Contributions by role
Contributions by subject area
Blaire Van Valkenburgh
Summary
Distinguished Research Professor Blaire Van Valkenburgh holds the Donald R. Dickey Chair in Vertebrate Biology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. She is currently the Curator of the Donald R. Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals. Dr. Van Valkenburgh received her Ph.D. in vertebrate paleobiology from the Johns Hopkins University in 1984. The focus of her over 110 publications is the biology and paleontology of carnivorous mammals, such as hyenas, wolves, and lions. She is an Honorary Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, was elected a Fellow of the Paleontological Society in 2013, and served as President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology from 2008-2010. Dr. Van Valkenburgh has appeared in various television documentaries on prehistoric predators ranging from terror birds to sabertooth cats, and is a leading expert on the evolutionary biology of large carnivores, past and present.