Dr John MacKinnon, Mr MacKinnon’s father, is a Biologist who has spent the last 45 years of his life studying wildlife in Africa and Asia. He spoke to Years 5 and 6 about about Evolution, Ethology (the study of animal behaviour), the Environment and his time spent studying apes.
John MacKinnon told the children about his career as an Orangutan specialist in Indonesia, setting up the Panda Project in China, writing over 20 books (including bird books for China and Java and Bali) and, more recently, advising governments on environmental policy. The children particularly enjoyed his impressions of Orangutan and Gibbon calls and his gruesome story about how a wild boar bit his finger off when it was attacking Mr MacKinnon’s elder brother (then aged 4)!
He politely refused to answer questions about whether or not Mr MacKinnon was naughty as a child…