Have you ever heard of Marc van Roosmalen? No, I hadn't either - although that is slightly less surprising for you, unless you also have a degree with a heavy focus on primatology. So who is this mysterious person? Well, he may well be one of the last, great naturalist explorers left in the world. I've just been introduced to his work, thanks to the ever informative Tetrapod Zoology blog, but he's been around for quite some time. Indeed, you'd have to have been to have named 11 new species of mammal, plus have started active investigation/research into over a dozen more (not to count any plants discovered...)!
Honestly, the reality may not be all that it seems, especially if his Wikipedia entry is at all accurate, but regardless I feel Roosmalen may be a person I should keep an eye on. With a tapir, a titi monkey and a tree porcupine under his belt, Marc is definitely contributing to the discovery and knowledge of several of my favourite animal groups, so I'm excited to see what more he uncovers in the future!
Plus, this has reminded me that I really do need to write about Darren Naish's recent ebook, Hunting Monsters. I feel that Roosmalen is a prime example of a real world cryptozoologist, of the sort that should be held aloft and waved around whilst proponents of the science (such as myself) scream "stop watching In Search of Bigfoot and start looking over here before you lump us all together with the nutjobs!"
But that's a story for a different time...
