Michael C. Hughes

Bio

Michael Hughes teaches Animal Diversity, Ornithology (Avian Biology), Biology Labs, and online Nutrition Science. He also serves as an advisor for student research projects on plants, animals, and ecology.

Professor Hughes authored his first scientific paper in a peer-reviewed journal while an undergraduate student at Southeastern University. His paper explored the bird community that used a single live oak tree during fall migration. He later completed his graduate work at Southeast Missouri State University in the field of fish biology. His research focused on the dynamic rate functions (age, growth, and mortality) of three species of gars in tributaries of the Middle Mississippi River.

His passion for exploring God’s creation through study of the natural sciences has led him to some incredible experiences. He has caught piranhas in the Amazon rainforest, photographed leafcutter ants in Costa Rica, traveled deep underground studying fish in cave rivers in Missouri, and spent countless hours photographing rattlesnakes in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert.

He has written four wildlife-related books and is a regular contributor to bugguide.net. In his spare time he enjoys wildlife photography, kayaking, and keeping a species inventory of flora and fauna in his subtropical backyard food forest. Current total: 548 species and counting!