Malcolm Playfair Anderson

Malcolm Playfair Anderson (6April 187921February 1919) was an American zoologist and explorer. Anderson took part in numerous scientific expeditions and was chosen in 1904 to lead the Duke of Bedford's Exploration of Eastern Asia.

Early life Anderson was born 6 April 1879 in Irvington, Indiana to Melville Best Anderson and his wife Charlena (née van Vleck). Anderson was one of his parents' two children who survived to adulthood; the other was a younger brother, Robert van Vleck Anderson. From ages twelve to fourteen, Anderson attended school in Germany, where he was bullied by German schoolboys. As a teenager, he collected a considerable number of bird and mammal specimens through California, Alaska, Arizona, and British Columbia, and worked with notable naturalists including Joseph Grinnell.

Career In 1904, Anderson was chosen by the Zoological Society of London to lead Duke of Bedford's Exploration of Eastern Asia. While his interest was mostly in the study of birds, he was hired by Oldfield Thomas to procure new mammal specimens. From 1904 to 1907, Anderson traveled through Japan, eastern China, and Korea.

In 1908, he took a break from scientific collecting, traveling Europe with his mother Charlena. The Bedford Exploration of Eastern Asia collected over 2,700 individual mammals, resulting in many newly described species. Anderson collected the holotypes of several species, including the Shinto shrew and Japanese red-backed vole. They had one son, Malcolm Gurnee Anderson, who died in infancy.