Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
August 23, 1788
Primary Source Reference:
Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia), 23 Aug 1788
Additional Source Text:
"The Mangouste is esteemed by naturalists as a great curiosity."
Also listed in State Gazette of South Carolina (Charleston), 22 Sep 1788
Notes:
In a diary entry of 15 August Peale noted the receipt of an "animal I believe of the monkey Tribe, it is called Mongoose," indicating that the donation was not the small viverrine carnivore but rather the mongoose lemur (Lemur mongoz), a primate from Madagascar. Selected Papers, 1: 522
Thomas Bell (d. 1805) of Philadelphia was captain of the merchant ship United States, which became the first American ship to reach Pondicherry, India in 1784-1785. (Selected Papers, 1: 516n)
Specimen Type:
Live (presumably eventually taxidermied/preserved)
Peale's Common Name:
Mangouste
Current Common Name:
Mongoose lemur
Current Scientific Name
Eulemur mongoz
