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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
EHU
Professor to Write Biography
of Basque Naturalist
Mila Parot
Zubimendi
A professor
of Biology at Spain's University of the Basque Country (EHU),
Kepa Altonaga, is the recipient of a CAF-Elhuyar* grant to write
the biography of Father Armand David, a missionary and naturalist
born in Ezpeleta, in the Basque Country in France, in 1826.
A missionary
of the Lazarists Congregation in Peking, Armand David was brought
a dead panda by his hunters on March 23, 1869. The giant panda
which was not known outside of China was introduce to the western
world by Armand David. He writes,
"My Cristian
hunters returned today after a ten-day absence. They bring me
a white bear, which they took alive but unfortunately killed
so that it could be carried more easily. The young white bear,
which they sell me very dearly, is all white except for the
legs, ears and around the eyes, which are deep black. The colours
are the same as those I saw in the skin of an adult bear the
other day at the home of Li, the hunter. This must be a new
species of "Ursus", very remarkable not only because of its
colour, but also for its paws which are hairy underneath, and
for other characteristics."
In 1869, David
describes the panda to his scientist friend, Sir Alphone Milne-Edwards:
"As my
collection will not arrive in Paris for some time, I would ask
you to Publish quickly the following description of a bear which
appears to be new to science. Ursus melanoleuca A.D. Very large
according to my hunters. Ears short. Hair fairly short; beneath
the four feet very hairy. Colours: white, with the ears, the
surrounding of the eyes, the tip of the tail and four legs brownish
black ... The colours are always the same and equally distributed.
I have not seen this species, which is easily the prettiest
kind of animal I know, in the museums of Europe; perhaps it
is new to science!"
The question
of whether the panda is more like a bear or a raccoon has a
long history. David called it Ursus melanoleucus , which means
" black-and-white bear." In 1870, he sent a giant panda specimen
to Alphonse Milne Edwards. Alphonse examined the bear and decided
the giant panda looked more like a red panda. The red panda,
sometimes called a fire cat, is related to the raccoons . Alphonse
renamed the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleua, which means "Black-and-white
catfoot."
Armand David
also provided the western world with the first descriptions
of the Mongolian gerbil in his "Journal d'un Voyage en Mongolie"
(Bull. Nouvelles Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 3, pp 18-96). His
friend Alphone Milne-Edwards wrote the first scientific
text about the Mongolian gerbil in 1867 in the "Annales
des sciences naturelles (Zoologie)" (ser. 5, vol. 7, pp 375-377).
The prolific
Basque researcher came from a family of euskaltzales,
according to Prof. Altonaga. David had two brothers and a sister.
One of his brothers, a doctor and a writer, was the author of
several Basque poems.
Armand David
is said to have lived a double life. A mystery tale has the
Basque Indiana Jones always running into "bad guys." David supposedly
helped France to collect intelligence used in French efforts
to control Chinese territory, and find Lao-tse's recipe of herbs
and chemical compounds for achieving immortality, which the
Taoist monk had buried before his pilgrimage to India.
David gets
caught up in colonial intrigue with French opium addicts, Taoist
monks, and Jesuists. He keeps up the pace and the action; defeats
the enemy, and finds Lao-tse's recipe.
Armand David
lived happily ever after with his pet Ailuropoda melanoleuca
in beautiful Paris, says the tale.
* CAF manufacturer for railway rolling stock and the Elhuyar
group.
January 15,
2000
Translation
by Gigi Bidarte
Mila Parot
Zubimendi is a law student and an environment activist.
She's currently living in Miarritze.
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