Discusión:Frédéric Cuvier

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/1992/2/redpandasfirecat.cfm

The first known written record of the red panda occurs in a 13th-century Chou dynasty scroll. But it wasn’t until some six centuries later that red pandas became known to Europeans. And Major General Thomas Hardwicke’s 1821 presentation of "Description of a New Genus... from the Himalaya Chain of Hills between Nepaul (sic) and the Snowy Mountains" to the esteemed Linnaean Society of London is regarded as the moment the red panda became a bona fide species in Western science. Hardwicke called the animal "Wha" because "It is frequently discovered by its loud cry or call, resembling the word ‘Wha,’ often repeating the same..." He also mentioned several other local names, including "poonya," which was eventually anglicized to "panda."

It may be poetic justice that Hardwicke received only partial credit for his "find." Hardwicke was delayed in returning to England from India with his specimens and, under the rules of taxonomic nomenclatural priority, was scooped by the ubiquitous French naturalist Frederic Cuvier, who gave the Wha its official scientific name: Ailurus fulgens, the "fire-colored cat." Perhaps we should be grateful the aristocratic Cuvier crossed the finish line first. He provided an elegant Latin name, christened Hardwicke’s Wha "the Bright Panda," and described it as "a beautiful species, one of the handsomest of known quadrupeds." However, British scientists saw it otherwise. They were incensed that Cuvier would "prevent England’s reaping the zoological harvest of her own domains," as irate British naturalist Brian Hodgson sputtered in 1847.