Craig Packer (born 1950,

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

) is an American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually speciali ...

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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

, and

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

chiefly known for his research on

lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

Serengeti National Park The Serengeti National Park is a large national park in northern Tanzania that stretches over . It is located entirely in eastern Mara Region and north east portion of Simiyu Region and contains over of virgin savanna. The park was established ...

. He is the founder and director of both the

Lion Research Center The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; a ...

and

Whole Village Project Whole may refer to: Music * Whole note, or semibreve * Whole step, or major second * ''Whole'' (Jessa Anderson album) or the title song, 2014 * ''Whole'' (Soil album), 2013 * ''Whole'', an EP by Pedro the Lion, 1997 * "Whole", a song by Basem ...

, as well as the co-founder of Savannahs Forever Tanzania. In addition, Packer has been a professor in the University of Minnesota's department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior since 1983. Since his graduation from Stanford University in 1972, Packer has become an active researcher and scientist, having published over 100 scientific articles and authored two books. For one of these books - ''Into Africa'' - Packer was awarded the

John Burroughs Medal The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural hist ...

in 1995. He has received various honors and awards in recognition of his work as a biologist. Packer has been ordained with a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1990, a Distinguished McKnight University Professorship in 1997, and was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

in 2003. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic and the IUCN.

Early years

Packer was born in

in 1950. He attended his local

Eastern Hills High School Eastern Hills High School is a four-year public high school in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. The school is educating students in grades 9–12, as part of the Fort Worth Independent School District. In an historical footnote, the band from ...

in 1964 and graduated in 1968. Growing up, Packer was originally interested in being a

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles * ...

or an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and originally sought medical school after graduating from high school. However, these fields did not support his desire to work out in the field and to travel to exotic places. Furthermore, Packer was fascinated by evolution and animal ethology. He ultimately abandoned his place in Stanford University’s School of Medicine to work as a field assistant for

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...

Gombe National Park Gombe Stream National Park is a national park in Kigoma District of Kigoma Region in Tanzania, north of Kigoma, the capital of Kigoma Region.Tanzania National Parks“Gombe Stream National Park”, 2008. Established in 1968, it is one of the smal ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

to study

olive baboons The olive baboon (''Papio anubis''), also called the Anubis baboon, is a member of the family Cercopithecidae Old World monkeys. The species is the most wide-ranging of all baboons, being native to 25 countries throughout Africa, extending from ...

. He graduated Stanford in 1972 with a

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Human Biology. He later attended the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

to complete his doctoral research on baboons, graduating with a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Behavioral Ecology in 1977. After a subsequent study on

Japanese macaques The Japanese macaque (''Macaca fuscata''), also known as the snow monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species that is native to Japan. Colloquially, they are referred to as "snow monkeys" because some live in areas where snow covers the g ...

Hakusan National Park is a national park in the Chūbu region of Honshū, Japan. Established in 1962, it spans the borders of Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, and Toyama prefectures. Its main geographical feature is Mount Haku. In 1980 an area of 480 km² correspondin ...

, Packer returned to Tanzania in 1978 as the head of the Serengeti Lion Project. His interest in lions derives from their unique behavior as social carnivorans, and it is a passion he continues to exercise as director of the Lion Research Center.

Research

Baboons

While studying at Stanford, Packer was sent to Tanzania to study baboons at the Gombe Stream Research Center with

. During this study, Packer was one of the first ecologists to study complex hypotheses about the adaptive significance of behavior in his studies of coalition formation in baboons and the reasons why male baboons dispersed from their troop of birth to new troops. Packer attended the

to complete his baboon research.

Serengeti Lion Project

In 1978 Packer began the Serengeti Lion Project to study various historical questions about lions. One of his biggest contributions to the Serengeti Lion Project was the discovery that successive outbreaks of

canine distemper virus Canine may refer to: Zoology and anatomy * a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae ** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals ** Dog, the domestic dog * Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy People with the surn ...

had different impacts depending on the rainfall patterns from the previous year. Packer studied how severe droughts led to co-infections of canine distemper virus by a tick-borne parasite,

babesia ''Babesia'', also called ''Nuttallia'', is an apicomplexan parasite that infects red blood cells and is transmitted by ticks. Originally discovered by the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș in 1888, over 100 species of ''Babesia'' have since ...

. The co-infection mixed with high levels of babesia showed to be far more fatal than the distemper virus itself. Packer also studied the effects of a full moon and its correlation to the number of lion attacks. Along with his colleagues, he discovered that the risks of man-eating attacks are highest during the first week after the full moon, which may help explain why there are so many myths about the full moon. They also discovered that people in southern Tanzania are most at risk from man-eating lions in areas where they have to sleep in their fields to protect their crops from nocturnal crop-pests such as bush pigs. The lions stumble upon a novel prey species when they follow the pigs into people's fields.

Current Work

Packer works at the University of Minnesota.

Family

Packer is married to Susan James and has two children: Jonathan (1987), who is a pulmonologist in Shreveport, Louisiana and Catherine (1984), who holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins. He has two grandchildren, Sienna and Felix.

Works

Packer, C. & Pusey, A. (producers) & Matthews, R. (director). (1989). Queen of Beasts ocumentary Tanzania National Park, East Africa: Alan Root Productions. Packer, C. 1994. Into Africa. University of Chicago Press. Craft, ME., Vols, E., Packer, C., Meyers, LA. 2011. Disease transmission in territorial populations: the small-world network of Serengeti Lions. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 8(59) 776-786. Packer, C., Swanson, A., Ikanda D., Kushnir, H. 2011. Fear of Darkness, the Full Moon and the Nocturnal Ecology of African Lions. PLoS ONE 6(7): e22285. Packer, C. A Bit of Texas in Florida. 2010. Science 24, 329(5999) 1606-1607. Packer, C., Kosmala, M., Cooley, H.S., Brink, H., Pintea, L., Garshelis, D., Purchase, G., Strauss, M., Swanson, A., Balme, G., Hunter, L., & K. Nowell. 2009. Sport hunting, predator control and conservation of large carnivores. PLoS ONE 4(6): e5941. Mosser, A. & C. Packer. 2009. Group territoriality and the benefits of sociality in the African lion, Panthera leo. Animal Behaviour. Welburn, S., K. Picozzi, P. Coleman & C. Packer. 2008. Patterns in age-seroprevalence consistent with acquired immunity against Trypanosoma brucei in Serengeti lions. PLoS-Neglected Tropical Diseases 2(12): e347. Munson, L., K.A. Terio, R. Kock, T. Mlengeya, M.E. Roelke, E. Dubovi, B. Summers, A.R.E. Sinclair & C. Packer. 2008. Climate extremes and co-infections determine mortality during epidemics in African lions. PLoS-One 3, e2545. Ikanda, D. & C. Packer. 2008. Ritual vs. retaliatory killing of African lions in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Endangered Species Research 6, 67-74. Fryxell, J., A. Mosser, A.R.E. Sinclair & C. Packer. 2007. Group formation stabilizes predator-prey dynamics. Nature 449, 1041-1044.

Citations

Packer, C. (2010) A Bit of Texas in Florida Science 24, 329(5999) 1606-1607.Retrieved on October 15 from the Science Magazine website: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1196738 Public Broadcasting Service. (2011) Nature: Elsa’s Legacy, the Born Free Story. Retrieved October 15, 2011 from the PBS website: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/elsas-legacy-the-born-free-story/interview-lion-expert-craig-packer/6143/ University of Minnesota. (2011) College of Biologigical Sciences: Faculty and Staff. Retrieved on October 15, 2011 from the University of Minnesota website: https://web.archive.org/web/20111018174543/http://www.cbs.umn.edu/eeb/contacts/craig-packer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Craig American ecologists Living people 1950 births