80 Years Later: Fishes and Reptiles from Fatu Hiva Finally Identified

The Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl is best known for his famous Kon-Tiki expedition. In 1947, he and his crew sailed a primitive balsa wood raft from South America to French Polynesia to show that people could have made long sea voyages across the Pacific Ocean even in ancient times.

But Heyerdahl’s interest in the Pacific began much earlier. In December 1936, he and his wife, Liv, traveled to Fatu Hiva, one of the most remote islands in the Marquesas group. They spent a year living off the land and studying the local animal life.

During their stay, Thor and Liv collected numerous fish, reptiles, and amphibian species (this kind of research is called ichthyology for fish, and herpetology for reptiles and amphibians). After their return, they sold the collection to the Natural History Museum in Oslo, where the specimens would be identified and preserved for future research. After 80 years the results are published.

Scientists have studied and identified the collection. In total, 94 specimens were examined. Most are fish—66 reef fish from at least 14 species and 27 freshwater fish from at least six species. They also collected 10 reptiles, including two species of geckos (Gehyra insulensis and G. oceanica) and two types of skinks (Emoia cyanura and Ornithuroscincus noctua). Many of the animals were juveniles, which made them harder to identify accurately. In the future, DNA analysis could help confirm their identities.

This early trip to Fatu Hiva was an important turning point in Heyerdahl’s life. It shifted his interest from zoology to anthropology, exploring big ideas about how people might have traveled and settled across the Pacific, a topic he would become famous for in the years to come.