Luis Sánchez Varona Calvo

Eminent paleontologist and geologist.

He was born in La Habana. He studied at the Academia de La Salle and at the Colegio Nacional de Periodistas.

From a professional standpoint, he distinguished himself in the fields of paleontological and geological research. He made numerous contributions to the study of mammals, particularly to the knowledge of Cuban jutías, true living fossils. He was a journalist, as well as an excellent draftsman and photographer.

On July 5, 1961, he joined the Commission attached to the Executive Board of the Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria, directed by Dr. Antonio Núñez Jiménez, whose objectives were to inspect and purchase existing pieces in museums and natural history collections throughout the country, with the aim of creating the necessary conditions for the establishment of a Cuban museum of natural sciences. When it was established under the name Museo de Historia Natural "Felipe Poey", he served as Curator in the hall dedicated to mammals.

In 1962 he was part of the founding Commission of the Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, and from that year on he began working at the Instituto de Zoología, where he worked until his retirement in 1979.

He researched and published works on crocodiles, cetaceans, bats, some bird species, the almiquí, and the mute dog of the Island's first inhabitants. He was interested in studies on the behavior of various zoological species.

His monumental work: Catalogue of Living and Extinct Mammals, was published by the Instituto de Zoología of the Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, in 1974, and is a required reference source for biogeographic analyses of mammals of the West Indies.

Defender of the existence of monkeys in Cuba during the pre-Columbian era, he published some works in consultation with paleontologist Oscar Arredondo, who discovered and named, in honor of his colleague, a new species of fossil primate, called: "Paralonatta varonai", whose skull was found in 1987, in a cave in Sierra de Galeras, Pinar del Río, a discovery in which the renowned anthropologist Manuel Rivero de la Calle also participated.

As a publicist, he developed, through the pages of the magazine Bohemia and the newspaper Pueblo, a meritorious campaign in favor of the knowledge and protection of Cuban fauna; in this regard, articles related to the need to maintain, on scientific grounds, a zoo in the city of La Habana and a National Park in the Ciénaga de Zapata are of great value.

In 1981, Editorial Gente Nueva printed the work: Mammals of Cuba, composed by Sánchez-Varona. This book, like other articles of his on the nature of Cuba, included posthumously in the first volumes of the encyclopedia: Por los caminos de la Edad de Oro, are evidence of his didactic intentions, and of his effort to stimulate, among children and young people, a culture based on appreciation of biological diversity.

He gave lectures at the Universidad de La Habana, and provided consultancy to several international organizations, among them: the Society for the Preservation of Fauna, of London; the Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales, of Venezuela; and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, of England.

On May 27, 1985, he was distinguished as an Honorary Member of the Sociedad Cubana de Ciencias Biológicas. He left unpublished the work: Vertebrates and Their Evolutionary History.

ACTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Catalogue of Living and Extinct Mammals of the Antilles. Publication of the Instituto de Zoología of the ACC, La Habana, 1974
Mammals of Cuba. Editorial Gente Nueva, La Habana, 1980
Sánchez-Varona, Luis and Oscar Arredondo. "On the validity of Montaneia anthropomorpha Ameghino, (Primates: Cebidae)". In: Poeyana. No 255, La Habana, 1983, p. 21
Remarks on the biology and zoogreography of Solenodon (Atopogale) cubanus Peters, 1881 (Mamalia, Insectívora). Vol. 53. No 1. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 1983, pp. 93-98.