Talk:Ernest Walker

Ernest P. Walker, mammalogist

I added Ernest P. Walker (1891-1969), mammalogist (to the disambiguation page for Ernest Walker). Uncertain whether a red link could appear on a DAB page, I checked the "Dos and Don'ts", which requires only blue links; so I undid the addition - for now.

I believe that Walker is notable, as writer of the encyclopaedic "Walker's Mammals of the World" through five editions from 1964 to 1991; the latest sixth edition in 1999 is substantially revised and enlarged by Ronald M. Nowak, also a notable mammalogist. However, I don't have enough material yet for an article on either scientist. For a start, here are snippets from a review from Amazon by economist and prolific author and publisher Gregory McNamee:

In 1930, the great mammalogist Ernest P. Walker (1891-1969), who was then assistant director of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., set out to make a checklist of all the world's mammal species. Thirty-four years later, that simple catalog had grown into the huge first edition of Mammals of the World, a book dedicated to all mammals…

Now in its sixth edition and compiled in two volumes, the even larger Mammals of the World contains thorough descriptions of every genus of the class Mammalia known to have lived in the last 5,000 years: 28 orders, 146 families, 1,192 genera, and 4,809 separate species. … contains an extensive bibliography numbering some 6,000 items, making the set of inestimable importance to students and professionals.

Many of those mammal species, Nowak writes, are now in jeopardy. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists 2,078 threatened species, an increase of 1,661 species over its first list, published in 1987. … He argues that much greater effort needs to be given to protecting these animal citizens everywhere in the world. The knowledge of them that this extraordinary compilation affords is a start.

BTW, "Walker's Mammals of the World" is often cited as an authority by Wikipedia articles on mammals; perhaps the work is itself notable.

yoyo (talk) 01:45, 21 July 2016 (UTC)

Also from Amazon, on its page for the related "Walker's Primates of the World", some more info about both mammalogists:

Ernest P. Walker (1891-1969) began work on Mammals of the World in the early 1930s, when he became assistant director of the National Zoo in Washington. His work reflected an unequaled store of knowledge about the world's mammals. Ronald M. Nowak is the author of the fifth and sixth editions of Walker's Mammals of the World. His other works on mammalogy include North American Quaternary Canis and several parts of the National Geographic Society's Wild Animals of North America, for which he also was editorial consultant. He received a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Kansas in 1973 and was staff mammalogist at the former Office of Endangered Species, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1974 to 1987. He served as an Air Force officer for four years and is a private pilot.

yoyo (talk) 02:01, 21 July 2016 (UTC)