Howard J. Stains

Howard J. Stains, also known as Howard James Stains, was an American zoologist and mammalogist. Sources identify him as an emeritus professor of zoology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and note his contribution to Recent Mammals of the World, where he wrote on carnivores and pinnipeds.

His published work shows a strong interest in mammals and their classification. He wrote The Raccoon in Kansas in 1956, published research on mink in Kansas, and described bats from Mexico, including A New Bat (Genus Leptonycteris) From Coahuila. Archival and reference sources also connect him with work in mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History.

Available records indicate he was born in 1924 and died in 2005. While a full public biography is hard to confirm from the sources available, the record that emerges is of a dedicated mid-20th-century scientist whose studies of mammals were practical, detailed, and wide-ranging.