Special Issue in Honor of Dr. Alfred L. Gardner

Abstract

It is a great pleasure to introduce this special feature honoring Dr. Alfred Lunt Gardner. Al’s many contributions to mammalogy span seven decades, two continents, and practically the entire tree of mammals. It is impossible to imagine what mammalogy in the Americas would look like without him. His academic contributions are as significant as his imposing stature.Al was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1937 and spent his early childhood there. His first interests in natural history were sparked by his 3rd-grade teacher, an amateur ornithologist who kept a cabinet of specimens in her classroom (Gardner 2005). In 1947, the Gardner family relocated to a farm in North Andover, Massachusetts, where, according to Al, he “practically lived in the woods fishing, hunting, and trapping†(pg. 277, Gardner 2005). In his adolescent years, Al would spend considerable time in the outdoors, honing his trapping and skinning skills. By his freshman year of high school, he was selling furs and evading game wardens (Gardner 2005). In 1953, his family moved to Tucson, Arizona, where Al found a trove of new habitats and wildlife to explore. By 1955, Al graduated high school, signed up for the Army Reserves, and enrolled at the University of Arizona, where his mammalogical interests would be further stimulated by E. Lendell Cockrum and his graduate students.