Noted wildlife expert returns to Alaska

Submitted by Doreen Fitzgerald
Phone: (907) 474-5042
07/12/06

Acclaimed field biologist George Schaller will present "Exploration and Conservation in Alaska, Mongolia, and Tibet"? on Monday, July 17 at the Elvey Auditorium, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks. The free public event begins at 7 p.m. Professor Brad Griffith of the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology will give introductory remarks on "Climate Change Implications for Wildlife and their Habitats in the North."?

During four decades of field research, Schaller has contributed significantly to wildlife protection efforts worldwide and the understanding of endangered species. His work was important in the establishment of five of the world’s wildlife reserves, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His conservation honors include the Guggenheim Fellowship and the World Wildlife Fund’s Gold Medal, the International Cosmos Prize, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the first Wildlife Conservation Society Beebe Fellowship.

Schaller’s interest in wildlife initially led him to Fairbanks, where he graduated from the University of Alaska in 1955 with bachelor’s degrees in vertebrate zoology and anthropology. His return to Alaska this summer marks the 50th anniversary of a 1956 expedition organized by Olaus J. Murie, a biologist and wildlife artist familiar to many Alaskans. Murie was accompanied on the trek by his wife, Margaret, UA’s first woman graduate, Schaller, UA professor Brina Kessel and others. They traveled to the Sheenjek River area about 125 miles north of Fort Yukon.

Schaller’s participation in the 1959-1960 African Primate Expedition in the eastern Congo and western Uganda resulted in his 1963 book, "The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior." The author of nine books and numerous articles, he received the National Book Award for "Serengeti Lion: a Study of Predator-Prey Relations." Other works include "The Last Panda" and "Tibet’s Hidden Wilderness."

Schaller is currently director for science at Wildlife Conservation International, a division of the New York Zoological Society. His presentation is organized by the University of Alaska geography program as part of the UAF International Polar Year lecture series. The UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Geophysical Institute are co-sponsors of the event.