Charles Overton Handley, Jr. (July 14, 1924 - June 9, 2000) was a zoologist and explorer who conducted various expeditions for the

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government. Born in Longview, Texas, Handley's father was a professor of wildlife management and an avid bird-watcher. In the summer after his high school graduation, Handley participated in an expedition to collect mammals in the Southern Appalachian mountains, with the Museum of Zoology of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He thereafter resolved to study mammals. Handley received a B.A. from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

in 1944, and served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a rifleman in the 120th Infantry, seeing action in Europe. After the war, the secretary of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Alexander Wetmore, hired Handley to collect birds and mammals on a naval icebreaker expedition to the Arctic. Handley received an M.A. from the

in 1947, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in mammalogy from that institution in 1955, in the interim participating in expeditions to the

High Arctic High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

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, and the Kalahari Desert. Having described many new taxa lemmings and Arctic hares, Handley became a curator of mammals at the Smithsonian. He later conducted extensive surveys of the mammals of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and

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, with a particular interest in

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

s, which he continued to study late in his life. He was described as "a leading authority on bats and other mammals".Robert M. Andrews, "Some scientists think bats, humans cousins", ''Spokane Chronicle'' (July 24, 1989), p. 5. Handley died in Springfield, Virginia.

References

External links

United States Geological Survey biography of Charles O. Hanley, Jr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Handley, Charles 1924 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American zoologists University of Michigan alumni Virginia Tech alumni