Angus M. Woodbury

Angus Munn Woodbury was born on July 11, 1886 in St. George, Utah, to John Taylor and Mary Evans Woodbury. He married Grace Atkin on January 15, 1909. They had four sons and two daughters.

Woodbury attended Dixie College from 1920-1926, where he was also a Teaching Assistant. Woodbury earned a B.S. degree in Science, majoring in zoology, from Brigham Young University and a M.A. degree in Science from the University of Utah. After graduating he joined the University of Utah faculty, teaching for the 1928-1929 academic year, before taking leave to obtain a Ph.D. at the University of California, in Berkeley, California. He returned to the University of Utah in 1931, and remained there until his retirement in 1952.

During the summers of 1925-1933, Woodbury worked in Zions National Park as the Park Naturalist. After Woodbury retired teaching at the University of Utah, he worked as Director of Ecological Research at Dugway Proving Grounds in Dugway, Utah from 1952-1956. Woodbury was the Director of Ecological Research on the Colorado River Project from 1957-1964.

Woodbury produced over 100 publication, many focused on the biology of reptiles and birds, but also insects, ecological succession, and the history of Utah. In 1949, along with Ross Hardy, he published a “classic study” on the biology of wild desert tortoises. Their paper provided key insights into the species physiology, life history and ecology. It served as a basis for subsequent research into tortoise evolutionary biology, biogeography, and epidemiology. In 1977, the area where Woodbury and Hardy studied was designated the “Woodbury Desert Study Area” by the Bureau of Land Management. It is now part of the Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area.

Woodbury and his wife Grace were both killed in a head-on car collision on August 1, 1964 near Loveland, Colorado. He was 78 years old at the time of his death, and he was actively involved in several research projects.