The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa

Dr. Jonathan Losos’ research uses all the tools of modern technology, from GPS tracking and genomics to forensic archaeology, to solve the evolutionary history of these beloved pets. His talk also covers the ways that humans are transforming cats, and how they in turn are transforming the world around them.

Jonathan Losos is both a scientist and a cat lover. He was born and raised in Saint Louis. He graduated from Harvard University in 1984 and received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at U.C. Davis, Losos came to Washington University for his first faculty position. While there, he served as the Director of the Tyson Research Center and the Environmental Studies program, before leaving in 2006 to become a professor of biology at Harvard and Curator in Herpetology at the university’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. He returned to Washington University in 2018 and was appointed as the inaugural holder of the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professorship and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative, a partnership between Washington University, the Saint Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden. 

You are invited to bring copies of Dr. Losos’ book “The Cat’s Meow” to be signed.

This talk is part of the Biodiversity Center Distinguished Speaker Series.