François Levaillant
François Levaillant (born
Vaillant, later in life as
Le Vaillant, ''"The Valiant"'') (6 August 1753 – 22 November 1824) was a French author, explorer,
naturalist, zoological collector, travel writer, and noted
ornithologist. He described many new species of birds based on birds he collected in Africa and several birds are named after him. He was among the first to use colour plates for illustrating birds and opposed the use of binomial nomenclature introduced by
Carl Linnaeus, preferring instead to use descriptive French names such as the
bateleur (meaning "tumbler or tight-rope walker") for the distinctive African eagle.
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