Nov. 5, 2013 — Through state-of-the-art ancient DNA and protein research and an exhaustive investigation of historical literature, researchers have determined a 300-year-old type specimen for Asian elephants is actually an African elephant.
In a study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, led by Enrico Cappellini and Thomas Gilbert in Denmark, researchers have established a new specimen to represent the species, which is likely the remains of Hansken, the famous performing elephant from the 1600s.
What's in a name?
Whenever a new species is discovered, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, it is given a scientific name using binomial nomenclature and a "type" specimen is preserved, usually in a museum or research collection, so that other researchers can refer to it for physical details about the species.
"The type specimen is considered to be the representative for the entire species," said Alfred Roca, a professor of animal sciences and member of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, who led Illinois's efforts in the study.
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