Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By September 1826
Primary Source Reference:
Richard Harlan, "Description of a Land Tortoise, from the Gallpagos Islands, commonly known as the 'Elephant Tortoise'," Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 5, part 2 (1827): 284-292 / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24657342
Additional Source Text:
"Read September 5, 1826"
"An individual of which lived many months in the Philadelphia Museum." (p. 288)
Notes:
The Reunion giant tortoise (Cylindraspis indica) is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. It was endemic to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean and was numerous in the 17th and early 18th centuries, but they were killed in vast numbers by European sailors and finally became extinct in the 1840s.
Richard Harlan (1796-1843), M.D., was an American paleontologist, anatomist, and physician. He was appointed the Peale Museum's professor of comparative anatomy in April 1821.
Specimen Type:
Live (presumably eventually taxidermied/preserved)
Current Common Name:
Reunion giant tortoise
Current Scientific Name
Cylindraspis indica
