Derek William Yalden (4 November 1940 – 5 February 2013) was an eminent British zoologist and academic. He was an Honorary Reader at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. After obtaining a 1st Class B.Sc.

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in 1962, he completed his PhD on

carpal bone The carpal bones are the eight small bones that make up the wrist (or carpus) that connects the hand to the forearm. The term "carpus" is derived from the Latin wikt:carpus#Latin, carpus and the Greek language, Greek wikt:καρπός#Ancient Gre ...

s in mammals at

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, under Prof. P. M. Butler, in 1965. He then worked as an Assistant Lecturer, and eventually Senior Lecturer, at the University of Manchester, School of Biological Sciences, teaching vertebrate zoology. He retired from there in 2005, after 40 years' service. He was president of

The Mammal Society The Mammal Society is a British charity devoted to the research and conservation of British mammals. The Mammal Society was formed in 1954, and the inaugural spring conference took place the following year at The University of Exeter. The Mammal ...

from 1997 until his death, and edited their journal, ''Mammal Review'' from 1980–2002. He authored or co-authored over 200 scientific publications. '' Leptopelis yaldeni'', (grassland forest tree frog, named by M. Largen in 1977), and '' Desmomys yaldeni'' (Yalden's desmomys, a rodent named by L. Lavrenchenko in 2003) are named in his honour. Both are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Derek Yalden Fund

An expert in the mammals of the UK and of Ethiopia, Yalden also took hundreds of students on field courses. To honour his memory, a fund has been set up to provide undergraduates from limited income families with financial support to help fund their field trips whilst studying at Manchester.

Research

Yalden listed his research interests as: *Cataloguing the mammal fauna of

, with contributions to the ''Handbook of the Mammals of Africa'' *Conservation ecology of the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

, including: **Investigations of moorland erosion and restoration **Work on the ecology of

golden plover '' Pluvialis '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere. In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. The ...

s **

Common sandpiper The common sandpiper (''Actitis hypoleucos'') is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper (''A. macularia''), make up the genus ''Actitis''. They are parapatric and replace each other geographic ...

s **

Mountain hare The mountain hare (''Lepus timidus''), also known as blue hare, tundra hare, variable hare, white hare, snow hare, alpine hare, and Irish hare, is a Palearctic hare that is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats. Evolution The mountai ...

s ** Red-necked wallabies. *History of Mammals and Birds in Britain **A project to compile a database of archaeological records of birds in Britain, funded by The

Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...

*Excavation (1966–90) of

Foxhole Cave Foxhole may refer to: * Foxhole, a type of defensive fighting position constructed in a military context * Foxholes, Hertford, an eastern suburb of Hertford * Foxholes, North Yorkshire, a village and civil parish in Northern England * Foxhole, C ...

, in the Peak District, in conjunction with the Peakland Archaeological Society

Publications

Books

*''Which Bat is it?'' by R. E. Stebbings, D. W. Yalden and J. S. Herman; 3rd ed. London: Mammal Society, c2007 * * * * * * * * *

Journal articles (selected)

* Corbet, G.B. and D.W. Yalden. 1972. Recent records of mammals (other than bats) from Ethiopia. ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology'' 22: 213-252. * "Bog Bilberry ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' in the Peak District". ''Sorby Record''; 40: 28-29 (2001) * "The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain". ''British Birds''; 100: 471–480. (2007) * Pearce-Higgins JW, Finney SK, Yalden DW, Langston RHW (2007) "Testing the effects of recreational disturbance on two upland breeding waders". ''Ibis''; 148 (Suppl 1): 45–55. (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yalden, Derek British mammalogists British ornithologists Alumni of University College London Academics of the University of Manchester 1940 births 2013 deaths People from Surrey