Devra G. Kleiman

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Devra G. Kleiman
University of Maryland

Devra Gail Kleiman (November 15, 1942 – April 29, 2010) was an American

pandas at the National Zoo
.

Life and career

Born in the Bronx, Kleiman attended the

University of Maryland
where she served as adjunct professor.

Golden Lion Tamarin, photographed by Devra Kleiman in 1997.

Kleiman's greatest success was with the golden lion tamarin, a small, reddish-orange monkey that inhabits Brazil's coastal forest. In the early 1970s she responded to an emergency alert from Brazilian biologist

Adelmar Coimbra Filho
, who reported that the tamarin population was down to several hundred in the wild and only 75 in captivity. Kleiman worked with Filho to convince more than a dozen zoos to engage in a cooperative lending program to foster breeding. She also used genetic data to try to assure stronger offspring. Kleiman and Filho also worked to preserve and restore large swaths of habitat for the tamarin. By the time of Kleiman's death, there were about 1,600 golden lion tamarins in the wild and 500 in zoos around the world.

Kleiman also greatly advanced scientific knowledge of the panda. When the Chinese government donated a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in 1972, there was massive public interest in their breeding. However, the first four pregnancies all failed. Kleiman led a large team that eventually discovered that the conventional wisdom about pandas—that they are solitary creatures—was incorrect.[3] After the zoo modified their living situation to allow interaction and socialization, the next pair of pandas successfully produced a baby.

Kleiman's publications include Wild Mammals in Captivity and Lion Tamarins: Biology and Conservation.[4]


Kleiman has a scientific advancement award named after her.[5]

She died of

Washington, D. C.[6]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b Brown, Emma (May 4, 2010). Devra G. Kleiman dies at 67; helped create field of conservation biology. The Washington Post
  2. ^ Siegel, Robert; Norris, Michele (2010). Remembering Biologist Devra Kleiman. NPR
  3. ^ Wright, Jennifer (May 25, 2010). "The Archival Legacy of Devra Kleiman". The Bigger Picture. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  4. ^ Wright, Jennifer (May 25, 2010). The Archival Legacy of Devra Kleiman. The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution
  5. ^ a b "The Devra Kleiman Scientific Advancement Award". www.aza.org. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  6. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1090.2012.00175.x
    .

External links

Library resources about
Devra G. Kleiman
By Devra G. Kleiman
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