Richard Holdaway (biologist)

Richard Noel Holdaway is a New Zealand ornithologist. With a doctorate in avian palaeobiology and systematics and a BSc in neurophysiology and ornithology, he has studied birds for three decades primarily in New Zealand. In 2003 he received the 2003 D. L. Serventy Medal Holdaway is director of Palaecol Research Ltd in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was recognized for his findings on the extinction of the New Zealand terrestrial megafauna by the University of Otago. His work has also appeared in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology, Nature Communications, the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health and Royal Society Publishing among others.