Tim Birkhead
| Tim Birkhead | |
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| Born | Timothy Robert Birkhead 28 February 1950 Leeds |
| Residence | Sheffield |
| Institutions | University of Sheffield |
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| Thesis | Breeding biology and survival of guillemots (Uria aalge) (1976) |
| Notable students |
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| Notable awards | Fellow of the Royal Society (2004) |
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Website www |
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Timothy Robert Birkhead FRS (born 28 February 1950) is a British zoologist, and professor of behavior and evolution at the University of Sheffield.
Birkhead was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree from Newcastle University in 1972, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy from University of Oxford in 1976 on the Breeding biology and survival of guillemots Uria aalge and a Doctor of Science from Newcastle in 1989 with thesis titled Sperm competition and the behavioural ecology of birds.
Birkhead's research falls into three main areas:
Birkhead has made important contributions to the field of behavioural ecology — the study of how animal behaviour evolves under the influence of environmental pressures. He also studies the competitive actions of male birds’ sperm. He showed that extra-pair copulation — where the offspring raised by a pair are the result of the female mating with an outsider male — is common amongst birds. Tim also demonstrated the existence of ‘guarding techniques’, which are carried out by the male bird in a pair. In studies of the zebra finch, he revealed that the sperm of the last male to mate with a female took precedence for fertilising her eggs.
His 2016 book on birds' eggs, The Most Perfect Thing, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.
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