Jennifer Felicity Mary Horne (died 5 October 2008 in

Nanyuki Nanyuki is a market town in Laikipia County of Kenya lying northwest of Mount Kenya along the A2 road (Kenya), A2 road and at the terminus of the branch railway from Nairobi. The name is derived from Enyaanyukie Maasai word for resemblance. It ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

) also known as Jenny Horne or after her marriage as Jennifer Horne-Short, was a Kenyan ornithologist and bioacoustician. During a

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (ornithology) around the world in order to understand their biology and aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry Baker ...

financed

Mascarenes The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their na ...

expedition in 1973 and 1974, she made the first complete voice recording study of all endemic land birds including

Réunion Harrier The Réunion harrier (''Circus maillardi''), also known as Réunion marsh harrier, is a species of bird of prey belonging to the marsh harrier group of harrier (bird), harriers. It is now found only on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion, althoug ...

Echo Parakeet The echo parakeet (''Psittacula eques'') is a species of parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and formerly Réunion. It is the only living native parrot of the Mascarene Islands; all others have become extinct due to human activit ...

Mauritius Kestrel The Mauritius kestrel (''Falco punctatus'') is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines. It is the most distinct of the India ...

Pink Pigeon The pink pigeon (''Nesoenas mayeri'') is a species of pigeon in the family Columbidae Endemic (ecology), endemic to Mauritius. The pink pigeon nearly became extinct in the 1970s and the 1990s and is still very rare. It is the only Mascarene pigeo ...

Mascarene Swiftlet The Mascarene swiftlet or Mauritius swiftlet (''Aerodramus francicus'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Mauritius and Réunion, and the populations on the two islands have recently been confirmed to differ subspecifica ...

and

Mascarene Martin The Mascarene martin or Mascarene swallow (''Phedina borbonica'') is a passerine bird in the swallow family (biology), family that breeds in Madagascar and in the Mascarene Islands. The Subspecies#Nominotypical subspecies and subspecies autonyms ...

. In 1974 she teamed up with

Colin Groves Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was professor of biological anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Education Born in Englan ...

in the Tana River

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

where they studied the endangered

Tana River Red Colobus The Tana River red colobus (''Piliocolobus rufomitratus''), also called the eastern red colobus, is a highly endangered species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to a narrow zone of gallery forest near the Tana River in sout ...

and the

Tana River Mangabey The Tana River mangabey (''Cercocebus galeritus'') is a highly endangered species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. Some authorities have included the taxa '' agilis'' and '' sanjei'' as subspecies of this species, while others award thes ...

. In 1978 she married ornithologist Lester L. Short. As

research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

and later senior

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

in the

National Museums of Kenya The National Museums of Kenya (NMK; ) is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, archeology, ethnography and biodivers ...

she and her husband took part in an ornithological project which lasted from 1985 to 1999. They studied the behaviour of the

honeyguide Honeyguides (family (biology), family Indicatoridae) are a family of birds in the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus ''Pro ...

s on the Ol Ari Nyiro estate in

Laikipia Laikipia County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, located on the Equator in the former Rift Valley Province. Laikipia is a cosmopolitan county and is listed as county number 31. The county has two major urban centres: Nanyuki to the southeast ...

, Kenya and compiled an ornithological list of all birds recorded on the Ol Ari Nyiro estate. She was also among the team who rediscovered the

Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker The Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker () (''Campephilus principalis bairdii'') is a subspecies of the ivory-billed woodpecker native to Cuba. Originally classified as a separate species, recent research has indicated that ''C. p. bairdii'' may, in fa ...

for a short time in 1986/87 (since declared likely extinct). Jennifer Horne was a member of

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

. Together with Lester L. Short she wrote the chapter of the toucans, barbets and honeyguides in the

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

(Volume 7) and the book ''Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides: Ramphastidae, Capitonidae and Indicatoridae''.

Publications (selected)

*Groves C.P., R.J. Andrew & J.F.M. Horne (1974). Tana river colobus and mangabey. In: Oryx: 12(5): 565–575. *Short, L.L., J.F.M. Horne & C. Muringo-Gichuki (1990). Annotated Check-list of the Birds of East Africa. Proceedings of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology 4(3): 61–246. *Short, L.L. & J.F.M. Horne (2005). The avifauna of an upland seasonal woodland in central Kenya: ecology, behaviour, breeding. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 53: 1–80. *Horne, J.F.M. (1987). Vocalisations of the endemic land birds of the Mascarene Islands. In A.W. Diamond (ed.), Studies of Mascarene Island Birds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK in 1987. Pp. 101–150. *Short, L.L., R. Schodde & J.F.M. Horne (1983). Five-way hybridization of Varied Sittellas ''Daphoenositta chrysoptera'' (Aves: Neosittidae) in Central Queensland. Australian Journal of Zoology 31: 499–516. *Short, L.L. & J.F.M. Horne (2002). Family Indicatoridae (Honeyguides) In J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds), Handbook of birds of the World, Vol. 7. Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. pp. 274–295.

References

*Kim Howell: Jenny Horne: In Appreciation of a Kenyan Mentor In: '' Journal of East African Natural History'' 98(1): 7–9 (2009
Online
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