Barbara Hibbs Blake


Barbara Hibbs Blake was an American mammalogist and college professor.

Early life

Barbara Jo Hibbs was born in Roseburg, Oregon, the daughter of Gordon Reid Hibbs and Marybelle Hauskins Hibbs. Her mother was a nurse.
She graduated from Portland State University in 1959, and completed doctoral studies at Yale University in 1967. Her dissertation under entomologist Charles Lee Remington was titled "A comparative study of energy and water conservation throughout the annual cycle in ground dwelling Sciuridae."

Career

Blake was a mammalogist. Her physiology research resulted in articles including "The annual cycle and fat storage in two populations of golden-mantled ground squirrels", "The effects of kidney structure and the annual cycle on water requirements in golden-mantled ground squirrels and chipmunks", and "Reproduction of Asian chipmunks in captivity". In her later work, she studied the vocalizations of voles, in "Ultrasonic vocalization and body temperature maintenance in infant voles of three species ", and "Ultrasonic calling in isolated infant prairie voles and montane voles ".
Blake worked at Drew University, Queen Mary College, Bennett College, and University of [North Carolina at Greensboro]. She was a member of the science professional fraternity Sigma Xi, and of the American Society of Mammalogists. From the latter organization, she received the Hartley H.T. Jackson Award in 2007. She was editor in chief of the Journal of Mammalogy.

Personal life

Barbara Hibbs married Anthony Groverman Blake Jr. in 1962. They had daughters Virginia and Elizabeth. Barbara Hibbs Blake died in 2019, aged 82 years, in Lincoln, Massachusetts. There is an Anthony and Barbara Blake Scholarship Fund at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.