In POUPOURRI, zmjezhd mentioned the city of Walla Walla, in southern Washington state. How many other place names or animal names can you think of? There's the aye aye and the dik-dik among animals - what/where else?
Interesting you should mention that word, Saranita. Just today in the paper I read that they call powder snow "pawpaw." Of course, that's also my babytalk for my dog's paw.
There's an atl-atl, but it is neither a place nor an animal. The process is called reduplication in linguistics, and in some language it has meaning, like being the plural for some nouns.
Mount Kaukau is in Wellington, New Zealand. The Western Gorilla is Gorilla gorilla, the Western Lowland Gorilla is Gorilla gorilla gorilla, and the Mountain Gorilla is Gorilla beringei beringei.
Ongaonga, Urtica ferox, is a nettle that is endemic to New Zealand. Sometimes known as the 'tree nettle', ongaonga has woody stems and unusually large stinging spines, and can grow 5 metres tall. Even the lightest touch can result in a painful sting that lasts several days. It has killed at least one person who blundered into it, as well as several dogs and horses.
In Maori folklore, Kupe was said to have placed several obstacles to hinder pursuers whose wives he had stolen, one of which was the ongaonga.
Ongaonga is the main food plant for larvae of the New Zealand Red Admiral butterfly or Kahukura, Bassaris gonerilla.
