Frank and john craighead biography

Photograph by Joe Scherschel, National Geographic But it was another magazine that made the Craighead brothers prominent in the first place, and it was the National Geographic Society that co-sponsored all of that pioneering and remarkably influential research. Together we trod a track that spanned half a century. The journey began inwhen the year old Craighead twins discovered an old National Geographic article on falconry and were hooked.

Born into a family of naturalists—their father was an entomologist with the Agriculture Department, and their frank and john craighead biography, Jean, would become the Newbery-award winning author of My Side of the Mountain and Julie of the Wolves. The boys, who scampered up tall trees and cliffs with alarming frequency, soon became keen falconers and expert photographers.

For more than 50 years, twins John and Frank Craighead devoted themselves to studying wildlife and the environment and reporting their findings in 13 articles in National Geographic magazine. Their first magazine article in July pictured Frank with two great horned owls. Photograph by John Craighead, National Geographic That first article led to eight more in the next two decades, carrying readers to India, where the twins hunted with falcon-loving maharajas; to remote Pacific atolls, where they taught survival skills to World War II aviators; and to the Grand Tetons, where the ruggedly handsome boys and their photogenic wives took up homesteading amid the natural beauties of the West.

The brothers were often treed or chased by bears, but no injuries occurred. They went through the tragedy of seeing a bear die after being tagged in The fact that many bears died at age five or six after human encounters persuaded the Craigheads to ask park officials to enforce animal rules more strictly. This action was prompted by the events of Augustduring which two women were mauled to death by bears in the park.

After educating the public about how vital rivers were for water, recreation and fishing, they created the Craighead Environmental Research Institute in for the "protection and study of wildlife and wilderness. The Craigheads ended their active research after Frank's log cabin in Moose burned down in Frank and Esther, and John and Margaret built identical log cabins on their property in Moose, and began families.

John and Margaret had a son named Johnny. They were all born in Jackson at the old log cabin. Frank's health deteriorated due to Parkinson's disease he had been diagnosed with induring his second marriage and seven years after Esther died, and he died in at the age of He turned in August Their pioneering research on Grizzly bears in the s is credited with saving the bears from extinction in Yellowstone Park.

The brothers were among the most significant figures in 20th century conservation Audubon Society and two of the 13 most important naturalists of the century National Geographic Society. There was just no comparison to how much you could learn when you had the radio. The brothers had to develop methods to immobilize the bears in order to attach the tracking devices and ways to gauge their ages to aid their research.

We had to approach it slowly and carefully and relate the dosage to the weight of the animal. At first that meant capturing them, but in time we could judge the weight pretty accurately. That meant we could just shoot them with the propulsive dart, which negated the need to trap them. When they aggregated to feed they established a social hierarchy with an alpha male at the top, and then subordinate males and females.

Frank and john craighead biography

He spent more time defending his status in the hierarchy. The other large males did most of the breeding. The popular National Geographic television specials deftly combined science with a sense of adventure.