Title |
Sloths of the Atlantic Forest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
|
---|---|
Published in |
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, August 2016
|
DOI | 10.1590/0001-3765201620150758 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Danielle O Moreira, Sérgio L Mendes |
Abstract |
Sloths were a curiosity item for Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, and several descriptions of them exist in bestiaries and texts of that time. Here, we assemble the descriptions and drawings of sloths from the travellers and naturalists of those centuries in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The sloth was a novelty to the European audience, and it was described in many strange and inaccurate ways: as a monster, a beast, or an odd child. It served as a source of admiration, amusement, and confusion among naturalists and travellers of the 16th and 17th centuries. We also raised the question about the identity of Carolus Clusius' sloth, a drawing published in Exoticorum libri decem (1605). We compared his drawing with earlier depictions and descriptions, from André Thevet (1516-1590) to George Marcgrave (1610-1644). We present evidence to validate the first drawing of the maned sloth, completed 206 years before the official taxonomic description. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Brazil | 4 | 67% |
Unknown | 2 | 33% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 4 | 67% |
Scientists | 2 | 33% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Brazil | 2 | 9% |
Czechia | 1 | 5% |
United States | 1 | 5% |
Unknown | 18 | 82% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 5 | 23% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 23% |
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 18% |
Professor | 3 | 14% |
Lecturer > Senior Lecturer | 1 | 5% |
Other | 3 | 14% |
Unknown | 1 | 5% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 14 | 64% |
Arts and Humanities | 2 | 9% |
Environmental Science | 1 | 5% |
Computer Science | 1 | 5% |
Social Sciences | 1 | 5% |
Other | 2 | 9% |
Unknown | 1 | 5% |