Fairchild, David

1 publication

Fairchild, David (detail)
1917A new food mammal.
Jour. Heredity 8(8): 338-345. 5 figs.
—Rev.: Bull. Pan-Amer. Union 45: 241-246, Aug. 1917. Published anonymously. Gen. acc. of sirs. and of legends and sightings of mermaids; discusses economic uses of sirs., particularly the Florida manatee. The idea of domesticating manatees, "which is first expressed in this article," is credited to Alexander Graham Bell, who is quoted on pp. 342-343 and who instigated the author's study of the possibilities. Manatee domestication is considered preferable to the introduction of pygmy hippopotamuses into swamps of the southern U.S., as had been previously suggested. The yield of saleable meat per manatee carcass is estimated at 85%. A chemical analysis of manatee grass ("Cymodocea manatorum") is presented for comparison with four common kinds of animal fodder; it is found to be "almost identical chemically" to cow pea.