Alexandra Szalay Explained

Alexandra Szalay
Citizenship:Australia
Alma Mater:University of Sydney
Occupation:Mammologist; Anthropologist
Employer:Australian Museum

Alexandra Szalay is an Australian anthropologist and mammalogist, who specialises in the study of Papua New Guinea. The Gebe cuscus (Phalanger alexandrae) is named after her.

Career

Szalay has studied the cultural significance of tree kangaroos to New Guinean people, particularly in body adornment and accessories.[1] She has worked at the Australian Museum, in the anthropology and the mammalogy departments.[2] [3] [4] She undertook postgraduate study at the University of Sydney, where her thesis was entitled: Maokop : the montane cultures of central Irian Jaya : environment, society, and history in highland West New Guinea.[5] As part of her research she catalogued the archives held at the South Australia Museum of the missionaries Norman and Sheila Draper.[6] Szalay has written about religion in West Papua,[7] as well as the West Papuan independence movement.[8] [9] [10]

Szalay is married to the climate campaigner and explorer Tim Flannery.[11] They met when she joined his 1994 expedition to New Caledonia. During the trip they collected Pleistocene fossil fauna from several places, including Kelangurr Cave.[12]

Szalay's father was Hungarian and a pilot in the Second World War.[13]

Eponym

Whilst a member of the 1994 expedition with Tim Flannery and Indonesian scientist Boeadi, a new species of cuscus was described for the first time and named after Szalay.[14] The cuscus is only found in the island of Gebe in the North Moluccas.[15] The Gebe cuscus (Phalanger alexandrae) lives between sea level and 300m and is endemic to the island in inhabits.[16]

References

  1. Book: Jackson, Stephen (Stephen M.). Kangaroo : portrait of an extraordinary marsupial. 2010. Allen & Unwin. Vernes, Karl.. 978-1-74175-903-7. Crows Nest, N.S.W.. 45. 652432066.
  2. Book: Flannery, Tim F. (Tim Fridtjof), 1956-. Among the islands. 2011. Atlantic Monthly Press. 978-1-921961-60-1. New York. 214. 823378060.
  3. Web site: Alex Szalay eyes the skull of the Bulmer's Fruit bat at the.... Getty Images. en-gb. 2020-05-17.
  4. Australian Mammalogy: Journal of the Australian Mammal Society, Volumes 16-20.
  5. Maokop : the montane cultures of central Irian Jaya : environment, society, and history in highland West New Guinea . 1999 . PhD . en . Alexandra . Szalay.
  6. Web site: FIGHTING AT PYRAMID, GRAND VALLEY OF THE BALIEM RIVER, WEST NEW GUINEA. cps.ruhosting.nl. 2020-05-16.
  7. Book: The encyclopedia of religion and nature. 2008. Continuum. Taylor, Bron Raymond., Kaplan, Jeffrey, 1954-, Hobgood-Oster, Laura, 1964-, Ivakhiv, Adrian J., York, Michael, 1939-. 978-0-19-975467-0. New York. 672. 634853866.
  8. Broek. Theo Van den. Szalay. Alexandra. 2001-06-01. Raising the Morning Star: Six months in the developing independence movement in West Papua. The Journal of Pacific History. 36. 1. 77–92. 10.1080/00223340123100. 159676349. 0022-3344.
  9. Kusumaryati, Veronika. "THE GREAT COLONIAL ROADS." Landscape Architecture Frontiers, vol. 5, no. 2, 2017, p. 137+. Gale Academic OneFile, Accessed 17 May 2020
  10. Ploeg. Anton. 2007. Revitalisation Movements among Me, Damal and Western Dani, Central Highlands, Papua, Indonesia. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. 132. 2. 263–286. 25843102. 0044-2666.
  11. Web site: Tim Flannery, eco-campaigner. www.ft.com. 2020-05-16.
  12. Flannery. T. 1999. The Pleistocene mammal fauna of Kelangurr Cave, central montane Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement. 57. 343.
  13. Web site: A melancholic discussion with friend-comrade. 2019-06-02. The Sydney Morning Herald. en. 2020-05-17.
  14. Book: Shuker, Karl.. The new zoo : new and rediscovered animals of the twentieth century. 2002. House of Stratus. Shuker, Karl.. 1-84232-561-2. New. Thirsk. 101. 59531459.
  15. Book: Beolens, Bo.. The eponym dictionary of mammals. 2009. Johns Hopkins University Press. Watkins, Michael, 1940-, Grayson, Michael.. 978-0-8018-9533-3. Baltimore. 7. 593239356.
  16. Web site: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Gebe Cuscus. 2015-06-15. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020-05-16.

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