Breakfast Male Lemur
Research Scientists at Berenty
HOMEPAGE of the Berenty Website The Berenty Reserve Tourism Website The Ako Project


 
Articles on Berenty


A selection of Alison's books:

Lucy's Legacy
Lucy's Legacy

Lords & Lemurs
Lords & Lemurs

Lémuriens, Seigneurs, Savants Fous et Rois aux Sagaies
Lémuriens, Seigneurs, Savants Fous et Rois aux Sagaies

Ringtailed Lemur Biology
Ringtailed Lemur Biology

Click here for a sample chapter from:
Ringtailed Lemur Biology




The Ako Project children's book series - see the Lemur Conservation's website for more details...

Ako the Aye-Aye cover
Ako the Aye-Aye


Bitika the Mouse Lemur cover
Bitika the Mouse Lemur


Tik-Tik the Ringtailed Lemur cover
Tik-Tik the Ringtailed Lemur


Bounce the White Sifaka cover
Bounce the White Sifaka


Fuzzy and Furry The Red Ruffed Lemur Twins cover
Fuzzy and Furry The Red Ruffed Lemur Twins


No Song the Indri cover
No Song the Indri

Dr. Alison Jolly - profile


Alison Jolly
began studying lemur behavior at Berenty Reserve in 1963. She was mainly interested in the evolution of social intelligence. Married to Richard Jolly, with four children, she had to follow that first interest from a desk. Her research at this time included writing the following landmark books:

Lemur Behavior, 1966
The Evolution of Primate Behavior, 1972, 1985
Lucy's Legacy, 1999

In the 1980's she campaigned for conservation in Madagascar, examined closely in her text, A World Like Our Own, 1980. She then returned to field work at Berenty in the ringtailed lemur birth seasons of 1989-2008, with her colleague Dr. Hantanirina Rasamimanana, as well as Malagasy students, foreign students and volunteers, focusing on demography, ranging behavior and the ferocious territoriality of female ringtailed lemurs. See her book, Ringtailed Lemur Biology, 2006.

Dr. Alison Jolly
Dr. Alison Jolly © Cyril Rouso, www.ruoso-grundman.com

Alison wrote a popular account of Berenty's history in Lords and Lemurs, 2004/ Lémuriens, Seigneurs, Savants Fous et Rois aux Sagaies (fr), 2010 which detail the extraordinary story of how a private nature reserve has survived for 70 years with French aristocratic owners, spear-carrying work-force, and the changing politics of post-colonial Madagascar. She has also written over 100 scientific and popular articles and has been featured in 20 television programs.

Since 2005 Alison's main interest has been with The Ako Project, a conservation education project involving children's books and posters, created with her colleague Hantanirina Rasamimanana. The Ako Project has grown into a major UNICEF-supported school outreach in Madagascar. It provides lemur storybooks, ecological posters, and support to children and teachers who have little or no other material on their country's biodiversity. The series will be published in English in 2012, available individually or in boxed sets. For more information, please visit The Ako Project's website, hosted by the Lemur Conservation Foundation.


Contact:  alisonjolly@me.com



Further Information

Education: BA Cornell University, PhD Yale University.

Present position: Visiting Scientist, Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of Sussex.

Past affiliations:
New York Zoological Society, Cambridge University, University of Sussex, The Rockefeller University, Princeton University.

Honors: President of the International Primatological Society 1992-96, Officer of the National Order of Madagascar, Lifetime Achievement Award IPS 2010, and a mouselemur named Microcebus jollyae

Award at Kyoto with Yamagiwa
  Being Presented Award at Kyoto with Yamagiwa


Books:
- Jolly, A. (1966) Lemur Behavior. A Madagascar Field Study. Chicago University Press, Chicago. 197 pp.
- Jolly, A. (1972) The Evolution of Primate Behavior. Macmillan, New York. 397 pp. German and Japanese editions 1975, 2nd edition 1985, 526pp.
- Bruner, J., A. Jolly, K. Sylva, eds. (1976) Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution. Penguin, Harmondsworth, Basic Books, New York. 716 pp.
- Jolly, A. (1980) A World Like Our Own; Man and Nature in Madagascar. Yale University Press, New Haven. 272 pp.
- Jolly, A., P. Oberle, R. Albignac, eds. (1984) Madagascar. Key Environments Series, Pergamon Press, Oxford. 239 pp.
- Jolly, A. (1999). Lucy's Legacy: Sex and Intelligence in Human Evolution. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 518 pp. Paperback 2001. Korean and Turkish editions.
- Jolly, A. (2004). Lords and Lemurs: Mad Scientists, Kings with Spears, and the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. 310 pp. French translation in progress.
- Jolly, A., (2005) Ny aiay Ako (Ako the Aye-Aye) Miakka, Forida, Lemur Conservation Foundation. 36 pp. Illustrations by Deborah Ross.
- Jolly, A., Sussman, R.W., Koyama, N. and Rasamimanana, H. eds. (2006). Ringtailed Lemur Biology: Lemur catta in Madagascar. New York, Springer.

Articles:
Click here to view a select list of Alison's scientific and popular articles.

Alison & Richard
Alison & Richard © photo by Paul Boucher