Valerius Geist

Valerius (Val) Geist
Born	(1938-02-02) February 2, 1938 Nikolajew, Ukraine, USSR
Residence	Vancouver Island, B.C.
Fields	biology, behavior, and social dynamics of large North American mammals
Institutions	University of Calgary
Alma mater	University of British Columbia Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology
Doctoral advisor	Ian McTaggart-Cowan
Other academic advisors	Konrad Lorenz

Valerius (Val) Geist (Russian: Валерюс (Вал) Гаист) is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary. He is a specialist on the biology, behavior, and social dynamics of large North American large mammals (elk, moose, bighorn sheep and other wild ungulates).

Biography

He was born on February 2, 1938 in Nikolajew, Ukraine, USSR and raised in Germany and Austria. He now resides on Vancouver Island, B.C. He holds an honours BSc in zoology (1960), and a Ph.D of zoology in ethology (1967), both from the University of British Columbia. He completed his postdoctoral studies in Seewiesen, Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology (‘’Max-Planck Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie’’) (1967-1968), under Konrad Lorenz. His doctoral thesis was On the behaviour and evolution of American mountain sheep

Since 1977, he has taught at the University of Calgary, where he is a founding member and first Program Director of Environmental Science in the Faculty of Environmental Design.

Academic work

His theories of the possible lifesyle and mysterious disappearance of Neanderthal Man are gradually gaining widespread coverage, if not yet acceptance. He links the extinction of the Neanderthal to the disappearance at the end of the last ice age of large, long haired mammals, which represented his source of both nutrition and hides, rather than to conquest by Cro-Magnon man. National Geographic magazine has echoed his suggestion that Neanderthals lacked projectile weapons and that studies on Neanderthal skeletons have indicated injuries most closely resembling those of modern rodeo riders [citation needed], which Geist explains as the possible result of the Neanderthal hunting technique of leaping on large mammals, clinging to them and then killing them from above or by spear thrusts from small hunting parties. He has also pointed to evidence of Neanderthal cannibalism, including children.

Public Work

He is a champion of ethical hunting and a wildlife artist.

He has acted as an expert witness in many areas, including animal behavior, environmental policy, native treaties, wildlife law enforcement and policy, and wildlife/vehicle collisions cases in the United States and Canada. He has testified on wildlife conservation policy in court, before Senate of the State of Montana and before the Parliamentary Committee on Environment, and Sustainable Development in Ottawa.

Professor Geist once supported “game ranching” as a way to use wild animals while preserving them. However, he later rejected the idea and now opposes game farms, in the belief that legalizing the sale of wild game will create an open market on all animals that live in the wild.

Awards

Geist is certified by Alberta Society of Professional Biologists, and served as the President of the Wildlife Heritage Ltd. (no longer in existence), which consulted on large mammal ecology and taxonomy in relation to conservation legislation, industrial developments, land use conflicts, and developing terms of reference for environmental impact assessment. He is an active member in the Boone & Crockett Club and the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). He won the Wilderness Defenders Award from the Alberta Wilderness Association in 2004. He is the only North American hunter to be honored with professional membership in both the Boone & Crockett Club and its European counterpart, the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (Conseil International de la Chasse)

Publications

He is the author and/or editor of 17 books and has written seven documentary films. His work has been published in Nature, Ethology, Behaviour, Evolution, Natural History, Harrowsmith, Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, as well as Grzimek's, The New Canadian Encyclopedia, and Encyclopædia Britannica.

Books

Living on the Edge: The Mountain Goat's World, by Valerius Geist, Dale E. Toweill, October 19, 2010

Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages, by Will N. Graves, Valerius Geist, February 15, 2007

Moose: Behavior, Ecology, Conservation, by Valerius Geist, Robert Wegner (Foreword By), Michael H. Francis (Photographer), November 26, 2005

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, by Valerius Geist (Editor), Melissa C. McDade (Editor), Devra G. Gleiman (Editor), Joseph E. Trumpey (Illustrator) December 2003

Mountain Sheep and Man in the Northern Wilds, by Valerius Geist, April 1, 2002

Whitetail Tracks: The Deer's History & Impact in North America, by Valerius Geist, Michael H. Francis (Photographer) September 2001

Antelope Country: Pronghorns: The Last Americans, by Valerius Geist, Michael H. Francis (Photographer) 2001

Moose: Behavior, Ecology, Conservation, by Valerius Geist, Michael H. Francis, 2005 and 1999

Return of Royalty: Wild Sheep of North America, by Valerius Geist, Dale E. Toweill, Ken Carlson (Illustrator) 1999

Mule Deer Country, by Valerius Geist, Michael H. Francis, October 31, 1990

Deer of the World: Their Evolution, Behaviour, and Ecology, by Valerius Geist, February 16, 1999

Buffalo Nation: History and Legend of the North American Bison, by Valerius Geist, May 9, 1998 (also 1996)

Wild Sheep Country, by Valerius Geist, Michael H. Francis (Photographer), September 1993

Elk Country, by Valerius Geist, June 1993 (also 1991)

Life Strategies, Human Evolution, Environmental Design: Toward a Biological Theory of Health, by Valerius Geist, January 26, 1979

Mountain Sheep and Man in the Northern Wilds, by Valerius Geist, 1975

Mountain Sheep: A Study in Behavior and Evolution. Wildlife Behavior and Ecology Series, by Valerius Geist, 1971

Wildlife Conservation Policy, by Valerius Geist and Ian McTaggart-Cowan October 15, 1995

Behavioural Considerations in the Management of Mountain-Dwelling Ungulates. by Michael Hutchin & V. Geis, 1987

Records of North American Sheep, Rocky Mountain Goats & Pronghorn, by Bruce L. Smith, Valerius Geist, Daniel A. Pedrotti, Bart W. O'Gara, Ruby W. Dahl, Hayden Lambson, Jack Reneau, Susan Reneau Boone and Crockett Club, Jan. 1, 1996

Return of Royalty: Wild Sheep of North America. Ken Carlson; Includes Limited Edition Print, Rams of the Rockies** by Dr. Dale E.; Geist, Dr. Valerius; Illus Ken Carlson Toweill and Ken (Kenneth) Carlson (Hardcover - Jan. 1, 1999)

Other publications

• “The Neanderthal Paradigm”, April 19, 2000
• “Statement by Valerius Geist pertaining to the death of Kenton Carnegie” (September 29, 2007)
• “Wolves: When Ignorance Is Bliss”
• “When do Wolves Become Dangerous To Humans?”
• “Wolves on Vancouver Island”
• “Rebuttal: Dr. Valerius Geist Responds To Newsweek Article On Trophy Hunting” July 22, 2010
• “Wolf Report from biologist Valerius Geist”
• “Some Information for People in Areas where Wolves have become Common
• “Mountain Sheep” in Comparative Psychology: A Handbook (Garland Reference Library of Social Science) by Gary Greenberg and Maury M. Haraway, pp 441 ff. Sept. 1, 1998
• http://www.bcwf.bc.ca/committees/wildlife/documents/ValGeistGrizzlyReportAReviewEdited.pdf Comments by Dr. Valerius Geist on the report “Ensuring a Future for Canada’s Grizzly Bears” April 3, 2010.

References

• Canadian Who’s Who 1993
• Nature Canada, Spring, 1987