Museum of Natural History and Deborah M. Cornell University naturalist professor Paul Curtis believes the animal found under the Brooklyn Bridge "was likely a small dog that drowned and has been floating in the river for quite a while. In some cases, only the first line of the original scatological lyrics is preserved. His letters indicate he felt his nationality to be German (see e. But I do have a claim for love, I do have a claim about affection. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized.