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Raymond Lee Ditmars (June 22, 1876 – May 12, 1942) was an American
herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...
, writer, public speaker and pioneering natural history filmmaker.


Biography

Ditmars was fascinated by all animals, but primarily
reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...
s, obtaining his first snakes at twelve years of age. His parents eventually allowed him to keep all manner of venomous reptiles in the attic of their house at 1666 Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx. Ditmars left school at 16 with no formal qualifications but nevertheless gained a deep understanding of zoology through his own personal study of snakes and other animals in the wild and captivity. Throughout his life, vacations were spent searching for new specimens. Such was his interest and knowledge that he would eventually be regarded as the country's foremost
herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...
. In 1893, Ditmars was hired as an assistant in the department of
entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
at the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
, primarily because of his talent as an artist. Four years later, he quit this job to take a better-paying job as a stenographer. In July 1898, he began a short stint as a court reporter for the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. One of his first pieces led him to discover the newly created
New York Zoological Society New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
(now the
Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in ...
), which was in the process of building what would become the
Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and the largest Metropolis, metropol ...
. On July 17, 1899 - four months before the zoo's grand opening - Ditmars was employed as an assistant curator in charge of reptiles. He was then aged twenty-three, and would spend the rest of his career with the zoo. His own collection of forty-five reptiles, representing fifteen species, formed the nucleus of the reptile house, which proved an immediate success with visitors. A few years later he began work on his first major publication, ''The Reptile Book'', while teaching himself still and motion photography. He would provide almost all the illustrations in this and his many subsequent books, and, in 1914, produced and released ''The Living Book of Nature,'' his first motion picture to wide acclaim. Many other films followed, pioneering the latest available techniques, including
stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
, timelapse,
macro photography Macro photography (or photomacrography or macrography, and sometimes macrophotography) is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is g ...
, and by the mid-1920s,
sound film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...
. During the late 1920s, Ditmars helped bring about
antivenom Antivenom, also known as antivenin, venom antiserum, and antivenom immunoglobulin, is a specific treatment for envenomation. It is composed of antibodies and used to treat certain venomous bites and stings. Antivenoms are recommended only if ...
centers in the United States and Honduras, and soon after launched a series of expeditions to Central and South America in search of tropical specimens for the zoo. His main quarry was a bushmaster, the world's largest type of viper, a specimen of which he successfully brought back from the island of
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
in 1934. The previous year, he also famously collected and exhibited the first living specimens of
vampire bat Vampire bats, members of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are Phyllostomidae, leaf-nosed bats currently found in Central and South America. Their food source is the blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species ...
. Ditmars demonstrated an aptitude for animal husbandry (once again self-taught), and was unofficially given responsibility for mammals as well as reptiles soon after his appointment to the Bronx Zoo, but he was not formally granted the title of curator of mammals until 1926, following the retirement of William Hornaday, the zoo's founding director. In 1940 - two years before his death - Ditmars also took charge of insects after a successful exhibit in the 1939–40 World's Fair. Ditmars's flair for self-publicity and the fruitful relationships he maintained with New York reporters ensured that he and the zoo were rarely out of the papers. It was in large part, thanks to the efforts and enthusiasm of Ditmars, that the Bronx Zoo first achieved a world-class status. He also placed $10,000 in trust at a New York bank for the first person to provide evidence of a hoop snake.


Books

Ditmars published several books on
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
, his own life, and his travels. ''The Reptile Book'', discussed above, was released in 1907 to great success; it was republished and expanded several times. With ''Reptiles of the World'' in 1910 (edited and expanded in 1933), ''Snakes of the World'' in 1931, ''Reptiles of North America'' in 1936 and ''Field Book of North American Snakes'' in 1939, he helped tap a large public interest in reptiles. Many herpetologists of the
baby boomer Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the demographic cohort preceded by the Silent Generation and followed by Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964 during the mid-20th century baby boom that ...
generation fell in love with reptiles in part through reading Ditmars's titles which, during the post-WW2 years, were often the only books on the topic available in school and town libraries. His other, more autobiographical, books were also a success and included: ''Strange Animals I Have Known'' (1931), ''Thrills of a Naturalist's Quest'' (1932), ''Confessions of a Scientist'' (1934), ''Snakehunters' Holiday'' (1935 - co-authored with William Bridges, then of the ''New York Sun'') and ''The Making of a Scientist'' (1937).


Legacy

Ditmars is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, '' Phrynosoma ditmarsi''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Ditmars", p. 73).


Films

Ditmars pioneered the direction and production of at least 84 silent nature documentaries, e.g., *''Life in Our Ponds'' (1912,
Pathé Frères Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...
) *''Hidden Life in Sea Weed'' (1913, Pathé Frères) *''The Snowy Egret and Its Extermination'' (1913, Pathé Frères) *''The Fish with a Storage Battery in Its Brain'' (1913) *''The Deadliest of Nature's Celebrities'' (1914, Pathé Frères) *''Housekeeping at the Zoo'' (1910 - 1922, a documentary of the New York Zoological Park) *''Insects That Mimic'' (1914, Pathé Frères (France)) *''Amphibian Oddities'' (1916, Power Picture Plays) *''The Smaller Monkeys'' (1917) *''Evolution'' (1918, Educational Films Corporation of America) *''Biography of a Stag'' (1918, Educational Films, USA, a documentary from a zoo about the growth of the antlers of a stag) *''The Polar Bear'' (1919) *''The Four Seasons'' (1921, with Charles Urban?, Kineto Film Company of America, a lyrical documentary of seasonal changes in the natural world)) *''Like a Beaver'' (?)


Sources

*Adler, Kraig (1989). ''Contributions to the History of Herpetology''. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR).


References


External links

*, where his scientific films of the 1910s and 1920s are listed.


Further reading

*Eatherley, Dan (2015). ''Bushmaster: Raymond Ditmars and the Hunt for the World's Largest Viper''. New York: Arcade. *Rogers, Cameron (1928). "Profiles: Specialist in Snakes". ''The New Yorker'', July 14, 1928, pp. 24–27. * Jackson, Kenneth T. ''
The Encyclopedia of New York City ''The Encyclopedia of New York City'' is a reference book on New York City, New York. Edited by Columbia University history professor Kenneth T. Jackson, the book was first published in 1995 by the New-York Historical Society and Yale Univers ...
''.
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
.
"Dr. Ditmars is Dead at 65".
''New York Sun'', Tues, 12 May 1942. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ditmars, Raymond 1876 births 1942 deaths 20th-century American memoirists American herpetologists American zoologists Film producers from New Jersey Film directors from New Jersey American cinema pioneers Wildlife Conservation Society people Articles containing video clips