5
1.1.2 The Twentieth Century: An Emerging Science
The first half of the twentieth century was discrete about changes. The French naturalist Fernando Lahille (often regarded as Argentinean) and the Argentinean
Francisco Pascasio Moreno, also known as Perito Moreno, were based in the Museo
de La Plata and contributed to the description of species such as the bottlenose
dolphin, Tursiops ghephyreus (Lahille, 1908) and the spectacle porpoise, Phocoena
dioptrica (Lahille, 1912).
In Brazil and Argentina there was the outstanding participation of the German
naturalist Hermann von Ihering, and later, his Brazilian son Rodolpho von Ihering
who published the record of the Stenodelphis blainvillei (= Pontoporia blainvillei
(Gervais & d’Orgigny, 1844) for the Lagoa dos Patos, in southern Brazil.
Almost in the middle of the twentieth century happened the first significant leap
in mastozoology with the works of Angel Cabrera in Argentina, and Alipio Miranda
Ribeiro, Carlos Cunha Vieira and later Cory Texeira de Carvalho, in Brazil (AvilaPires 2009).
In the second half of the century, there was a true “quantum leap” in the volume
and quality of scientific production in the area. Anélio Aguayo Lobo of the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México went to Chile and with his experience
leveraged the development in that field. Angel Crovetto
†
, Jorge A. Oporto, Luis
Pastene, Walter Sielfeld, Doris Oliva and Jose Yanez, among others, continued the
challenging work seeking information between the jagged fjords and rocky islets of
the Chilean coast. In Mexico, the exchange among experts started early due to the
creation of SOMEMMA (Mexican Society of Marine Mammals), at the end of the
1970s. Jorge Urban was one of the main supporters and the first one to seek integration with the South American colleagues.
The Uruguayans Raul Vaz Ferreira
†
, Isaias Ximenez and Alberto Ponce de León
studied the behavior and the killing of sea lions and fur seals, Otaria flavescens (=
O. byronia) and the Arctocephalus australis, in the breeding colonies. Also, Ricardo
Praderi
†
and the North American Robert Brownell were pioneers in the studies of
incidental mortality of the Franciscana, on shark fishing nets. The conservation
timeline of what is today the most endangered species owes them that auspicious
beginning.
The publication of Cabrera’s catalog allowed Argentina to lead a significant
progress in the study of marine mammals. The foreigners Bernd Würsig and Roger
Payne studied the bottlenose dolphins and right whales, in Península de Valdés,
Patagonia. The Argentineans Ricardo Bastida, Enrique Crespo, Claudio Campagna,
Juan Carlos Lopez, Julio Loureiro, Luiz Capozzo and Mirtha Lewis, among others,
deepened and gave maturity to a large research program of the Argentine
Mastozoological Fauna. In Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, there was an extraordinary
collaboration of the English Natalie Pros Goodall
†
who arrived there to photograph
lichens and ended up collecting a myriad of marine mammal carcasses mummified
by the cold.
1 Mastozoology History and Perspectives in Latin America: Marine and Freshwater…
1.1.2 The Twentieth Century: An Emerging Science
The first half of the twentieth century was discrete about changes. The French naturalist Fernando Lahille (often regarded as Argentinean) and the Argentinean
Francisco Pascasio Moreno, also known as Perito Moreno, were based in the Museo
de La Plata and contributed to the description of species such as the bottlenose
dolphin, Tursiops ghephyreus (Lahille, 1908) and the spectacle porpoise, Phocoena
dioptrica (Lahille, 1912).
In Brazil and Argentina there was the outstanding participation of the German
naturalist Hermann von Ihering, and later, his Brazilian son Rodolpho von Ihering
who published the record of the Stenodelphis blainvillei (= Pontoporia blainvillei
(Gervais & d’Orgigny, 1844) for the Lagoa dos Patos, in southern Brazil.
Almost in the middle of the twentieth century happened the first significant leap
in mastozoology with the works of Angel Cabrera in Argentina, and Alipio Miranda
Ribeiro, Carlos Cunha Vieira and later Cory Texeira de Carvalho, in Brazil (AvilaPires 2009).
In the second half of the century, there was a true “quantum leap” in the volume
and quality of scientific production in the area. Anélio Aguayo Lobo of the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México went to Chile and with his experience
leveraged the development in that field. Angel Crovetto
†
, Jorge A. Oporto, Luis
Pastene, Walter Sielfeld, Doris Oliva and Jose Yanez, among others, continued the
challenging work seeking information between the jagged fjords and rocky islets of
the Chilean coast. In Mexico, the exchange among experts started early due to the
creation of SOMEMMA (Mexican Society of Marine Mammals), at the end of the
1970s. Jorge Urban was one of the main supporters and the first one to seek integration with the South American colleagues.
The Uruguayans Raul Vaz Ferreira
†
, Isaias Ximenez and Alberto Ponce de León
studied the behavior and the killing of sea lions and fur seals, Otaria flavescens (=
O. byronia) and the Arctocephalus australis, in the breeding colonies. Also, Ricardo
Praderi
†
and the North American Robert Brownell were pioneers in the studies of
incidental mortality of the Franciscana, on shark fishing nets. The conservation
timeline of what is today the most endangered species owes them that auspicious
beginning.
The publication of Cabrera’s catalog allowed Argentina to lead a significant
progress in the study of marine mammals. The foreigners Bernd Würsig and Roger
Payne studied the bottlenose dolphins and right whales, in Península de Valdés,
Patagonia. The Argentineans Ricardo Bastida, Enrique Crespo, Claudio Campagna,
Juan Carlos Lopez, Julio Loureiro, Luiz Capozzo and Mirtha Lewis, among others,
deepened and gave maturity to a large research program of the Argentine
Mastozoological Fauna. In Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, there was an extraordinary
collaboration of the English Natalie Pros Goodall
†
who arrived there to photograph
lichens and ended up collecting a myriad of marine mammal carcasses mummified
by the cold.
1 Mastozoology History and Perspectives in Latin America: Marine and Freshwater…