Tracy Jo Barker (née Miller) (born December 10, 1957)J. S. Applegarth: Index of Taxonomic Herpetology, Second Edition. IN: Kraig Adler [ed]. Contributions to the History of Herpetology. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, 2007, p 164. is an American herpetologist specializing in pythons.
Barker grew up in Washington, D.C., as the daughter of J. Jefferson MillerJ. Jefferson II Miller, Lyle M. Stone: Eighteenth-Century Ceramics from Fort Michilimackinac. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, U. S. Government Press. 1970. https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/2401/SSHT-0004_Lo_res.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=yJ. Kelly: J. Jefferson Miller II, 80, historian. The Baltimore Sun, September 27, 2005. who was Curator of ceramics and glass at the Smithsonian Institution.T. M. Barker: Written Testimony regarding the Anti-Animal Proposal HR-669, April 23, 2009. http://vpi.com/sites/default/files/HR669_testimony_09_001_4.pdf After an undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Colorado,L. Golan, C. Radcliffe, T. Miller, B. O’Connell, D. Chiszar. Trailing Behavior in Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis). Journal of Herpetology, 16, No 3, 1982, p 284-293 she graduated in biology at the Central Michigan University.T. J. Miller: Knotting: A previously undescribed feeding behavior in muraenid eels. Copeia (4) 1987, p 1055-1057 She also worked as a reptile keeper at Buffalo Zoological Gardens.T. Miller: First-Time Reproduction of the Red Eyed Tree Frog. Buffalo Zoo Journal, No 1, 1982 Already in her early years, she specialized in herpetology and focused on animal behavior. She worked as a field biologist for repopulating Green Iguanas in PanamaT. J. Miller: Artificial Incubation of Eggs of the Green Iguana (Iguana iguana). Zoo Biology 6, 1987, p 225-236 and studied the reproductive behavior of Tuatara on Stephens Island in New Zealand.J. C. Gillingham, T. J. Miller: Reproductive etology of the Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus): applications in captive breeding. International Zoo Yearbook, 1991, 30, pp 157-164
In 1990 she and her husband, biologist David G. Barker, founded Vida Preciosa International, Inc. (VPI), an enterprise dedicated to the research necessary to establish self-sustaining captive populations of pythons and boas. This facility became one of the largest and most diverse collection of pythons in the world; in 1997, the Barkers and their work at VPI were featured in a National Geographic Television documentary titled “Passion for Pythons”.H. B. Lilywhite: How Snakes Work: Structure, Function and Behavior of the World’s Snakes, 2014, p 137.IMDb account for Passion for Pythons. National Geographic Explorer. Episode aired 15 September 1997: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2338384/ They managed to reproduce 32 of the 52 recognized taxa of pythons. Among them, the first ever reproduction of 12 taxa.Information on pages 3-4 in: D. G. Barker, T. M. Barker: The Invisible Ark – In Defense of Captivity. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2014.
Barker has written numerous papers in scientific journals as well as dozens of popular publications. In 1979, Barker described a new species of python Python saxuloides, which is currently regarded as a slightly distinct Kenyan population of the later re-erected Python natalensis.T. J. Miller, H. M. Smith: The Lesser African Rock Python. Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 15, 3, 1979, p 70–84.D. G. Broadley: A review of geographical variation in the African Python, Python sebae (Gemelin). British Journal of Herpetology 6, 1984, p 359–367. One of her five books, Pythons of the World, Volume 2: Ball Pythons, was certified as “The Best Animal Book of 2006” by the Independent Publisher Book Awards.Independent Publisher. Judging Results in 65 National Categories. https://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1157
In 2000 a new species of python, Morelia tracyae, was named in her honor.M. B. Harvey, D. G. Barker, L. K. Ammerman, P. T. Chippindale (2000): Systematics of Pythons of the Morelia amethistina Complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the Description of three new Species. Herpetological Monographs 14, p 139-185.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Tracy", p. 267).
Books Pythons of the World, Volume 3: The Pythons of Asia and the Malay Archipelago. with David G. Barker and Mark Auliya. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2018. 371 pp. The Invisible Ark – In Defense of Captivity. with David G. Barker. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2014. 169 pp. Pythons of the World, Volume 2: Ball Pythons: The History, Natural History, Care and Breeding. with David G. Barker. VPI Library, Boerne, Texas, 2006. 321pp. Pythons of the World, Volume 1, Australia. with David G. Barker. The Herpetocultural Library, Advanced Vivarium Systems, Lakeside, California, 1994. 171 pp. The Ball Python Manual. with Philippe de Vosjoli, Roger Klingenberg and David G. Barker. The Herpetocultural Library, Advanced Vivarium Systems, Lakeside, California, 1994. 76 pp.
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