Masseti M. & Veracini C. (2014). Early European knowledge and trade of Neotropical mammals: a re-view of literary sources between 1492 and the first two decades of the 16th century. British Arqueological Review. 2662: 129-138. (original) (raw)

2014, British Arqueologi-cal Review

This article reviews the early descriptions and trade of Neotropical mammals after the re-discovery of America. The earlier chronicles of European travelers in the Americas in the 15 th and 16 th centuries already contain many references to mainland American mammals, such as those from the Paria Peninsula, Venezuela, written by Christopher Columbus on his third transatlantic voyage in 1498, and by Vicente Yañez Pinzón, who followed in Columbus's footsteps. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera's first Decades contain accounts of European encounters with many animals, including deer of the genus Odocoileus and Mazama, the kinkajou, Potos flavus (Schreber, 1774), the jaguar, vampire bats, and monkeys, including Alouatta seniculus (L., 1766). The first circumnavigation of the earth reported by Pigafetta enabled Europe to discover the mammals of Patagonia. These early descriptions were very simple, however, and often a puzzle of features of previously known animals. Neotropical mammals were in fact completely new and very unusual to the eyes of the first European navigators. On the first trips across the Atlantic many indigenous mammals were brought back to Europe. Those that survived the long journey were kept in nobles' menageries. These data are supported by historical sources and recent iconographic evidence.