The Cat's Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa
Attention all cat lovers (or those that are cat curious)! We are pleased to announce a talk by Dr. Jonathan Losos for this semester's Biodiversity Center's Distinguished Speaker Series.
The Cat's Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa
Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 2:30 pm
UT campus: NHB 1.720
Dr. Losos' talk explores how domestic cats have become one of the most successful and diverse species on the planet. His research uses all the tools of modern technology, from GPS tracking, genomics, to forensic archaeology, in order to solve these beloved pets' evolutionary history. His talk also covers the ways that humans are transforming cats, and they in turn are transforming the world around them.
Dr. 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 PhD from the University of California in 1989. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at U.C., Davis, Dr. 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. Learn more about the book here.
