Jules Verreaux (1807-1873)

Namesake of: Verreaux's Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi)

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- Stole and taxidermied the body parts of a recently buried South African man from his grave and shipped them to Europe in a crate of dead animal specimens.

- Worked for family taxidermy business (Maison Verreaux), a top provider of natural history specimens for US and European museums.

By Jeff Gibbs - email & Fl

The story begins with Jules Verreaux, a French dealer in "naturalia", who in 1831 witnessed the burial of a Tswana warrior in the African interior, a few days' travel north of Capetown, and then returned at night - "not without danger to my own life" - to dig up the body and steal the skin, the skull and a few bones.

With the help of metal wire acting as a spine, wooden boards as shoulder blades, and stuffed with newspapers, Verreaux prepared and preserved the stolen body parts. Then he shipped him to Paris, along with a batch of stuffed animals in crates. In 1831 the African's body appeared in a showroom at No 3, Rue Saint Fiacre.

In a review, the newspaper Le Constitutionnel praised the fearlessness of Jules Verreaux, who must have faced dangers "amid natives who are as wild as they are black". This article set the tone, and the "individual of the Bechuana people" attracted more attention than the giraffes, hyenas or ostriches. "He is small in posture, black-skinned, and his head is covered in woolly frizzy hair," the newspaper said.

More than half a century later, the "Bechuana" popped up in Spain. On the fringes of the world exhibition in Barcelona in 1888, the Spanish vet Francisco Darder presented him in a catalogue as "El Betchuanas", complete with a drawing in which he is seen wearing raffia finery and holding a spear and a shield.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37344210

• Should a Malagasy sifaka bear the Verreaux name?

• What kind of legacy or impact does the commemoration and use of this name have on those who use it?

Jules Verreaux is not only commemorated by this sifaka, his name appears in multiple taxonomic orders! See what ornithologists have to say about him and the birds who honor him: https://birdnamesforbirds.wordpress.com/historical-profiles/profiles-a-z/verreaux-jules-pierre/