Richard Ellis (born April 2, 1938) is an American
marine biologist
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...
, author, and illustrator. He is a research associate in the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
's division of
paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, special adviser to the
American Cetacean Society, and a member of the
Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...
. He was U.S. delegate to
International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation of ...
from 1980 to 1990.
His paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and his murals can be seen in the
Denver Museum of Natural History
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a municipal natural history and science museum in Denver, Colorado. It is a resource for informal science education in the Rocky Mountain region. A variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities help mus ...
, the
New Bedford Whaling Museum
The New Bedford Whaling Museum is a museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States that focuses on the history, science, art, and culture of the international whaling industry, and the "Old Dartmouth" region (now the city of New Bedford and ...
in
, and Whaleworld, a museum in
Albany, Western Australia
Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a ...
. He is the author of more than 100 magazine articles, which have appeared in ''National Geographic'', ''Natural History'', ''Audubon'', ''Curator'', ''National Wildlife'', ''Geo'', ''Australian Geographic'', and ''Reader's Digest''. He has written 23 books, including ''The Book of Sharks,'' ''The Book of Whales'', ''Dolphins and Porpoises'', ''Men and Whales'', ''Great White Shark'' (with John McCosker), ''Encyclopedia of the Sea'', ''Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea'', ''Deep Atlantic'', ''Monsters of the Sea'', ''Imagining Atlantis'', ''
The Search for the Giant Squid
''The Search for the Giant Squid'' is a non-fiction book by Richard Ellis on the biology, history and mythology of the giant squid of the genus '' Architeuthis''. It was well received upon its release in 1998. Though soon rendered outdated by ...
'', ''Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn'', ''No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species'', ''Sea Dragons: Predators of Prehistoric Seas'', ''Tuna'', ''The Empty Ocean'', and ''Swordfish: A Biography of the Ocean Gladiator''. ''On Thin Ice'' looks into the changing world of polar bears and highlights their problems caused by
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and
disappearing Arctic ice. In 2011 the University Press of Kansas published ''The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean's Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature''. Richard Ellis curated a show on sharks in art for the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum, from May 2012 to January 2013.
References
External links
Profiles in Science in the New York Times
Cetologists
American marine biologists
American science writers
Living people
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
American muralists
People associated with the American Museum of Natural History
1938 births
20th-century American male artists
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