Tim clutton brock biography books

About this book

Meerkat Manor, a television series now in its 3rd year (with 2 more seasons contracted) following the fortunes of a group of Meerkats has recently attracted sensational viewing figures. So much so that the BBC Natural History Unit that created Blue Planet and Planet Earth is producing a full-length feature film. The series follows a group of named individuals and the viewer becomes closely involved in the life-or-death struggles, just like a soap opera, of this curiously attractive and anthropomorphic tribe.

The originator of the Meerkat research project, Tim Clutton-Brock, has written this engaging and informative book about these animals and what his research tells us about their world, a world which appears to mirror our own but is in fact driven by the sometimes savage instincts of self-interest and survival.

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Biography

Tim Clutton-Brock is Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge. His work focuses on the evolution of animal breeding systems and he has studied red deer on the Isle of Rum, Soay sheep on the island of St Kilda and the Meerkats in the southern Kalahari. He is the founder-director of the Kalahari Meerkat project where his contributions to our understanding of animals is based on patient observation in the field. The series of films for television based on his research have become widespread and popular viewing.

British zoologist

Timothy Hugh Clutton-BrockFRS (born 13 August 1946) is a British zoologist known for his comparative studies of the behavioural ecology of mammals, particularly red deer and meerkats.

Education

Clutton-Brock was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he received a PhD in 1972.

Career and research

As of 2008, he is the Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and head of the Large Animal Research Group at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He also holds extraordinary professorships in the Department of Zoology and Entomology and the Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Clutton-Brock's early work was on social behaviour in primates. Much of his recent work focuses on three long-term studies: of Red Deer on the Scottish island of Rùm, of Soay sheep on St Kilda, and of meerkats in the southern Kalahari. He is one of the founders of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, the subjects of which are featured in the television programme Meerkat Manor.

Books

• Readings in Sociobiology. Editor with Paul H. Harvey. (1978, W.H.Freeman & Company; ISBN 0-7167-0190-1)
• Red Deer: Behavior and Ecology of Two Sexes. With F. E. Guinness and S. D. Albon. (1982, University Of Chicago Press; ISBN 0-226-11057-5)
• Life Histories in Comparative Perspective. With P.H. Harvey and R.D. Martin, R.D. (1987) In Primate Societies. Smuts, B.B., Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., Struhsaker, T.T. (eds). Chicago & London:University of Chicago Press. pp. 181–196 ISBN 0-226-76715-9
• Rhum: The Natural History of an Island (Edinburgh Island Biology). Editor with M. E. Ball. (1987, Edinburgh Univers

Current studies are investigating the division of labour and the evolution of cooperation in social mongooses; the evolution of leks in mammals and birds; and the functional significance of variation in parental care in fish.

(2) Population regulation and the control of population stability in large mammals

Long-term studies in red deer (on Rum), Soay sheep (on St Kilda) and suricates (southern Kalahari) are examining the ecological factors generating stability and instability in populations; the effects of early development on adult success and survival; asymmetries in competition between the sexes; and the effects of different management regimes on ungulate populations.

(3) Natural and sexual selection in natural populations

We are currently using the long-term studies of red deer and sheep to investigate selection on phenotype and genotype in natural populations; the heritability of reproductive success; and the effects of variation in population density on natural and sexual selection.