Kees Moeliker

Educator/Teacher, Scientist, Writer/Editor

Kees Moeliker writes and speaks about natural history, especially birds and remarkable animal behavior improbable research and science-communication-with-a-laugh. He is the curator of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, European Bureau Chief of the Annals of Improbable Research, and winner of the 2003 Ig Nobel Prize in biology. His life changed when he observed and published the first scientifically documented case of homosexual necrophilia in ducks. He was honored for this in 2003, being awarded the much-coveted Ig Nobel Prize for research that 'makes people laugh and then think'. The Ig Nobel acclaim led to worldwide excitement. And that led him to deeply appreciate that curiosity and humor can be powerful tools for scientists and science communicators and for anyone who needs to explain complex things. Each year, on June 5th, he organizes Dead Duck Day, an event that commemorates the first known case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck. The event also raises awareness for the tremendous number of bird deaths caused, worldwide, by glass buildings. Kees wrote two books (in Dutch): De eendenman [The Duck Guy], a bestseller, in 2009 and “De bilnaad van de teek [The butt crack of the tick], in 2012.

birds, remarkable animal behaviour, urban wildlife, good coffee

birds, remarkable animal behavior, improbable research

dissecting dead whales, taxonomy of eastern Indonesian fruit bats (Pteropodidae)