Ross Piper
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Ross Piper is a British
zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
,
entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
, and
explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
.


Biography

Piper's fascination by animals began at a young age through early encounters with a violet
ground beetle Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it i ...
and the
caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
of an elephant hawk moth. This early interest led to a degree in zoology from
Bangor University , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...
and a PhD in
insect ecology Insect ecology is the scientific study of how insects, individually or as a community, interact with the surrounding environment or ecosystem. Insects play significant roles in the ecology of the world due to their vast diversity of form, functio ...
from the
University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...
. Piper has travelled widely in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Southeast Asia, searching for interesting and elusive beasts. Although his focus is
arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
s, the sheer diversity of animal forms and lifestyles is a continual source of fascination. In 2015 he was awarded the Alumnus of the Year award by Bangor University and has since become a member of their alumni advisory board. He is also a student mentor for the University of Leeds and a
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
. He is currently a visiting research fellow at the University of Leeds and a visiting fellow at the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
. His current projects include authoring additional books exploring insects as a source of novel
pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...
and
biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose, either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. As a science, biomateria ...
s and planning further expeditions.


Science

Piper's interest in communicating the staggering diversity of animals beyond
vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
s led to his latest book, ''Animal Earth,'' which has so far been translated into German and Japanese. This book explores animal diversity. In documenting the arthropod life he finds during expeditions Piper contributes to our knowledge of these areas. In addition to these two broad areas Piper is also interested in the ecology of beetles and solitary wasps, how ecology, morphology and molecular data can be integrated to reveal the true complexity of animal diversity and the interactions between arthropod assemblages and agricultural landscapes.


Exploration

Piper is always keen to stress how little we know about life on Earth, which is a continuing theme in his books and talks. His own contribution to addressing this is exploration, mostly in the tropics. During his time in Myanmar Piper explored and searched for insects in areas where few if any scientists had been before.
Tamanthi Wildlife Reserve Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary is a large protected area in northern Myanmar. It was established in 1974 in the Sagaing Region. It is located between the Chindwin River in Hkamti District and the Uyu River, with of the area in Homalin Township, ...
was one such place. The specimens from this forest have so far yielded a new genus and several new species.


Media

Piper is enthusiastic to share his fascination for the incredible living things that surround us with anyone who will listen. In terms of TV this has led to an expedition to
Myanmar (Burma) Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
with the
BBC Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' ...
as the on-screen entomologist the product of which was broadcast as the three part series – ''Wild Burma: Nature’s Lost Kingdom'' – on BBC 2. Many of the clips from this series have become YouTube hits. Piper has also featured as a presenter/on-screen expert on the
CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
series, ''
Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...
''(live and recorded segments), the
Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
series, ''Extreme Fears, Extreme Cures ''where he helped ten arachnophobes overcome their fear and I have recently done some filming as an on-screen expert for a World's Weirdest Events. Piper has been invited to give talks around the world, including World Minds and EG. His work has been widely covered in the media and he has written opinion pieces for the BBC, The Conversation and Geographical. Piper is also a keen macrophotographer.


Books

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Ross British zoologists British writers Alumni of Bangor University Alumni of the University of Leeds Date of birth unknown Living people Year of birth missing (living people)