Oscar Arredondo, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetOscar Arredondo
Cuban paleontologist and ornithologist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Havana, Havana Province, Cuba
About Oscar Arredondo
- Oscar Paulino Arredondo de la Mata (18 July 1918 – 20 July 2001) was a Cuban paleontologist.
- He described a number of birds and mammals of the Quaternary Period from fossils obtained from Cuban caves.
- He has been called the "father of Cuban vertebrate paleontology".Oscar Arredondo was born in Havana in the Quarter of the Pillar.
- He lived in that area until 1955.
- Born in a family of ordinary means with six other siblings, he studied at the local public school (number 33).
- He took an interest in natural history early in life and learnt about animals on his own.
- In 1936 he sang with tango music groups for various radio stations and was an actor in the local theatre.
- In 1942 he worked at a local hair salon apart from selling fruits and as being a representative for theater workers.
- He continued his personal studies and sketched various local birds.
- In 1945 he took an interest in exploring caves and began to explore fossils found in the caves of Cuba.
- In order to join the expeditions of the Speleological Society of Cuba, he began to work as a postman, a job he held for the 36 years before retiring in 1984.Arredondo's work on paleontology was mostly on the birds and mammals of the Quaternary, and he described a Cuban condor (he placed it in the genus Sarcoramphus, but it was later identified as Titanohierax borrasi), an eagle, several owls, including the giant Ornimegalonyx and a Teratorn.
- He wrote both scientific (nearly 134) and popular science articles.
- Several species were named after him including Pulsatrix arredondoi Brodkorb (1968), Capromys arroundondoi Varona (1984), Cerion (Strophiops) arroundondoi Jaime (1984) and Solenodon arredondoi Morgan & Ottenwalder, (1993).
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