57:, which ultimately left him a quadriplegic. As a result, he shifted his research to squirrels. He carried out field research in North America, India, and Southeast Asia. As his mobility deteriorated he shifted his focus to museum studies of systematics and anatomy, using the Smithsonian's collection of over 30,000 specimens of squirrels. In addition to numerous technical publications, he co-authored the book
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46:. On completing his doctorate he took a position as primatologist with Harvard's Regional Primate Center, in which capacity he studied monkeys in Brazil, Colombia, and Panama. In 1969 he moved to the
22:(December 24, 1937 - February 24, 2017) was an American zoologist who made seminal contributions to mammalogy and evolutionary biology. He was known especially for his expertise on
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Thorington was born on
December 24, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Katherine Louise Moffat Thorington and Richard Wainwright Thorington Sr. In 1967, he married
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as a curator of mammals, where he remained until his retirement in 2009. From 1987 until 1992 he served as chair of the department of vertebrate zoology.
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284:"Artist/Maker: Caroline Thorington - Aberystwyth University School of Art Museums and Galleries"
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61:, a profusely illustrated, encyclopedic treatment of all 285 known species of squirrel.
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Thorington, Caroline M.; Thorington, Ellen M.; Thorington, Katherine K. (1 June 2018).
213:"Richard W Thorington's research works - Smithsonian Institution, DC and other places"
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in 1959 followed by the M.A. in 1963 and Ph.D. in 1964, both from
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Squirrels of the World | Johns
Hopkins University Press Books
99:"Obituary: Richard Wainwright Thorington, Jr. (1937–2017)"
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The biology of rodent tails: A Study of form and function
266:"Hesperopetes thoringtoni Emry & Korth, 2007"
152:"Torch - In Memoriam: Richard W. Thorington, Jr"
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38:. His doctoral dissertation, supervised by
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20:Richard Wainwright "Thor" Thorington Jr.
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30:, he received the A.B. in biology from
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26:. After preparatory school at the
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323:American evolutionary biologists
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134:"Richard W. Thorington Jr. '59"
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328:Smithsonian Institution people
16:American zoologist and curator
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230:Thorington, Richard (2012).
55:Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome
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169:Kelly, John (2017-06-05).
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