David Chivers
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1944
David J. Chivers | |
|---|---|
| Born | David John Chivers 1944 Bicester, Oxfordshire, England |
| Died | (aged 81) |
| Alma mater | Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Research on gibbons and primate socio-ecology |
| Awards | President, Primate Society of Great Britain (1982–1986) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Primatology |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
David John Chivers (1944 – 5 March 2026) was a British primate biologist who was professor emeritus in Primate Biology and Conservation, and Director of Studies in Veterinary Medicine and also Biological Anthropology, Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. He was also a President of the Primate Society of Great Britain. Chivers was noted for his research in the socio-ecology and conservation of primates and other wildlife in South East Asia, Southern Asia and Brazil.[1]
Chivers was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England in 1944. He attended Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, before studying at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. He graduated in 1966 with degrees in Medical Sciences (Veterinary) and Physical Anthropology. Rather than pursuing clinical veterinary training, he began doctoral research in Physical Anthropology, focusing on primate behaviour. His PhD, awarded in 1972, was based on a two-year field study of the siamang in Peninsular Malaysia, following earlier research on Howler monkeys in Panama.[2]
Career
Chivers joined the University of Cambridge in 1970 as a Demonstrator in Veterinary Anatomy and became a lecturer in 1975. He taught anatomy to veterinary students and primate biology in Physical Anthropology, supervising numerous research projects in Southeast Asia. His work emphasized primate ecology, nutrition, and conservation, including long-term studies in Malaysia and collaborative programs with local universities.
His research formed part of the expansion of field primatology in the late twentieth century, when scientists increasingly studied primates in their natural habitats rather than primarily in laboratory settings.[3]
Chivers edited books including Malayan Forest Primates (1980) and co-authored volumes on primate feeding and behaviour, which were favourably reviewed.[4][5][6][7]
He served as President of the Primate Society of Great Britain[8] and organized international primatology congresses. His research combined anatomical studies with field ecology, contributing to understanding primate diets and rainforest conservation.[2]
Siamangs
Chivers frequented Malaysia from 1968 to 1972 while undertaking his PhD studying siamangs, from which he published The Siamang in Malaya. A Field Study of a Primate in Tropical Rain Forest.[9]
Gibbons
Chivers developed a special interest in Gibbons following his first encounters in Malaysia in 1968. In 1985 he moved to Borneo to develop Project Barito Ulu in Central Kalimantan with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, to investigate the role of fruit-eating animals in seed dispersal in the natural regeneration of forests[3], living there until 2012. Out of 50 doctoral studies he supervised, 12 were on gibbons.[10]
He was a noted expert of gibbon behaviour, including their raucous dawn singing, which he described as a “beautiful symphony”.[11][12][13]
Orangutans
From 1999 to 2014 he focused on orangutans, supervising at least seven doctoral theses examining orangutan rehabilitation and reintroduction.[10][14]
Conservation and advocacy
Throughout his career and after his retirement from Cambridge in 2013, Chivers remained a vocal advocate for primate habitat conservation.[15][16] In 2009 he was a panellist at the Great Ape Debate held at the Linnean Society where conservationists discussed a growing controversy surrounding measures to save the orangutan.[14][17]
Chivers emphasised “the critical issue of needing to understand ourselves” is central to mitigating negative human impacts, and believed biologist Jeremy Griffith’s explanation of the human condition offers “the necessary breakthrough.”[18]