Dr Patricia Wright a tropical biologist, conservationist and primatologist. Her interests include biodiversity assessments, conservation biology, population ecology and genetics, and primate hibernation. She is also interested in exploration of new sites and the discovery and documentation of new species. This has led her to carry out field research in Peru, Paraguay, Borneo, East Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Madagascar. Dr. Wright received my PhD from the City University of New York under the supervision of Warren Kinzey and John Oates. Her dissertation was entitled “The Costs and Benefits of Nocturnality for Aotus trivirgatus (the Night Monkey)”. During a postdoc at Duke University, Dr. Wright studied the reproduction and physiology of two species of tarsiers in Borneo, the Philippines and at Duke Lemur Center. Dr. Wright’s interest in Madagascar started in 1985, and in 1986 discovered and described a new species of lemur, the “Golden Bamboo Lemur” Hapalemur aureus. For the past 26 years, Dr. Wright has carried long-term research on the behavioral ecology of “Milne Edward’s Sifaka” Propithecus edwardsi in Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar, which she spearheaded in 1991. Her experience there led her to found the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environment in 1991, and establish the Research Station Centre ValBio in Madagascar, which features the state of the art research facility NamanaBe Hall. Dr. Wright is currently a professor at the Anthropology and Ecology & Evolution Departments at Stony Brook University and  supervise students in two doctoral programs: Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences and Department of Ecology and Evolution. Dr. Wright has published three books: Tarsiers: Past, Present, and Future, Madagascar: The Forest of Our Ancestors, and High Moon Over the Amazon: My Quest to Understand the Monkeys of the Night, and have over 150 publications.

For more information about this talk, contact Chris Lynn in Anthropology.