Alfred Brazier Howell (28 July 1886 – 23 December 1961) was an American zoologist, primarily a

mammalogist In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growin ...

. A. B. Howell was born in

Catonsville, Maryland Catonsville () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland. The population was 44,701 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 US Census. The community is a streetcar suburb of Baltimore along the cit ...

, the son of Darius Carpenter Howell Sr. (1820–1887) and his second wife Katherine Elinor Hyatt Howell. A. B. Howell attended

The Hill School The Hill School is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admission Organization. The school is accredited by the Mi ...

Pottstown, Pennsylvania Pottstown is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts (Pennsylvanian), John Potts. The old name was abando ...

for four years, graduating in 1905. He spent one year (1905–1906) at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and then received no more formal academic education. In 1910 he moved to California, where he studied the birds of the

Channel Islands of California The Channel Islands () are an eight-island archipelago located within the Southern California Bight in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. They define the Santa Barbara Channel between the islands and the California mainland. The ...

and the

Coronado Islands The Coronado Islands (''Islas Coronado'' or ''Islas Coronados''; ; Kumeyaay language, Kumeyaay: ) are a group of islands located off the northwest coast of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Baja California. Battered by the wind and ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

. In 1918 he went on a collecting expedition to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. In 1921 he became vice-president of the

Cooper Ornithological Society The Cooper Ornithological Society (COS), formerly the Cooper Ornithological Club, was an American ornithological society. It was founded in 1893 in California and operated until 2016. Its name commemorated James Graham Cooper, an early California ...

. In 1922 he moved to

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In 1923 and in 1924, he went on collecting expeditions in California. Howell worked from 1923 to 1927 as a scientific assistant with the United States Biological Survey. From 1928 to 1943 he taught anatomy at the Department of Anatomy of

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, th ...

. In 1929, with

Remington Kellogg Arthur Remington Kellogg (5 October 1892 – 8 May 1969) was an American naturalist and a director of the United States National Museum. His work focused on marine mammals. Early life and career Kellogg was born in Davenport, Iowa, and quickly ...

, he organized the Council for the Conservation of Whales (also involved in the conservation of other marine mammals). Howell was vice-president from 1938 to 1942 and president from 1942 to 1944 of the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

. He married Margaret Gray Sherk in 1914. At the Cooper Ornithological Society, A. Brazier Howell, Harry R. Painton, and Frances F. Roberts have cash awards named after them. He died in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...

Selected publications

* 1917
''Birds of the islands off the coast of southern California''
(The Club, Hollywood). * 1920
''A study of the California jumping mice of the genus Zapus''
(Berkeley). * 1926: ''A symmetry in the skulls of mammals'' (Washington). * 1926: ''Anatomy of the wood rat'' (The Williams & Wilkins company, Baltimore). * 1927: ''Revision of the American lemming mice (genus Synaptomys)'' (Washington). * 1927: ''Contribution to the anatomy of the Chinese finless porpoise'' (Washington). * 1929: ''Contribution to the comparative anatomy of the eared and earless seals'' (Washington). * 1929: ''Mammals from China in the collections of the United States National museum'' (Washington). * 1930
''Aquatic mammals; their adaptations to life in the water''
(C. C. Thomas, Springfield et Baltimore — reprinted in 1970 Dover Publications, New York). * 1932: ''The brachial flexor muscles in primates'' (Washington). * 1939: ''Gross anatomy'' (D. Appleton-Century company, New York and London). * 1944: ''Speed in animals; their specialization for running and leaping'' (University of Chicago press, Chicago — reprinted in 1965 by Hafner Pub. Co., New York).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, Alfred Brazier American mammalogists 20th-century American zoologists Cetologists The Hill School alumni 1886 births 1961 deaths Presidents of the American Society of Mammalogists