Shirley Cameron Coryndon (1926–1976) was a British

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

and authority on fossil

hippopotami The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant ...

. In the 1950s she studied paleontology with Donald MacInnes at the Museum of Nairobi. Coryndon was the paleontological assistant to

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduv ...

at the Centre for Prehistory and Paleontology. She also participated in excavations at

Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropological localities in the world; the many sites exposed by the gorge have proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evolution. A steep-si ...

. She was previously married to Roger Coryndon, son of colonial administrator

Robert Coryndon Sir Robert Thorne Coryndon, (2 April 1870 – 10 February 1925) was a British colonial administrator, a former secretary of Cecil Rhodes who became Governor of the colonies of Uganda (1918–1922) and Kenya (1922–1925). He was one of the most ...

, and in 1969 she married British paleontologist

R. J. G. Savage Robert Joseph Gay Savage (2 July 1927 – 9 May 1998) was a British palaeontologist known as Britain's leading expert on fossil mammals. He worked at the University of Bristol for nearly 40 years and studied fossils around the world, especially ...

, whom she had met in Kenya in 1955. She is commemorated in the names of the fossil hippopotami '' Hexaprotodon coryndonae'' and '' Kenyapotamus coryndonae'', as well as the fossil bovine '' Ugandax coryndonae''.

Books

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References

* British palaeontologists Paleozoologists 1926 births 1976 deaths Women paleontologists 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century British women scientists {{paleontologist-stub