Archie Carr was born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1909. As a young person he was fascinated with wild animals and natural history, and this love of nature eventually developed into a career. Carr obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1937, and he was a member of the teaching faculty there from 1937. From 1937-1943, he was also an associate of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University, mostly conducting work in taxonomy. From 1945-1949, he took a leave of absence from the University of Florida to teach biology (in fluent Spanish) at the Escuela Agricola Panamericana (Pan-American Agricultural College) in Honduras. Carr was also a renowned naturalist, an author of numerous scientific works as well as popular literature, and an effective advocate of the conservation of sea turtles and other wildlife.
Archie Carr's research, and passion, largely involved marine turtles. For most of his career he was the world's foremost authority on that group of animals. Most of his research was conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, northeastern South America, and the Pacific coast of Central America, but he also visited Africa and the South Pacific. During his fieldwork, Carr realized that all species of marine turtles were becoming endangered, mostly because of excessive harvesting of adults for their meat, and of eggs as a source of local food. Carr became an effective advocate of the conservation of marine turtles, particularly the green sea turtle and the olive ridley turtle. His actions, and those he inspired, have had a positive impact on the survival of sea turtles, and on marine conservation more generally.
Archie Carr published 10 books and more than 120 scientific papers and magazine articles during his career. Some of his better-known works include "Handbook of Turtles: The Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California" (1952; Cornell University Press; this book won the Daniel Giraud Elliott Medal of the National Academy of Sciences), "High Jungles and Low" (1953; University of Florida Press), "The Windward Road" (1956, Knopf; a chapter in this book won an O. Henry Award for best short story of 1956), "The Reptiles" (1963; Life Nature Library), "Ulendo: Travels of a Naturalist in and out of Africa" (1964; Knopf), and "The Sea Turtle ( So Excellent a Fishe" (1986; University of Texas Press). Other awards won by Carr include the John Burroughs Medal of the American Museum of Natural History for nature writing.
In honor of Carr's contributions to the conservation of marine ecosystems, and of sea turtles in particular, the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research has been established at the University of Florida. The major aim of this institute is to continue Carr's mission of studying the biology and ecology of marine turtles, to advance the conservation of these animals by making scientific information readily available, and to provide training for graduate students and other highly qualified scientists. In addition, the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge is located near Melbourne, Florida.
This is the complete article, containing 494 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
