Archie Carr

Archibald Fairly Carr Jr. (June 16, 1909 – May 21, 1987) was an American herpetologist, ecologist, and conservationist.

He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida and an acclaimed writer on science and nature.

He brought attention to the world's declining sea turtle populations due to over-exploitation and habitat loss.

Wildlife refuges in Florida and Costa Rica have been named in his honor.

Born in Mobile, Alabama, to a Presbyterian pastor, Carr grew up in Mobile, Fort Worth, Texas, and Savannah, Georgia.

He studied zoology at the University of Florida (UF), eventually specializing in herpetology.

He further refined that interest to the study of turtles and eventually became one of the world's foremost authorities on sea turtles.

He married Marjorie Harris Carr, a conservationist herself.

While a student at UF, he became a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.

His academic ancestry passes from Rogers (PhD 1929 University of Illinois), through Stephen Alfred Forbes (PhD 1884 Indiana University) (the first Chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey and a founder of aquatic ecosystem science ), the eminent evolutionary biologist and ecologist David Starr Jordan (PhD 1872 Cornell), to Louis Agassiz (PhD 1829 Munich, Germany) the eminent ichthyologist, geologist, and natural historian.

From UF, he received bachelor's degree in 1932, M.S. in 1934, and Ph.D. in 1937.

He was a high school science teacher before becoming a college professor.

He published numerous books and articles, including Ulendo: Travels of a Naturalist in and out of Africa, High Jungles and Low, So Excellent a Fishe (about his green turtles), The Windward Road and several Time-Life books such as The Everglades and The Reptiles.

He also authored the Handbook of Turtles, and with Coleman Jett Goin, Guide to the Reptiles, Amphibians and Freshwater Fishes of Florida.

While a serious scientific and nature writer, he also published a parody of scientific taxonomic keys – his A Subjective Key to the Fishes of Alachua County, Florida, affectionately known as the "Carr Key".

Carr became a bit of a legend at UF, and students vied with one another to take his Community Ecology course in which they were involved in several major and minor field trips around northern Florida and southern Georgia.

Listening to Carr talk about the Sand Pine scrub near Ocala or his comments as he guided students through the Okefenokee Swamp in canoes was considered a great privilege.

Archie Carr graduated with his PhD in 1938 from the University of Florida under J.S. Rogers.

In 1952 the National Academy of Sciences awarded Carr the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal.

Carr advised and graduated 18 PhD students while faculty at the University of Florida: D.A. Belkin (1961), Karen A. Bjorndal (1979), D.K. Caldwell (1957), S.P. Christman (1975), M.J. Corn (1981), J.W. Crenshaw, Jr. (1955), D.C. Dietz (1979), D.W. Ehrenfeld (1966), D.E. Goodman (1971), E.V. Gourley (1969), H.F. Hirth (1962), C.G. Jackson (1964), J.F. Jackson (1972), A.B. Meylan (1984), J.A. Mortimer (1981), Robert H. Mount (1961), Peter C. Pritchard (1969), and Douglas A. Rossman (1962).

Carr was also known for his efforts in conservation, especially for sea turtles, helping convince Costa Rica to establish Tortuguero National Park in 1975.

He was a co-founder of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, which helps to save and monitor sea turtles in Tortuguero, Costa Rica.

He often joined his wife Marjorie Carr in conservation work, as she was a major advocate for conservation in her own right.