April 20, 2007: Goodman's Mouse Lemur

[Undertoad]

Oh gawd yes. Irresistible. Thanks to magilla for sending this along originally; I found a nice summary of what it is to accompany the photo. This is a new species of Lemur that they've identified in Madagascar. They named it after this guy:

Lehilahytsara means "good man" in Malagasy. The German primatologists chose this name to honor Steve Goodman, scientist with The Field Museum in Chicago and WWF in Madagascar. "Goodman's field research in all remote parts of Madagascar has contributed enormously to our knowledge about the diversity of Madagascar's unique and threatened fauna and flora," Kappeler says.

"It is truly an honor to have such an animal named after me," Goodman says, "but this is really a joint tribute to all of the scientists and students who have taken part in our multidisciplinary surveys over the past 16 years."

Now to the beastie,

Mirza zaza is nocturnal and the size of a gray squirrel weighing about 10 ounces (300 grams). It has a long bushy tail, relatively small ears and large testes, which are suggestive of a promiscuous mating system.

Wait, is it just the large testes which are suggestive of promiscuity, or are the long bushy tail and relatively small ears also signs of that? Well, going by the pic, the dude is 1/8th sack, which is pretty testicular, you've got to give him that. So I guess it truly would be an honor to have it named after you.