Department of Zoology

Lunch with Her Majesty the Queen

Her Majesty and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh attended a formal lunch at King's College to celebrate long service to the University by its employees. The 100 longest-serving employees of the University, along with their guests, were invited to attend, with an average of more than 39 years service to the University. Four of those long-serving employees came from the Zoology Department: Barrie Fuller who joined the Department in 1961 as a junior technician; Paul Heavens who joined in 1965 as a part-time Junior Technician at the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour; Barry Keverne, FRS, who joined the Anatomy Department on a Research Fellowship in 1972; and Neal Maskell who also joined the department in 1965 as a part-time Junior Technician.

All four of them, along with their partners, thoroughly enjoyed this memorable occasion celebrating the University’s 800th birthday. Paul Heaven’s first job in the Sub-Department was working with Professor Thorpe helping to hand-rear chaffinches. Paul is now the Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer for the Sub-Department. a post he has held since 2002. Paul Heavens really enjoyed the lunch and said that it was especially nice to see some old friends again. In fact the Sub-Department was also represented by its Director, Barry Keverne. Barry became the Director in 1988 and a Professor in 1998. Barry would have missed out on this event if he had retired last year but as he still had two-funded research grants running he has carried on for a further year. Barry was particularly impressed with the Vice Chancellor’s speech which he felt was “relevant and pertinent to the University’s cause and showed gratitude to the long service given by the people at the lunch”.

The longest-serving member of the Department is Barrie Fuller who has held a variety of roles in the Department which have included working as a research technician with Professor Sir Vincent Wigglesworth and Professor Sir Gabriel Horn before moving to Health and Safety. He is now a Safety Technician with responsibility for chemical safety and radiation protection, amongst other things. Barrie thought that the event was very extremely well organised, with a relaxed atmosphere. He particularly enjoyed the grace Occuli Omnium, sung by the King’s choral scholars, as he had once sung it in King’s Chapel as choirboy.

Neal Maskell, the Department’s current Chief Teaching Laboratory Technician was the Departmental Photographer for 35 years between 1971 and 2005. At the lunch Neal sat opposite someone who had joined the university at the same time, so they had an enjoyable time talking about old times and old friends.

All those invited to the event were struck by the diversity of people attending and that it was especially nice that everyone was treated equally. They all thought the event was a memorable occasion which was thoroughly enjoyable.

More information: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2009111905

New ZooGrads website

The graduate student representatives have been hard at work this summer not only doing their own work but also putting together a new web site for Zoology graduate students. They hope that the site will be useful both to current students and those who are thinking of applying.

Please take a look at the new site here: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zooone/pgradbk/ZooGrads/zoogradhome.html

Reunion of the Pt II Class of 1969

Many months ago, the Department was contacted by Dr. Alan Cane who, along with his contemporary Nick Owens, was organising a reunion of Part II students from 1969. He asked if the party could visit Zoology, and Malcolm Burrows enthusiastically agreed. On Saturday 8 August, 15 of the original 23 former students, together with their partners, were welcomed to the Department by Malcolm, William Foster (class of '70), Helen Skaer (class of 68), Jenny Clack and Michael Akam. The party was taken on a tour of the Department, which enabled them to get a sense of how much change there had been in the last 40 years, and Malcolm Burrows prompted some discussion on the differences between the class lists of 1969 and 2009. Afterwards the party left for a drinks reception at the University Centre where they were joined by graduate students Marta Costa, Stephen Montgomery, Richard Walbank and Jennifer Harcourt. Before leaving the Department they posed for a group photograph, taken, by a pleasing coincidence, by Neal Maskell, who had also taken their class photographs 40 years ago.

The career paths of the Class of '69 are instructive. Of 18 people who provided information, 15 went on to take higher degrees, and 13 of them then went on to work in biological or medical fields.

In expressing thanks to Malcolm Burrows and the Department, Alan Cane commented that it had been "an unforgettable experience. It was good to see again the familiar (and rather less well remembered) places, and to gain some appreciation of the many changes since 'our day'. I was particularly struck by the dedicated and largely unseen work of support staff and volunteers."

Royal Medal

The Department is delighted to offer its congratulations to Professor Ron Laskey, FRS, on his award of the Royal Society's prestigious Royal Medal. This means that there are now five holders of the Medal who have been honoured for their work whilst a member of this Department: Gabriel Horn (2001), Robert Hinde (1996), Michael Berridge (1991), John Gurdon (1985) and Ron Laskey.

The Royal Society, the UK’s independent academy for science, makes these awards to scientists in recognition of their achievements in a wide variety of fields of research - the uniting factor is the excellence of their work and the profound implications their findings have had for others working in their relevant fields.

The Royal Society

Further coverage - Cambridge academics recognised by The Royal Society, University of Cambridge news (13.07.09)

ZSL Silver Medal

The department is delighted to offer its congratulations to Dr Rosie Trevelyan, Director of the Tropical Biology Association and based here in the Department, who has been awarded the Zoological Society of London Silver Medal for contributions to the understanding of zoology, including activities such as wildlife conservation and education.

2008 ZSL scientific award ceremony
Previous winners of the Silver Medal

Linnean Medal for Zoology

The Department is delighted to offer its congratulations to Professor Michael Akam who has been awarded the Linnean Medal for Zoology.  Professor David Cutler, President of the Linnean Society of London, said: “The Anniversary Meeting is a very special occasion in the calendar of the Linnean Society of London as it provides an opportunity for the Society to acknowledge the seminal contribution of individuals to their chosen fields within the biological sciences.  Their work directly advances the core mission of the Society, as outlined in our Charter – the cultivation of the Science of Natural History in all its branches.” 

A previous winner of the Linnean Medal was Alfred Newton in 1900. 

Further information can be found on the Linnean Society's website:  http://www.linnean.org/

New Fellow of the Royal Society

The Department offers its congratulations to Professor Jenny Clack who has become the latest member of the Department to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society bringing the total to 18.  Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, said:  "Our new Fellows are at the cutting edge of science worldwide. Their achievements represent the vast contribution science makes to society. They join an outstanding group of over 1400 Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society, and all rank among the international leaders in their field."

The full list of fellows is available here: http://royalsociety.org/publication.asp?tip=1&id=7696

More information on the University news page

Godman-Salvin Medal

Professor Rhys Green has been awarded the Godman-Salvin Medal by the British Ornithologists Union (BOU), a rare honour as the medal has only been awarded 24 times in 90 years.  The medal is awarded to an individual as a signal honour for distinguished ornithological work, in Rhys' case it celebrates his work studying the effects of development, farming and climate change on bird populations.  Rhys is an honorary Professor in the Department and a research scientist for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Steve Dudley from the BOU said: “We have awarded it to Rhys because of his longstanding work with the RSPB and in particular his studies with stone curlews. His work is fundamental, Rhys has contributed both in publishing the science and implementing the conservation action with the RSPB."

http://www.bou.org.uk/bouhon.htm

Last surviving Beagle egg discovered by chance

An egg collected by Charles Darwin while on HMS Beagle - and thought to be the last such specimen known to exist - has been rediscovered by an octogenarian volunteer at Cambridge University’s Zoology Museum. And records seem to indicate that Darwin himself was responsible for damage caused to the heavily cracked egg after packing it in too small a box during or following his famous voyage from 1831-36.

The chocolate brown egg, one of 16 collected on the naturalist’s trip, was among the many items being catalogued by volunteer Liz Wetton.  Liz has spent half a day at the Museum each week for the past ten years where she faithfully sorts and reboxes the Museum’s bird egg collection.  She merely commented the specimen had C. Darwin written on it before moving to the next drawer. But it was only when Collections Manager Mathew Lowe was reviewing her work that he discovered no one knew about the existence of this specimen.

He said: “There are so many historical treasures in the collection, Liz did not realise this was a new discovery. To have rediscovered a Beagle specimen in the 200th year of Darwin’s birth is special enough, but to have evidence that Darwin himself broke it is a wonderful twist.”  After reading Liz’s notes, Lowe and Curator of Ornithology Dr Mike Brooke, traced the specimen’s origin in the notebook of Professor Alfred Newton, a friend of Darwin’s and Professor of Zoology in the latter 19th Century.

Newton had written: “One egg, received through Frank Darwin, having been sent to me by his father who said he got it at Maldonado ( Uruguay) and that it belonged to the Common Tinamou of those parts.  “The great man put it into too small a box and hence its unhappy state.”

Museum Director Professor Michael Akam said: “This find shows just how valuable the work of our loyal volunteers is to the Museum. Only Liz has examined each of the many thousands of eggs in our collection. Without her we would not have found this unique specimen."

Volunteer Liz Wetton said: “It was an exhilarating experience. After working on the egg collections for ten years this was a tremendous thing to happen.”

Charles Darwin's egg rediscovered, BBC News (10.4.09)

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New Evolution field station - plans finalised

The old Genetics Field Station on Huntingdon Road is being replaced by a brand new facility for evolutionary genetics to be built in Madingley later this year. The facility will be used in part by Chris Jiggins' research group from Zoology, for research on butterflies and moths. It will offer state of the art facilities for raising insects and carrying out molecular genetic analysis, as well as containment rooms for research on insects that need to be kept isolated, such as insecticide resistant crop pests or disease vectors. Projects that will take advantage of the facility include a study of Bt toxin resistance in the global crop pest, diamondback moth, and studies of wing patterning in tropical butterflies. Work is scheduled to begin in April and if all goes to plan the facility should be ready in time for the 150th Anniversary of publication of the Origin of Species in November 2009.

More information on Chris Jiggins' research group is available here.

Darwin's 200th Birthday

February 12th 2009 was the anniversary of Darwin's birth 200 years ago and was celebrated across the university and the world. A new statue of him was unveiled at Christs' College - further details can be seen here on the main University website.

Professor Barry Keverne was one of four scientists invited by the BBC to discuss how Darwin has influenced their work. See the interview here.

As 2009 is also the 150 anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species there will be several more celebrations throughout the year including the Darwin Festival from 5th to 10th July 2009. Further details are available here.

Induction loops for the hard of hearing have been installed in the department's teaching rooms and reception. The reception loop is on all the time. In both seminar rooms the amplifier needs to be switched on at the wall and the user then continues as normal. In the main lecture theatre nothing has changed, however in the Part II Lecture Theatre the user will need to wear the microphone provided if necessary. Induction loop users should switch their hearing aids to the T position to hear the lecturer speak. Please also see the Disability Resource Centre website.

The department will switch to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) between Tuesday the 27th and Thursday the 29th January 09. BTinet engineers will tour the building changing most old phones to the new cisco hand sets and will be on site the next day to help deal with "finger trouble". Key staff will have received training before the roll out and there is a help line on 37070. More information can be found at www.phone.cam.ac.uk.

Update: The VOIP system was installed successfully and is now fully operational within the department. (02.04.09)