Anthony John Whitten (10 April 1953 – 29 November 2017) was a British conservationist,

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, and

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

. He was a senior adviser at

Fauna and Flora International Fauna & Flora is an international nature conservation charity and non-governmental organization based in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire, the society created some of the first ga ...

, where he was regional director for Asia Pacific, and was a former biodiversity specialist with the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. He co-authored several books on the ecology of Southeast Asia and published over 100 field guides in local languages. Born in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of H ...

, London, Whitten attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

. In graduate school he spent two years studying gibbons on the Indonesian island of

Siberut Siberut is the largest and northernmost of the Mentawai Islands, located 150 kilometres west of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. It covers an area of 3,838.25 km2 including smaller offshore islands, and had a population of 35,091 at the 2010 Cen ...

, earning his PhD from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

in 1980. He and his wife, zoologist Jane E. J. Whitten, later lived in Indonesia for 10 years. He established a working group on

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ecosystems for the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN), and in 2016 was part of a research team that discovered 15 new species of geckos in Myanmar. He died in 2017, aged 64, as the result of a car collision while bicycling. He is commemorated in the scientific names of at least 13 species, including the geckos '' Hemiphyllodactylus tonywhitteni'' and '' Cnemaspis whittenorum''.

References

External links

Tony Whitten
at

(Archived)
Tony Whitten
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1953 births 2017 deaths British conservationists British zoologists Alumni of the University of Southampton Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from Dulwich People educated at Dulwich College Cycling road incident deaths Road incident deaths in England {{UK-biologist-stub