Talk:Black-tailed jackrabbit/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:29, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

I am reviewing this article for GA status. Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:29, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

I am neither the nominator nor specialist in this field, only added some material to the article and will try to answer what I can.

I shall be comparing this article to the existing GAs "Eastern mole", "Red panda" and "North American River Otter". Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:42, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Should "Black-tailed Jackrabbit" be capitalized? The article's title is inconsistent with the text. Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:52, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

This question also applies to "white-tailed jackrabbit" and "antelope jackrabbit". Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:52, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

My understanding is that some sources capitalize biological names in all cases, and wikipedia used to follow that sometimes, but now it tends to capitalize only proper names (in all WP areas, per MoS). This view seems consistent and I am going to keep it in this article and where I get my hands on (can't fix all articles at once :) Materialscientist (talk) 01:56, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

In "Description", do males and females appear the same? What about the young (leverets)? Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:54, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Females larger than males (added with ref), no other difference noted in articles describing their appearance. Materialscientist (talk) 05:41, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

In "Taxonomy and distribution", I don't understand the significance of the proper nouns (Gray, Mearns, etc.). Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:55, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, I missed this - those are recognized authorities who identified various animal species, and listing them without initials in brackets is a standard in animal literature. I have wikilinked some and added initials for those which still don't have WP articles (to help linking them later). Materialscientist (talk) 01:56, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

In many places, the latin name of other animals/plants is given after the common name? Is this really necessary, especially when the common name is linked to another article? Axl ¤ [Talk] 10:00, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

As I know, a respectable article on animals/plants must add latin names because they are unambiguous, whereas common names vary between countries to the extent of mixup. Same on WP: common names get changed, but the Latin ones stay. Materialscientist (talk) 05:41, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

From "Major life events": "The breeding season is variable depending upon latitude and environmental factors." Does "latitude" imply climate? Axl ¤ [Talk] 08:49, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Also from "Major life events": "Two peak breeding seasons corresponding to rainfall patterns and vegetation greenup occur." What is "vegetation greenup"? Axl ¤ [Talk] 08:51, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

From "Major life events", paragraph 2: "Litter sizes are largest in the northern portions of black-tailed jackrabbit's range and decrease with latitude." What does "decrease with latitude" mean? Axl ¤ [Talk] 08:55, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

From "Preferred habitat", paragraph 1: "black-tailed jackrabbit occupies clearcuts and early seral coniferous forest." What is seral coniferous forest? Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:27, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

From "Food habits", paragraph 1: "black-tailed jackrabbit switch to phreatophyte shrubs when herbaceous vegetation cures." What does "cures" mean in this context? Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:35, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Fixed all five prose items above (no mistake, just unclear phrasing, missing links and clarification). Materialscientist (talk) 05:41, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

In the "Food habits" section, there are many plants mentioned without wikilinks. Would the article benefit from links? Axl ¤ [Talk] 10:24, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. Materialscientist (talk) 01:56, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

From "Predators", paragraph 1: "Hawks preying on black-tailed jackrabbit include the Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis), white-tailed hawk (Buteo albicaudatus), Swainson's hawk (B. swainsoni), and red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis)." Should the hawk names be capitalized or not? Axl ¤ [Talk] 10:20, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

My recollection is that the first word of any binomial Latin name is capitalized, either when in full or abbreviated to, e.g., B. Materialscientist (talk) 10:26, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

I meant the common names, not the Latin. Axl ¤ [Talk] 10:50, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Made consistent. Materialscientist (talk) 01:56, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Summary

Materialscientist, thank you for your help.

1. The article is well-written and easy to read.

2. It is accurate and well-referenced.

3. It covers the important aspects of the subject.

4. It is neutral.

5. It is stable.

6. It is nicely illustrated.

I am delighted to promote it to GA status.

For further improvement, the article would benefit from information about the young (leverets). In "Taxonomy and distribution", the significance of the subspecies proper nouns (Nelson, Miller, Gray, etc.) should be made clearer. Axl ¤ [Talk] 09:52, 3 November 2010 (UTC)