Call This Lemur "Goodman"

By Rachelle Bowden in Miscellaneous on Aug 10, 2005 11:57AM

Two decades of work studying animals in Madagascar paid off for local Field Museum biologist Steve Goodman. You see, German and Malagasy scientists discovered two new species of lemurs and named one of them after Goodman.

The species will be known as Microcebus lehilahytsara. Don't get it? Well, you must not speak Malagasy then. "Tsara" means good and "lehilahy" means man. We're guessing that calling the new species Microcebus Goodman, or M. Goodman, was just too easy. You know, how they always have to have those fancy pants names you can't really even pronounce!

Goodman has been working in Madagascar for about 17 years. He spends most of his year living there and then returns to Chicago for a month or two during the Madagascar winter, which is summertime here. It's a bitch he didn't discover the species himself, but still super cool that the scientists who did find the little guys wanted to honor him and his work by naming the creature after him.

Goodman is described as being "like Indiana Jones" and as the "Bohemian of Biology." He's 47, married to a Malagasy woman and has a young son. On being named after the newly discovered species of lemur, Goodman said, "It's a great honor to have such a cute little animal named after me." Indeed!