People
Jean-Jacques Audubon des Cayes
- Tuesday, April 26, 2011 6:31 AM
Jean-Jacques Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Saint Domingue on April 26 1785, the French colony, known today as Haïti.
He is being honored today by Google's Doodles, on their main page.
His father was a French sea captain and a plantation owner and his mother was his father’s French mistress.
Audubon spent a few years of his childhood in France and at the age of 18 he immigrated to the United States, to avoid being enlisted in Napolean's Army - which at the time was battling the Africans and mulattoes of Saint Domingue, today's Haitians.
But it was in the United States that he would change his name from Jean-Jacques to John James Audubon.
Since his childhood he had an interest in birds as well as drawing. Soon after reaching US, he began his research on American birds.
With his interest in drawing birds getting steady, he came up with the illustration of his first volume in 1827 titled The Birds of America.
This book earned him fame and success as an ornithologist. Some of his famous books include A Synopsis of the Birds of North America, Ornithological Biography, and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.
He died in New York on 27th January at the age of 65.
The National Audubon Society (U.S.) was named in his honor and its mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife for the benefit of humanity.
Source: Wikipedia , Mirror UK , BlackFridayDeals
