Curly Quiff. Crax blumenbachii, Red-billed Curassow, ARTIS Amsterdam Zoo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In his entry on Crax, great Carolus Linnaeus refers to the work of Ulisse Aldrovandus (1522-1605), the Italian 'Father of Natural History'. He'd used the name Gallus curassavicus ('Curaçao Hen'). Linnaeus also mentions Denis Dodart (1634-1707) who names our bird Crocq Indien. Of Crax Linnaeus writes expressively: 'Pennae caput tegentes revolutae', something like: head feathers rolled upwards'. That reminds me, of course, of the post-WWII men's hairstyle, the quiff, considered revolutionary against e.g. parental and societal authority. Think of the hair-styling of James Dean or Elvis Presley.
The Crax in ARTIS was specifically named and described as 'blumenbachii' by Johann Baptist van Spix (1781-1826), who had traveled to Brazil 1817-1820 as a naturalist. He saw our Bird near Rio de Janeiro. If you leaf throught Spix's works you will notice that he greatly admired Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), quoting his insights many times. Blumenbach is the 'Father of Biological Anthropology' and contrary to many theologians in his time he held that human beings should be studied biologically just like any other natural creature.
Curly Quiff. Crax blumenbachii, Red-billed Curassow, ARTIS Amsterdam Zoo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In his entry on Crax, great Carolus Linnaeus refers to the work of Ulisse Aldrovandus (1522-1605), the Italian 'Father of Natural History'. He'd used the name Gallus curassavicus ('Curaçao Hen'). Linnaeus also mentions Denis Dodart (1634-1707) who names our bird Crocq Indien. Of Crax Linnaeus writes expressively: 'Pennae caput tegentes revolutae', something like: head feathers rolled upwards'. That reminds me, of course, of the post-WWII men's hairstyle, the quiff, considered revolutionary against e.g. parental and societal authority. Think of the hair-styling of James Dean or Elvis Presley.
The Crax in ARTIS was specifically named and described as 'blumenbachii' by Johann Baptist van Spix (1781-1826), who had traveled to Brazil 1817-1820 as a naturalist. He saw our Bird near Rio de Janeiro. If you leaf throught Spix's works you will notice that he greatly admired Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), quoting his insights many times. Blumenbach is the 'Father of Biological Anthropology' and contrary to many theologians in his time he held that human beings should be studied biologically just like any other natural creature.