Tracy Jo Barker (née Miller) (born December 10, 1957) is an American herpetologist specializing in pythons. Barker grew up in Washington, D.C., as the daughter of J. Jefferson Miller who was Curator of ceramics and glass at the Smithsonian Institution.T. M. Barker: Written Testimony regarding the Anti-Animal Proposal HR-669, April 23, 2009. http://vpi.com/sites/default/files/HR669_testimony_09_001_4.pdf After an undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Colorado, she graduated in biology at the

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

. She also worked as a reptile keeper at

Buffalo Zoological Gardens Buffalo Zoo is a zoo was located at 300 Parkside Ave in Buffalo, New York, is the seventh oldest zoo in the United States. Each year, the Buffalo Zoo welcomes approximately 400,000 visitors and is the second largest tourist attraction in Western N ...

. Already in her early years, she specialized in herpetology and focused on animal behavior. She worked as a field biologist for repopulating Green Iguanas in Panama and studied the reproductive behavior of Tuatara on Stephens Island in New Zealand. Morelia tracyae

In 1990 she and her husband, biologist

David G. Barker David G. Barker (born January 6, 1952) is an American herpetologist specialized in pythons and rattlesnakes. Barker graduated in biology at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he additionally served as an instructor in the Department ...

, founded Vida Preciosa International, Inc. (VPI), an enterprise dedicated to the research necessary to establish self-sustaining captive populations of pythons and boas. This facility became one of the largest and most diverse collection of pythons in the world; in 1997, the Barkers and their work at VPI were featured in a

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

Television documentary titled “Passion for Pythons”. They managed to reproduce 32 of the 52 recognized taxa of pythons. Among them, the first ever reproduction of 12 taxa. Barker has written numerous papers in scientific journals as well as dozens of popular publications. In 1979, Barker described a new species of python ''Python saxuloides'', which is currently regarded as a slightly distinct Kenyan population of the later re-erected '' Python natalensis''. One of her five books, ''Pythons of the World, Volume 2: Ball Pythons'', was certified as “The Best Animal Book of 2006” by the Independent Publisher Book Awards. In 2000 a new species of python, ''

Morelia tracyae ''Simalia tracyae'', the Halmahera python, is a species of python found only on the Indonesian island of Halmahera. It belongs to the family Pythonidae and the genus ''Simalia''. This snake was previously believed to have belonged to the '' Simal ...

'', was named in her honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Tracy", p. 267).

Books

*''Pythons of the World, Volume 3: The Pythons of Asia and the Malay Archipelago''. with David G. Barker and Mark Auliya. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2018. 371 pp. *''The Invisible Ark – In Defense of Captivity''. with David G. Barker. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2014. 169 pp. *''Pythons of the World, Volume 2: Ball Pythons: The History, Natural History, Care and Breeding''. with David G. Barker. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2006. 321pp. *''Pythons of the World, Volume 1, Australia''. with David G. Barker. The Herpetocultural Library, Advanced Vivarium Systems, Lakeside, California, 1994. 171 pp. *''The Ball Python Manual.'' with Philippe de Vosjoli, Roger Klingenberg and David G. Barker. The Herpetocultural Library, Advanced Vivarium Systems, Lakeside, California, 1994. 76 pp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Tracy M. American herpetologists Women herpetologists 1957 births Living people Scientists from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American zoologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American zoologists 21st-century American women scientists