:en:Don E. Wilson

Wilson spent his childhood and youth in Nebraska, Texas, Oregon and Washington. After finishing high school in Bisbee, Arizona in 1961 he graduated to Bachelor of Science from the University of Arizona in 1965. Still an under-graduate in 1964, he made his first expedition to the tropics, to which he travelled many times in the subsequent decades to study the mammalian fauna.

After working for the National Park Service in a fire lookout tower in the Grand Canyon National Park for one summer, he attended the graduate school of the University of New Mexico, where he graduated respectively in the discipline biology to Master of Science in 1967 and promoted to Ph.D. in 1970.

During this period he spent the summer months working as a naturalist for the U.S. Forest Service in the Sandia Mountains. His master thesis dealt with the relationships of five Peromyscus species in the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico, his dissertation with the small tropical insectivorous bat Myotis nigricans.{{cite thesis|title= Life history of Myotis nigricans (Mammalia, Chiroptera)|first=Don E. |last= Wilson |year= 1970|oclc=23202821|url=https://search.worldcat.org/ja/title/23202821 }} The University of New Mexico; 94 leaves : illustrations.

From 1986 to 1988, Wilson was president{{cite web |title=Past ASM Officers |url=http://www.mammalogy.org/past-asm-officers |website=American Society of Mammalogists |access-date=June 26, 2020}} of the American Society of Mammalogists. In 1992, he was president of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. In addition, he was editor of the Journal of Mammalogy for five years, and editor of the publications Mammalian Species and Special Publications for three years. He also worked in various editorial boards. Wilson is on the board of the organizations Bat Conservation International, the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa, Integrated Conservation Research and in the Lubee Bat Conservancy.

At the same period serving as an administrative officer, Wilson was the vice president (1990-1993) and the president (1993-1996) of The Washington Biologists' Field Club.{{harvnb|Perry|2007|page=ix}}{{harvnb|Perry|2007|pages=ix, 9–10}} It was in 1991 when Wilson was in charge of a committee under then president Dick Banks when they saw the field for the Club at Plummers Island and the nearby mainland showing decrease in their biodiversity, where the Club needed more data for invertebrate taxa, to find ways to increase/recover variety and numbers of wildlife species. Wilson's committee was assigned and set to realise how they would make those data available to the biological community at large, utilizing the research grants program the Club has been supporting.{{efn|Wilson himself joined the sponsor list at the Washington Biologists' Field Club, for researches on the anuran community at the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge (2002{{harvnb|Perry|2007|pages=309}}{{harvnb|Perry|2007|pages=309,313,314}}), bats foraging ecology of the Potomac Basin (1993 and 1996) as well as the bird census project by the Audubon Naturalist Society in the District of Columbia (1993).}}

Wilson published more than 270 scientific publications, including the book Mammals of New Mexico and three monographs on bats.{{cite book|last1=Handley|first1=Charles O. (Charles Overton) |last2=Wilson|first2= Don E. |last3=Gardner|first3= Alfred L.|title= Demography and natural history of the common fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, on Barro Colorado Island, Panama|publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press|year=1991 |series= Smithsonian contributions to zoology|issue= 511 |isbn=1560981466}}{{harvnb|Wilson, et al.|2019}} In 1997, the book Bats in Question – The Smithsonian Answer Book was published.

In 2005, Wilson was the co-editor along with DeeAnn M. Reeder of the reference work Mammal Species of the World.{{cite web |title=Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=h59oOg4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=h59oOg4AAAAJ:u5HHmVD_uO8C |website=Google Scholar |access-date=September 2, 2015}}{{efn|2nd edition was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1= Don E. |last2= Reeder|first2= DeeAnn M.|title=Mammal species of the world : a taxonomic and geographic reference|edition=2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|year=1993 }} and the 3rd was from the Johns Hopkins University Press.{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1= Don E. |last2= Reeder|first2= DeeAnn M.|title=Mammal species of the world : a taxonomic and geographic reference|edition=3|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2005|isbn=0801882214 }}}}

For Smithsonian Institution, Wilson published the books Animal,{{cite book|editor-last1=Burnie|editor-first1=David |editor-last2= Wilson|editor-first2= Don E. |editor3= Smithsonian Institution |title=Animal |edition=American |publisher= DK pub., Smitnonian|year= 2011|isbn= 9780756686772 }}{{efn|There is Mammal for the publisher Dorling Kindersley as well.{{cite book|editor-last1=Burnie|editor-first1= David |editor-last2= Wilson|editor-first2= Don E.|title=Animal |publisher=Smithsonian Institution, DK|year= 2005|isbn= 9780756616342 }}}} Human,{{cite book

|editor-last1=Winston|editor-first1= Robert M. L. |editor-last2= Wilson|editor-first2= Don E. |editor3 = Smithsonian Institution |title=Human|edition= 1|location= New York |publisher= DK Pub.|year=2004|isbn= 0756605202 }} 1st American edition. for Smithsonian Handbook of Mammals{{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Cole|editor-first2= F. Russell |editor-last3= Nichols|editor-first3= James D. |editor-last4= Rudran|editor-first4= Rasanayagam |editor-last5= Foster|editor-first5= Mercedes S. |title= Measuring and monitoring biological diversity : standard methods for mammals|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year= 1996|series= Biological diversity handbook series |id={{ISBN2|1=1560986360|2=1560986379}}}} as well as a field guide to the North American mammal fauna which was included in the Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals{{Cite journal |last=Choate |first=Jerry |date=2001-04-01 |title=Review of The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals Edited by Don E. Wilson and Sue Ruff'' |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsresearch/552/ |journal=Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences|volume=11|issue=1 (Spring 2001)|publisher= Center for Great Plains Studies.|quote=a companion volume to Wilson and Reeder's Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (1993).}}{{cite book|editor-last1=Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2=Ruff|editor-first2= Sue |editor3=American Society of Mammalogists |title= The Smithsonian book of North American mammals|publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press, in association with the American Society of Mammalogists |year= 1999|isbn= 1560988452}}{{cite book|editor-last1=Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Cole|editor-first2= F. Russell |editor-last3= Nichols|editor-first3= James D. |editor-last4= Rudran|editor-first4= Rasanayagam |editor-last5= Foster|editor-first5= Mercedes S.|title=Measuring and monitoring biological diversity : standard methods for mammals|publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press|year= 1996|series= Biological diversity handbook series|bibcode= 1996mmbd.book...27W |id={{ISBN2|1=1560986360|2=1560986379}} }}

Since 2009, he is co-editing with Russell Mittermeier the book series Handbook of the Mammals of the World, from the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions.

Wilson won several awards, including "the Smithsonian Institution Awards" for outstanding contributions in the field of tropical biology, "the Outstanding Publication Award" from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "the Gerrit S. Miller Award" from the North American Symposium on Bat Research, and "the Hartley H. T. Jackson Award" of the American Society of Mammalogists. In addition he received recognition of the Asociacion Mexicana de Mastozoologia for his outstanding scientific achievement{{Cite journal |title=View of Food items of Macrotus waterhousii (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in central Mexico |journal= THERYA|volume= 7 |issue= 1 |year=2016 |url=https://mastozoologiamexicana-com/therya/index.php/THERYA/article/view/355/html|access-date=2025-03-28|publisher=Asociacion Mexicana de Mastozoologi}} and he received an honorary membership of the American Society of Mammalogists.{{Cite web |title=Past ASM Officers |quote=1986-1988 Don E. Wilson, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service|publisher= American Society of Mammalogists |url=http://www.mammalsociety.org/past-asm-officers |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.mammalsociety.org}}

A species of snake, Myriopholis wilsoni, is named in honor of Don E. Wilson.{{cite book|last1=Beolens|first1= Bo|last2= Watkins|first2= Michael|last3= Grayson|first3= Michael|last4=Wilson|first4= D.E.|year=2011|title= The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|chapter=|page=287 |location= Baltimore |publisher= Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-1-4214-0135-5|ref={{harvid|Beolens, et al.|2011|page=287}}}} xiii + 296 pp. .

Wilson lives with his wife, whom he married in 1962 in Gainesville, Virginia. The couple has two daughters (who work as tutors) and four granddaughters.

• {{cite book|last1 = Yates|first1= Terry L. |first2=William L. |last2=Gannon|first3 = Don E. |last3=Wilson|editor-first= Terry |editor-last=Yates|title=Life Among the Muses: Papers in Honor of James S. Findley.|date= 1997-03-24|url= https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/msb_special_publications/7|publisher=Museum of Southwestern Biology|series=Special Publication 3|oclc=909470406|access-date=2025-03-27}}

• {{cite book|editor-last1=Diersing|editor-first1= Victor E. |editor-last2= Wilson|editor-first2= Don E. |title= Distribution and systematics of the rabbits (Sylvilagus) of West-Central Mexico|publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press |year= 1980 |series= Smithsonian contributions to zoology|issue= 297}}
• {{cite book| editor-last1= Handley|editor-first1= Charles O. (Charles Overton) |editor-last2=Wilson|editor-first2= Don E. |editor-last3=Gardner|editor-first3= Alfred L. |title= Demography and natural history of the common fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, on Barro Colorado Island, Panama|publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press |year= 1991 |series= Smithsonian contributions to zoology|issue= 511 |isbn= 1560981466}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2=Reeder|editor-first2= DeeAnn M.|title= Mammal species of the world : a taxonomic and geographic reference |edition= 2 |publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press |year= 1996}}
• {{cite book| editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first = Don E. |editor-last2 = Sandoval|editor-first2 = Abelardo|title= Manu : the biodiversity of southeastern Peru |trans-title= Manu : la biodiversidad del sureste del Perú|publisher= Smithsonian Institution |year= 1996|isbn= 1560987103}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Cole|editor-first2= F. Russell |title= Common names of mammals of the world|publisher= Smithsonian Institution Press |year= 2000|isbn= 1560983833}}

• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson |editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Mittermeier|editor-first2= Russell A. |editor-last3= Ruff |editor-first3= Sue|editor-last4= Martínez-Vilalta |editor-first4= Albert |editor-last5= Hoyo |editor-first5= Josep del |editor-last6= Cavallini|editor-first6= Paolo |title= Carnivores |publisher= Lynx |year= 2009|series= |volume=1|isbn= 9788496553491}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Mittermeier|editor-first2= Russell A. |editor-last3= Ruff |editor-first3= Sue|editor-last4= Martínez-Vilalta |editor-first4= Albert |editor-last5= Llobet, Toni |editor-last6=Hoyo |editor-first6= Josep del |editor-last7= Altrichter|editor-first7= Mariana |title=Hoofed mammals |publisher= Lynx |year= 2011|series= |volume=2|isbn= 9788496553774}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Mittermeier |editor-first1= Russell A. |editor-last2= Rylands|editor-first2= Anthony B.|editor-last3= Wilson|editor-first3= Don E. |title= Primates |publisher= Lynx |year= 2013|series= |volume=3|isbn= 9788496553897}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Mittermeier|editor-first2= Russell A.|editor-last3= Martínez-Vilalta |editor-first3= Albert |editor-last4= Leslie|editor-first4= David |editor-last5= Llobet, Toni |editor-last6= Hoyo|editor-first6= Josep del |editor-last7= Copet|editor-first7= José Luis |editor-last8= Braulik|editor-first8= Gill|title= Sea mammals |publisher= Lynx |year= 2014|series= |volume=4|isbn= 9788496553934}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Mittermeier|editor-first2= Russell A. |title= Monotremes and marsupials |publisher= Lynx |year= 2015|series= |volume=5|isbn= 9788496553996}}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Lacher|editor-first2= Thomas E. Jr. |editor-last3= Mittermeier|editor-first3= Russell A. |title= Lagomorphs and rodents |publisher= Lynx |year= 2016|series= |volume=6|isbn= 9788494189234 }}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Lacher|editor-first2= Thomas E. Jr. |editor-last3= Mittermeier|editor-first3= Russell A. |title= Rodents |publisher= Lynx |year= 2017|series= |volume=7|isbn= 9788416728046 }}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Mittermeier|editor-first2= Russell A.|title= Insectivores, sloths and colugos |publisher= Lynx |year= 2018|series= |volume=8|isbn= 9788416728084 }}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Wilson|editor-first1= Don E. |editor-last2= Mittermeier|editor-first2= Russell A. |title= Bats |publisher= Lynx |year= 2019|series= |volume=9|ref={{harvid|Wilson, et al.|2019}}|isbn= 9788416728190 }}

Illustrated checklist of the mammals of the world

• {{cite book|editor-last1= Burgin |editor-first1= Connor J. |editor-last2= Wilson|editor-first2= Don E. |editor-last3= Mittermeier|editor-first3= Russell A. |editor-last4= Rylands|editor-first4= Anthony B. |editor-last5= Lacher|editor-first5= Thomas E. |editor-last6= Sechrest|editor-first6= Wes |editor-last7= Llobet|editor-first7= Toni |title= Monotremato to Rodentia |publisher= Lynx |year= 2020 |series= Illustrated checklist of the mammals of the world|volume= 1|isbn= 9788416728343 }}
• {{cite book|editor-last1= Burgin|editor-first1= Connor J. |editor-last2= Wilson|editor-first2= Don E. |editor-last3= Mittermeier|editor-first3= Russell A. |editor-last4= Rylands|editor-first4= Anthony B. |editor-last5= Lacher|editor-first5= Thomas E. |editor-last6= Sechrest|editor-first6= Wes |editor-last7= Llobet|editor-first7= Toni |title= Eulipotyphla to Carnivora |publisher= Lynx |year= 2020 |series= Illustrated checklist of the mammals of the world|volume= 2|isbn= 9788416728350 }}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|editor-last=Perry|editor-first= Matthew C. |title=The Washington Biologists' Field Club: Its Members and its history (1900–2006)|publisher=Washington Biologists' Field Club|location= Washington, DC|year=2007 |isbn= 978-0-615-16259-1|ref={{harvid|Perry|2007}}|url=https://wbfc.science/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wbfc_booksm.pdf|pages=9-10,20,268-269,290-291,301,319-320324-}}
• p.290-291 biography as a member.
• images included:{{bulleted list

|

|BIODIVERSITY AT PLUMMERS ISLAND (p.9)

|Portrait images to Wilson's biography (p.290-291)

|Russell Hall (guest), Dave Trauger, Don Wilson, and Roy McDiarmid (guest), oyster roast, 1985 (p.328)

|Work day prior to oyster roast, fall 1995 (p.335)

|Past Presidents, November 2003 (p.339)

}}

• [http://vertebrates.si.edu/mammals/mammals_staff_pages/wilson_don.cfm Member profile Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History]
• [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q4dB1qMAAAAJ&hl=en List of publications by Don E. Wilson at Google Scholar]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Don Ellis}}

Category:1944 births

Category:American mammalogists

Category:Living people

Category:People from Davis, Oklahoma

Category:People from Gainesville, Virginia

Category:Scientists from Virginia

Category:University of Arizona alumni

Category:University of New Mexico alumni

Category:Presidents of the American Society of Mammalogists