1. Pierre Sonnerat was a French naturalist, colonial administrator, writer and explorer.
11 Facts About Pierre Sonnerat
1. 2.
Pierre Sonnerat described numerous species of plants and animals on his travels and is honoured in the genus Sonneratia and in other specific names such as that of the grey junglefowl Gallus sonneratii.
3.
Sonnerat was born in Lyon and was the nephew of the botanist Pierre Poivre who was a French colonial administrator in the Mascarenes.
4.
Sonnerat became a private secretary to his uncle Pierre and made several voyages to southeast Asia, visiting the Philippines and Moluccas between 1769 and 1772.
5.
In Mauritius, Sonnerat met the naturalist Philibert Commerson in 1767 and worked for him briefly, travelling to Reunion.
6.
Pierre Sonnerat then worked as a naval commissar and travelled to India and China from 1774 to 1781 with a base in Yanam and Pondicherry.
7.
Pierre Sonnerat returned to Europe in 1813, meeting Joseph Banks in London and returned to Paris in 1814 where he died.
8.
Pierre Sonnerat was the first person to give a scientific description of the south Chinese fruit tree lychee.
9.
Pierre Sonnerat supposedly took this by "mistake" to be the animal's name, and it was called the Indri.
10.
Pierre Sonnerat's books included Voyage a la Nouvelle-Guinee and Voyage aux Indes orientales et a la Chine, fait depuis 1774 jusqu'a 1781.
11.
Pierre Sonnerat's name is used in the specific name of the grey junglefowl.