatic Life)*
* Amphibia Web *(Specific: Amphibians)*
* Animalia.bio *(General)*
* Animal Diversity Web *(General)*
* Australian Geographic *(Specific: Australian/Oceanian Species)*
* Australian Museum *(Specific: Australian/Oceanian Species)*
* Bear Conservation *(Specific: Bears, Conservation)*
* Birdlife International Datazone *(Broad: Birds, Conservation)*
* Britannica *(General)*
* CITES *(General, Conservation)*
* Cornell Lab of Ornithology *(Broad: Birds: **Subscription Required**)*
* DOLPHINS-WORLD *(Specific: Cetaceans)*
* Encyclopedia of Life *(General)*
* Global Biodiversity Information Facility *(General)*
* Global Invasive Species Database *(Broad: Select Species)*
* IUCN Red List *(General, Conservation)*
* iNaturalist *(General)*
* Marine.bio *(Broad: Aquatic Life, Conservation)*
* Mongabay *(General)*
* National Geographic *(General: **Account Required**)*
* New England Primate Conservancy *(Specific: Primates, Conservation)*
* NOAA *(Broad: Aquatic Life, Conservation)*
* Peregrine Fund *(Specific: Raptors)*
* San Diego Zoo *(General: Zoo Inventory, Conservation)*
* Science Direct *(General)*
* Sea Shepherd *(Broad: Aquatic Life, Conservation)*
* Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute *(General, Conservation)*
* South African National Biodiversity Institute *(Specific: African Species)*
* Wikipedia *(General)*
* WWF *(General, Conservation)*
* Yale Environment 360 *(General)*
* Zoo Institutes *(Specific: Captivity)*
* Zoology Society of London *(General: Conservation)*