author

Charles Taylor Vorhies

1879–1949

A pioneering zoologist and entomologist, this early Arizona naturalist helped shape how scientists understood the wildlife of the Southwest. His work ranged from insects to desert ecology, and he was known for bringing the same energy to fieldwork, teaching, and conservation.

1 Audiobook

Life History of the Kangaroo Rat

Life History of the Kangaroo Rat

by Walter P. (Walter Penn) Taylor, Charles Taylor Vorhies

About the author

Born in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1879, Charles Taylor Vorhies studied at Iowa Wesleyan College and earned a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin in 1908. Sources from JSTOR and BioOne describe him as an unusually broad-minded naturalist whose interests stretched well beyond his original training in entomology.

After teaching at the University of Utah, he joined the University of Arizona in 1915 and spent more than three decades there in a remarkable variety of roles. He served not only as a professor and department head, but also as curator, economic zoologist, acting dean, and even acting president, becoming one of the state's best-known scientific voices.

Vorhies published scientific and popular work on insects, mammals, birds, reptiles, and desert life, and later writers have remembered him as one of Arizona's leading nongame biologists and conservation advocates. He died on March 11, 1949, while attending the Fourteenth North American Wildlife Conference in Washington, D.C.