Angus Munn Woodbury (July 11, 1886 – August 1, 1964) was an American zoologist and ecologist from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. He was professor at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

for over 20 years, and also worked for many years as a ranger-naturalist at

Zion National Park Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety ...

. He produced over 100 publications, many focused on the biology of reptiles and birds, but also on insects,

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire) or more or less. Bacteria allows for the cycling of nutrients such as ca ...

, and the history of Utah. He and his wife of 55 years, Grace Atkin Woodbury, died in an automobile collision on August 1, 1964, near

Loveland, Colorado The City of Loveland is the home rule municipality that is the second most populous municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver and is the 14th most populous city ...

Early life

Angus Woodbury was born July 11, 1886, in

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

, to parents John Taylor and Mary Evans Woodbury. His elementary education was divided between

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, where his father taught at LDS College, and St. George. He attended

Brigham Young High School Brigham Young High School was a private high school in Provo, Utah, United States, first known as Brigham Young Academy (BYA). The school later became attached to Brigham Young University (BYU) with its official name being Brigham Young Universit ...

in Provo, graduating after two years in 1906.

Career

Woodbury was hired by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

in 1908 and worked there until 1920. His duties included working to establish boundaries of

Dixie National Forest Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres (8,000 km²) and stretches for about across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it str ...

and managing grazing and logging. From 1920 to 1926 he took courses at Dixie College, where he also served as a teaching assistant. In 1925 he became the first ranger-naturalist hired at

, where he worked each summer until 1933, establishing the periodical ''Zion-Bryce Nature Notes''. From 1926 to 1927 Woodbury attended

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

, earning a B.S. in zoology. From 1927 to 1928 he attended the

, completing an M.S. degree focused on the reptiles of Utah. After graduating he joined the University of Utah faculty, teaching for the 1928–29 academic year before taking leave to obtain a Ph.D. at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, which he completed in 1931. He returned to the University of Utah in 1931 and remained there until retirement in 1952, after which he continued to be active in research and administration.

Woodbury's research specialized in reptiles and birds of Utah, especially wintering behavior of snakes and tortoises and the geographic distribution of birds. In 1949, he published along with Ross Hardy a "classic study" on the biology of wild

desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii''), is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexic ...

s: professor Peter Alagona of

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

writes, "Their paper provided key insights into the species' physiology, life history and ecology, and it served as a basis for subsequent research into tortoise evolutionary biology, biogeography, and epidemiology." In 1977, the area where Woodbury and Hardy studied was designated the Woodbury Desert Study Area by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

, and is now a part of the

Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area The Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area is a United States National Conservation Area located in southwest Utah west of St. George along the borders with Arizona and Nevada. It is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of t ...

. Woodbury was a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, the

American Ornithological Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

, the Herpetological League, and the Utah Academy of Science, Arts and Letters. He supervised the graduate research of nine students who studied birds. Species named for him include the water bug ''Ambrysus woodburyi'' and a subspecies of

chisel-toothed kangaroo rat The chisel-toothed kangaroo rat (''Dipodomys microps'') is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. There are 13 sub-species. Saltbush leaves are a major dietary component, requiring specialized physiology to eliminate the salt while reta ...

, ''Dipodomys microps woodburyi''.

Personal life and family

Woodbury married Grace Atkin on January 15, 1909. The couple had four sons and two daughters: sons Lowell Angus, Dixon Miles, and John Walter all obtained Ph.D.s in biology, while son Max Atkin obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics. Daughters Marian and Edith Rae both married biology Ph.Ds. Angus and Grace Woodbury were both killed in a head-on car collision on August 1, 1964, one mile north of

Books

* * 503 pp. * 104 pp. *

Notes

References

External links

Index to the Angus Munn Woodbury photograph collection, 1892–1960
at the

J. Willard Marriott Library The J. Willard Marriott Library is the main academic library of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The university library has had multiple homes since the first University of Utah librarian was appointed in 1850. The current building ...

, University of Utah
Angus Munn Woodbury Papers
a
University of Utah Digital LibraryMarriott Library Special Collections
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodbury, Angus M. 1886 births 1964 deaths University of Utah faculty Brigham Young University alumni University of Utah alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni American ecologists 20th-century American zoologists American herpetologists American ornithologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from St. George, Utah Road incident deaths in Colorado