During the Japanese occupation era, a Japanese biologist used the names given by the various indigenous peoples to plants and animals in order to explore the connections among the aboriginal groups on Taiwan.
當然，意義不只於此，日據時代生物學家鹿野忠雄就曾經利用台灣原住民動植物名稱探討台灣島嶼上諸族的類緣與文化關係。