
Many Thanks to Cayman Airways for their continuing
support of the National Trust Visiting Scientist
Program
For the past several years, Cayman Airways has assisted
the National Trust for the Cayman Islands in support
of scientific work being conducted on all three Cayman
Islands.
This year, in mid-January, Dr Richard R. Askew and his
artist/photographer wife, Margaret, visited Grand Cayman,
Little Cayman and Cayman Brac to photograph Cayman’s
wild butterfly population and to update research on butterfly
species here for their new book Butterflies of the Cayman
Islands. This will be the first book of Cayman’s
butterflies and it will help to promote their conservation,
as well as eco-tourism on all three islands.
Dr. Askew originally described the Cayman Islands butterfly
species in 1975. He wrote the descriptions for all the
butterfly stamp issues over the years and Mrs. Askew
has done both the photography and the artwork for them.
Students and interested local naturalists often accompany
Dr. Askew while he is working in the field and he avails
us of the opportunity to do presentations to the public
whenever he is in the Cayman Islands.
During early February, Dr. Merlin Tuttle, Founder and
CEO of Bat Conservation International (www.batcon.org)
visited all three islands as well. Dr. Tuttle documented
bat colonies in caves to assess their potential as tourist
attractions. He also mist-netted and assessed the status
of rare Cayman Islands bat species in forests post-Ivan.
He spoke to various governmental and non-governmental
groups and is appeared on CITN News.
The international interest that Cayman Island species
attract highlights the fact that the flora and fauna
here are markedly different from other Caribbean islands
due to our isolation in the sea. Already, eco-tourists
visit this website and www.nationaltrust.org.ky regularly
to learn more about the unique wildlife and natural habitats.
The work of these two highly regarded scientists will
be published in the international press and locally.
This type of work, and the publicity it generates can
only result in more eco-tourists discovering the wonders
of the Cayman Islands.
Cayman Airways is to be commended for their generous
support of this National Trust program which benefits
not only pure science, but also conservation and our
eco-tourism product. Housing for both groups has been
donated by local families and Pirates
Point.Visit the “Press” page on this
site for more on the National Trust Visiting Scientist
Program. Abbreviated CVs for both scientists appended
here.
Richard R. Askew PhD, FRES -
Cayman Islands Visiting Scientist
Dr. R. R. Askew was first involved in the biology of
the Cayman Islands as the Entomologist on the Royal Society
Expedition to the Islands in 1975 and wrote the chapter
on entomology in The Cayman Islands: Natural
History and Biogeography (eds Brunt and Davies
1994, Kluwer Academic Publishers), a standard text on
the natural history of the islands.
Since 1975 he has made regular return visits to the
islands, monitoring in particular population changes
in Lepidoptera. These observations have been documented
on each occasion and reports lodged with the Dept of
Environment, the MRCU and the National Trust.
The book Butterflies of the Cayman Islands,
is intended mainly as a comprehensive identification
guide to the 50 or so species that are known from the
islands, and it is aimed at residents, local school children
and the very many visitors who come ashore from cruise
ships as well as those who stay on the islands. It is
written in easily understandable terms but nevertheless
includes observations on quite technical subjects such
as species-area relationships, mimicry, warning colouration
and chemical defences. A particular feature of the book
is the emphasis on identifying larval food plants and
nectar resources of adults.
Until retirement Dr. Askew was Reader in Entomology
at the University of Manchester and continues to be actively
involved in research. He is the author of Dragonflies
of Europe. This is a standard text on dragonfly identification
and went to a second edition in 2004.
Summary Vitae - Dr. Merlin Tuttle, Founder
and President, Bat Conservation International
Last revised: 7/26/07
Dr. Merlin Tuttle is an ecologist, award-winning wildlife
photographer, and leading conservationist who has studied
bats and championed their preservation for more than
45 years.
He is known worldwide through his scientific discoveries,
media appearances, popular articles, and photographs,
including expositions from Harvard University to the
British Museum, and numerous feature articles that include
the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and National
Geographic.
He founded Bat Conservation International (BCI), an
organization devoted to research, education and conservation
of bats, in 1982. BCI emphasizes broad collaboration
that balances both human and wildlife needs and has become
a model for positive, no-conflict solutions. Against
all odds, BCI has grown rapidly and now employs 30 biologists,
educators, and administrators, supported by 13,500 members
in 70 countries. It has gained permanent protection for
many of the world’s largest remaining bat populations,
has sponsored research to document the vital ecological
and economic roles of bats, has trained hundreds of leading
wildlife managers, and has vastly improved the public’s
perception of bats.
He has been widely acknowledged for these achievements.
In 1986, his research accomplishments were recognized
through the Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. Award, the highest
international honor conferred by colleagues in the field
of chiropteran biology. In 1991, he received The Society
for Conservation Biology’s Distinguished Achievement
Award, honoring the accomplishments of Bat Conservation
International. In 1997, he received both the National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chuck Yeager Award
and the Chevron/Times Mirror Magazine’s Conservation
Award. In 1999, he was honored by United for Conservation
in Mexico and won the $10,000 grand prize in the country’s
first nature photography contest. Dr. Tuttle also received
the National Wildlife Federation’s prestigious
National Conservation Achievement Award for 2001. In
2002, The U.S. Postal Service featured four of Dr. Tuttle’s
photographs in a commemorative stamp series. In 2003
Dr. Tuttle received the Margaret Douglas Medal for notable
service to conservation education from The Garden Club
of America, and in 2007 he received a U.S. Congressional
Award on behalf of the achievements of Bat Conservation
International.
OTHER AWARDS
Additionally, BCI received three national awards for
Dr. Tuttle’s work on the Discover Bats! Video
and educator’s handbook on bats: the 1998 Communicator
Award of Distinction for Environmental Issues, the
1998 Telly Award for the Non-broadcast Film Category
(Nature & Wildlife), and the 1999 Apple Award from
the National Educational Media Network.
PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Tuttle has authored 48 research publications and
dozens of popular articles. His popular book, America’s
Neighborhood Bats, and the Bat House Builder’s
Handbook both rank among the University of Texas
Press’ all-time best sellers.
LECTURES, SEMINARS
Dr. Tuttle has been invited to speak in many of the world’s
most prestigious lecture halls. He has given more than
200 major public lectures and research seminars, including
at: Harvard, Yale and Cornell Universities; the American
Museum of Natural History, The Los Angeles County Natural
History Museum, the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium,
the British Museum, South Africa’s Durban Natural
Science Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution; Sydney,
Australia’s Taronga Zoo, the U.S. National Zoo,
and the Brookfield Zoo; and the National Geographic Society
Headquarters.
SELECTED TELEVISION AND RADIO APPEARANCES
- In 1984, Dr. Tuttle’s conservation efforts
were featured in a widely aired National Geographic
Television special, titled Merlin’s Bats.
- In 1985, Tuttle’s research was featured in
the BBC Special, The Bat That Cracked the Frog
Code, which aired throughout Europe and the U.S.
- In 1990, Tuttle and his conservation efforts were
featured in the Survival Anglia production, The
Secret World of Bats, which premiered on CBS television
and subsequently aired in more than 100 countries.
Dr. Tuttle was the Scientific Advisor who planned and
participated in this award-winning documentary that
continues to air on cable television shows such as
the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.
- In 2006, Dr. Tuttle’s lifelong conservation
successes were featured in Merlin Tuttle, Guardian
Angel of Bats, part of the MONA LISA & Mandarava
Productions, “Heroes of Nature” television
series which aired throughout Europe.
- Dr. Tuttle’s other TV appearances include ABC’s Good
Morning America, and World News Tonight;
NBC’s Today Show, Dateline, and David
Letterman Show; CBS’s Evening News;
PBS’s Charlie Rose Show; the Discovery
Channel, National Geographic Explorer, National
Public Radio, and Voice of America, among
many other television and radio interviews worldwide.
FEATURE ARTICLES
BCI’s accomplishments have been featured in most
of the world’s major newspapers and magazines,
including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Modern
Maturity, The New Yorker, Time, People, Geo, Reader’s
Digest and Stern magazines and most of
the major metropolitan newspapers of the U.S. including
the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles
Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, and Washington
Post. International newspaper articles include the China
Morning Post, Indonesian Times, Sydney Morning Herald,
London Times, and many others.
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHS
Thousands of publications, exhibits, and Web sites of
a wide variety worldwide have featured Dr.Tuttle’s
photographs. These include five National Geographic articles,
more than a dozen National Geographic Society books
and other magazines, and inclusion in their prestigious
publication, 100 Best Pictures. His photographs
in “Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats” traveling
exhibit have helped educate more than two million people
in a decade of touring the United States, Canada, Mexico
and Europe. A special 2002 commemorative stamp series
by the U.S. Postal Service also featured Tuttle’s
photographs. |