Nicole Duplaix

Nicole Duplaix (born August 21, 1943 in New York City ), temporarily known as Nicole Duplaix-Hall , is an American-French zoologist, ecologist, conservationist and nature photographer. She is considered an expert on giant otters .

Life

Duplaix is ​​the daughter of George and Lily Duplaix, née Wheeler. Her father was an artist, her mother a writer. She grew up in New York City, Paris, and Palm Beach , where her wealthy parents owned homes. In 1962 she obtained the Baccalauréat from the University of Caen . In 1963 she started at Manhattanville College , a biology -Studies they 1966 as Bachelor graduated of Science. In 1964 and 1965 she worked as a volunteer at the Bronx Zoo , where she met her future study object, the giant otter. From 1966 to 1968 she studied at the University of Paris , where she obtained the Diplôme d'études approfondies in the field of ecology . Duplaix was married to an English commodity broker with whom she lived in London from 1970 until her divorce in 1974. She then returned to the Bronx Zoo. In 1975 she became assistant to the director general of the New York Zoological Society .

In 1976 Duplaix went on an expedition to research the giant otter to Suriname . She struck gold at Kaboeri Creek near Suriname's western border. During a one-year study visit, she had the opportunity to identify 249 different specimens. She also found out that each giant otter colony claims a river length of one mile for its own territory. The otter family moves into semicircular resting places on the river bank and marks them with fragrances against rivals. Duplaix's work was the first extensive study of giant otters in the wild. It was the basis of her doctoral thesis The comparative ecology and behavior of Pteronura brasiliensis and its phylogenetic implications at the University of Paris-Süd in Orsay in 1981. Duplaix also supported the Suriname authorities in deciding on protective measures for the giant otter.

During the late 1970s and 1980s, Duplaix held several positions with the IUCN and WWF , where she worked as a spokesperson and fundraiser . In 1976 she was one of the co-founders of TRAFFIC ( Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce ), where she served as the first director of the US office in Washington, DC from 1979 to 1982 . From 1978 to 1979 she was a Visiting Research Scientist at the Office of Zoological Research at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC

In 1993 Duplaix was director of photojournalism at the Institut Accords Education in Paris. Since 1994 she has worked as a freelance wildlife photographer and writer for the National Geographic Society . Duplaix's articles and photos, for which she traveled in over 70 countries, have been published in various magazines and journals, including National Geographic Magazine , World , Travel + Leisure , McCall’s , Terre Sauvage , International Wildlife Magazine , Condé Nast Traveler , GEOlino , Airone , Naturopa , Ranger Rick , Animal Kingdom , World Wildlife Fund , Wildlife Conservation , Florida Environments , La Terre et la Vie - Revue d'Ecologie , Das Tier , Animals , Otter Trust , Penn Ar Bed , Top Dobe and many others. She has contributed to eight books as author and co-author and published over 200 popular science and scholarly articles. From 1972 to 1975 she was the editor of Volumes 12 to 15 of the International Zoo Yearbook of the Zoological Society of London .

literature

• Yount, Lisa (1999). A to Z of Women in Science and Math. 11 Penn Plaza New York NY 10001: Facts on File. Pp. 49-50. ISBN 0-8160-3797-3 .
• Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2007). "Duplaix, Nicole". Encyclopedia of World Scientists (Revised Edition). New York: Facts on File. Pp. 193-194. ISBN 978-1-4381-1882-6 .
• Who's Who of American Women, 1983-1984 , Marquis Who's Who, 1983, p. 220
• Anne LaBastille : Women and Wilderness . Sierra Club Books, 1980. ISBN 0871562340 , pp. 271-273

Web links

• Official website
• Employee Profile Nicole Duplaix , Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University