Skvader

The Skvader (Tetrao lepus pseudo- hybridus rarissimus L. ) is a fantasy animal or mythical creature from Sweden. It has the head, the trunk and the feet of a hare (Lepus ), and the wings and the tail of a capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus).

Svenska Akademiens ordbok derives the name of the beast from the Swedish words skvattra ( " chirp " ) and Tjäder ( " Capercaillie ").

History

The Skvader has its origin in the hunter's an Håkan Dahl Mark. Mark Dahl, Flößereiinspektor at the mouth of Indalsälven and told hunters, among friends in the hotel Knaust in Sundsvall, he had in 1874 shot a winged rabbit in the woods of Lunde near Timrå. He called the animal Skvader.

1907 Dahl received marrow from his housekeeper Lova Lindahl birthday gift a painting that showed such a Skvader. The painting had Lovas nephew Halvar Frisendahl painted, inspired by a rabbit and a grouse purchased in the marketplace of Sundsvall.

Mark Dahl donated it shortly before his death in 1912 Medelpad Fornminnesförening ( a home club in the historic Medelpad, lie in the Sundsvall and Timrå ). The director of the association, Carl Erik Hammarberg, then had the idea of ​​creating a "real" Skvader. When he at an exhibition in Örnsköldsvik 1916 the taxidermist Rudolf Granberg from Granloholm, a district Sundsvall met, he reported that his plan. 1918 finally Granberg Hammarberg was handed the stuffed Skvader, which has since been exhibited in craft and Maritime Museum on the Norra Berget in Sundsvall. In the museum and the paintings Term Dahl is seen.

The Skvader quickly became the unofficial symbol of the city. 1987 won the Skvader an unofficial vote on the animal the historical Swedish province Medelpad.