The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

by Elizabeth Kolbert

Cuvier finally gave the mastodonte its name in a paper published in Paris in 1806. The peculiar designation comes from the Greek meaning “breast tooth”; the knobby protuberances on the animal’s molars apparently reminded him of nipples. (By this point, the animal had already received a scientific name from a German naturalist; unfortunately this name—Mammut americanum—has perpetuated the confusion between mastodons and mammoths.)

scientists love coming up with stupid ass names