Discovery
The Iriomote cat was officially discovered by Yukio Togawa (戸川幸夫, Togawa Yukio?), an author that specialized in works about animals, in 1965 and was later described in 1967 by Dr. Yoshinori Imaizumi, director of the zoological department of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.
Prior to its scientific discovery, the Iriomote cat was known locally by various names: yamamaya (ヤママヤ?, ”the cat in the mountain”), yamapikaryā (ヤマピカリャー?, ”that which shines on the mountain”), mēpisukaryā (メーピスカリャー?, ”that which has flashing eyes”). To distinguish between the Iriomote cat and other cats on the island, locals also gave other cats nicknames such as pingimaya (ピンギマヤ?) for stray cats and maya (マヤ?) or mayagwā (マヤグヮー?) for house cats. Others, however, believed that the Iriomote cats may have just been feral cats.
Read more about this topic: Iriomote Cat
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“It was one of those evenings when men feel that truth, goodness and beauty are one. In the morning, when they commit their discovery to paper, when others read it written there, it looks wholly ridiculous.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Next to the striking of fire and the discovery of the wheel, the greatest triumph of what we call civilization was the domestication of the human male.”
—Max Lerner (b. 1902)
“As the mother of a son, I do not accept that alienation from me is necessary for his discovery of himself. As a woman, I will not cooperate in demeaning womanly things so that he can be proud to be a man. I like to think the women in my son’s future are counting on me.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)