Submitted by J. Hudson on Tue, 10/03/2026 - 09:44
We were saddened to learn of the death of Dr David Chivers (1944–2026), a distinguished primatologist, conservationist, teacher and mentor whose work had a lasting influence on the study and conservation of primates worldwide. David studied preclinical Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge before going on to build an internationally respected career linking scientific research with practical conservation efforts.
Below, David Bainbridge, Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Director of Studies in Veterinary Medicine, St Catharine's College reflects on David’s life, career and the impact he had on colleagues, students and the wider scientific community.
I am sorry to announce the death recently of David Chivers (1944-2026) Those of you who ‘overlapped’ with him will remember him as a unique, intelligent and irrepressible character – some might say “force” – within the world of Cambridge biology.
David was a primatologist at heart, and immensely influential in the world of primate conservation. Having studied preclinical Veterinary Medicine, he started a PhD in Physical Anthropology in the late 1960s, focusing on the biology of the siamang in Malaysia. This led to his lifelong obsession with linking a scientific understanding of primates’ physiology and ecology to strategies for conserving them (see attached from 1970). David was instrumental in defining the essential role of habitat conservation in species conservation.
I was particularly struck by David’s scientific and conservation influence at the Festschrift conference held in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (PDN) when he retired. He supervised over fifty PhD students during his career, and many of those have progressed to make important scientific discoveries, or have risen to high office with direct influence over many countries’ conservation policies. All very appropriate for someone born in the Buckinghamshire village of Marsh Gibbon.
His teaching in the Department was focused in what was then the ‘Sub-Department’ of Veterinary Anatomy. He contributed enormously to the ‘Cambridge approach’ to comparative anatomy – emphasising the causes and effects of interspecies variations, how creature’s structures relate to their physiological ecology, and taking great joy in showing that the textbooks are sometimes wrong. David was long time Director of Studies and Tutor at his beloved Selwyn College, and was a fierce defender of students’ interests and the value of a Cambridge education.
I cannot help but mention my own interactions with this amazing man. He was my anatomy supervisor for two years in the mid-eighties and, well, much discussion, enquiry and hilarity ensued. I still remember the acrid pipe smoke which permeated his office, and his distinctive scientific draughtsmanship. Bright and insightful as anyone you’ll ever meet, and with a unique way of dealing with the world, he was, most of all, extremely kind and thoughtful about others. I still remember how supportive he was when I myself came to work in Veterinary Anatomy.
People are often called unique, but as anyone who knew him will attest, David was more unique than anyone else. We have lost a great and kind mind, but the world has many more primates in it because of him.
David Bainbridge