Bate, Dorothea (1879–1951)

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Bate, Dorothea (1879–1951)

Welsh geologist. Born Dorothea Minola Alice Bate, Nov 8, 1879, in Carmarthenshire, Wales; died Jan 13, 1951.

Authority on birds of Mediterranean islands and Pleistocene mammals, educated herself in anatomy while working in bird room at National History Museum, London, in her teens; published 1st paper (1901); found fossils, including Elephas cypriotes and Hippopotamus minutus (both Cyprus), E. creticus (Crete), and Myotragus (Balaeric Islands); worked under Dorothy Garrod on animal remains found in Wady el-Mughara Caves, Mount Carmel, and published The Fossil Fauna of the Wady el Mughara Caves (1937); at 68, worked with Louis S.B. Leakey at Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria; served as officer in charge of National History Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire (1947–51).