Cuvier Was Honored Through Naming Of Animals

One of the interesting facts about Georges Cuvier is that he was commemorated through the naming of creatures. Georges Cuvier was honored by having creatures, reptiles, and islands named after him in recognition of his significant contributions to taxonomy and paleontology. These creatures include, among many others, the Galeocerdo cuvier tiger shark, the Cuvier's beaked whale, and the Cuvier's gazelle. The Puerto Rican lizards Anolis cuvieri, Bachia cuvieri, and Oplurus cuvieri are among the reptiles. In addition, Cuvier Island was a New Zealand island.

Cuvier also proved that a massive skeleton discovered in modern-day Argentina belonged to Megatherium, a giant, prehistoric ground sloth, and that elephant-like bones discovered in North America belonged to an extinct mammal he would later refer to as a mastodon. He was one of the first to propose that reptiles, rather than mammals, had predominated in the world in prehistoric times. He gave the pterosaur the name Pterodactylus, described the water reptile Mosasaurus (but did not find or give it a name), and called the pterosaur.