Jonathan Kingdon grew up in Tanzania where he was born in 1935. Bridging both Arts and sciences, his works spans from extraordinary craftsmanship, sculpture and painting to the inventive writing of scientific books. He is a writer of zoology, anthropology and biogeography and is probably best known for his magnum opus: East African Mammals. An atlas of evolution in Africa., which is celebrated as a “Leonardo like exploration of science with an artist’s eye.” First published in 2013, his six volume encyclopedia Mammals of Africa covers detailed discussion of the morphology, distribution, biology and evolution (including reference to fossil and molecular data) of every recognized species of African land mammal. More recently, Origin Africa: Safaris in Deep Time, is an exploration of the history, ecology and art of the continent.

As a biogeographer and scholar of Human Origins he has ascribed the initial fracture between Ape and Hominin lineages to a periodically arid corridor between the Boreal and Austral Realms. Biogeographers have named this the “Kingdon Line”. Kingdon’s painting and sculpture often derive from elaborations of nature’s signals. The way in which optical effects are elaborated by fish, birds or monkeys have been fruitful sources of imagery in his work as well as providing him with a unique cross-over between his prime interests in the two disciplines.