Patricia Chapple Wright

Friday, February 10th 2023 | 7:00pm

Lemurs are primates found only in Madagascar, a beautiful and exotic place, the fourth largest island in the world. However it is threatened by habitat loss and environmental degradation. Professor Wright will discuss the varieties of lemurs including the Golden Bamboo Lemur she discovered that was new to western science, her work to create a protected area that became Ranomafana National Park and a World Heritage Site, and the challenges facing Madagascar and Lemur conservation efforts. She will feature her recent work to preserve the "Lost rainforest of Crystal Mountain" and update us on the translocation of twelve threatened greater bamboo lemurs from a degraded forest fragment into the protection of the Ranomafana National Park.”

This lecture is a live, in-person event in Cameron Hall. You do not need to pre-register to attend – just show up.

The lecture will also be available online as a live webcast for which we do ask you to pre-register. Register Here >

Patricia Chapple Wright is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and founder and International Director of ValBio Research station, Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar.  In 1986, while on an exploratory expedition to Madagascar, Dr. Wright and colleagues discovered a new species of lemur, the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus).  When this rain forest, and the future of this new species, were threatened by timber exploitation, Dr. Wright’s attention turned to conservation.  In 1991 the Ranomafana National Park was inaugurated.  Dr. Wright coordinated the building of the park infrastructure and management, ecotourism development, biodiversity research and monitoring, economic development, health and education within the peripheral zone villages and in 1997, the Ranomafana National Park management was handed over to the Malagasy Park Service.  Since 1997, Dr. Wright has continued to be actively involved in biodiversity research and exploration in Madagascar.  Dr. Wright is a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow and the recipient of numerous other awards and honours.  She is the author of five books, including For the Love of Lemurs: My Life in the Wilds of Madagascar.