Carl G. Jones

Carl Gwynfe Jones, MBE (born 20 June 1954) is a Welsh conservation biologist, who has been employed by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust since 1985, and a founding member (1984) and current scientific director of Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF).^[1] Additionally he is Chief Scientist at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust,^[2] and an honorary professor in ecology and conservation biology at the University of East Anglia.^[3] Often outspoken on the importance of knowing your species and using intuition, empathy and practical knowledge over dogmatic education, Jones is best known for his work in recovering the Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus) from just four individuals in 1974, to an estimated 400.^[4] Working in the Mascarene Islands since 1979, Jones has led five successful bird restoration projects where the starting population has numbered less than 12 individuals; as a consequence Mauritius has averted more bird extinctions than any other country.^[5] Jones has pioneered the use of ecological or taxon replacements to fill the ecological roles of extinct animals^[6] and successfully restored levels of endemic vegetation to previously denuded islets. Jones' work has been highlighted in Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine's 1990 radio documentary Last Chance to See, along with its accompanying book,^[7] as well as David Quammen's 1996 book The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions.