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The herpetological community primarily associates the name Miguel Alvarez del Toro with the famous book "Los Reptiles de Chiapas" published in three editions (1960, 1972, and 1982), and with the zoological park of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, now known as ZOOMAT "Zoologico Regional Miguel Alvarez del Toro," in his honor. But "Don Miguel," as he was known to most of us who had the honor to meet him, was also dedicated to the endless battle of conservation of the wilderness of Chiapas.
Miguel Alvarez del Toro was born in the city of Colima, capital city of the state with the same name, on August 23, 1917. He was an avid collector and observer during his childhood in Colima. In 1932, his family moved to Mexico City where he finished high school and later got his first jobs in natural history. Although his formal education ended at the high school level, his self-taught natural and zoological expertise later earned him honorary doctorates from the Universidad de Chapingo (1992) and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas (1993).
At the age of 21, Don Miguel collected birds for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia from areas surrounding Mexico City. From 1939 to 1940 he was a taxidermist ("Tecnico preparador") for the "Museo de Flora y Fauna, dependiente del Departamento Autonomo Forestal y de Caza y Pesca" in Mexico City. He became subdirector of the same museum in 1940 and remained there until 1941.
In 1942, he moved to Chiapas and accepted the position "Zoologo General" of the "Departmento de Viveros Tropicales y Museo de Historia Natural," currently known as the "Instituto de Historia Natural." He was appointed director two years later after the premature death of the former director, and he remained in that position until his death in 1996.
Although Alvarez del Toro began as an ornithologist, his expertise extended into other fields of zoology such as mammalogy, arachnology, and herpetology. He was also...