Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

monkeywire - [monkeywire] High bidder to snag right to name newly discovered species

monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Ryan G. Coleman" <ryan.g.coleman AT gmail.com>
  • To: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [monkeywire] High bidder to snag right to name newly discovered species
  • Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 22:52:50 -0500

High bidder to snag right to name newly discovered species

Henry Fountain, New York Times

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/08/MNGUQB7F1L1.DTL

Picture here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/02/08/


These days, if you're willing to pay the price, you can put your name
on just about anything -- a basketball arena, a hospital wing,
perhaps even a subway station.

  How humdrum.

  The Wildlife Conservation Society, on the other hand, is offering
some true naming-rights excitement. The group will auction off the
chance to name a new species of monkey.

  The animal, a variety of titi monkey of the genus callicebus, was
first spotted in 2000 in Madidi National Park in Bolivia.
Observations made since then convinced the discoverers -- Dr. Robert
Wallace of the conservation society; Humberto Gomez, a Bolivian
biologist; and two Conservation Society volunteers, Annika and Adam
Felton -- that the monkey is a new species. Their paper describing
the animal has been accepted by taxonomic authorities.

  Ordinarily, the person who discovers a species has the right to name
it, and species have often been named for people who supported
research or financed an expedition. In this case, Wallace said in a
telephone interview from Bolivia, the discoverers decided to seek a
benefactor after the fact, in an online auction that would raise both
interest in Madidi park and funds to help manage it.

  "We have no idea how much money this can generate," he said of the
auction, which begins Feb. 24 at www.charityfolks.com. "We're looking
for someone who wants to make a lasting contribution to one of the
most important protected areas of the world."

  Madidi National Park, which covers about 7,300 square miles in
northwestern Bolivia, is one of the most biologically diverse areas
on the planet. It is threatened by encroaching agriculture and
road-building, which lead to human settlement. Proceeds of the
auction will go to a Bolivian conservation foundation and the
country's park service to carry out a management plan for the area.

  The monkey is about 15 inches high, weighs about 2 pounds and has
gold, orange and burgundy colors in its fur. "In general it's quite
sort of fluffy looking," Wallace said.

  The winner of the auction will have to follow the International Code
of Zoological Nomenclature, but the code offers plenty of leeway.
"You can't name it something that's openly offensive," he said.
"Other than that, you can name it what you want."



  • [monkeywire] High bidder to snag right to name newly discovered species, Ryan G. Coleman, 02/08/2005

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page