Dr. Francisco Javier Navas Gonzalez, DVM, PhD, Professor at the University of Cordoba in Spain. You would think that all of those letters behind his name would cause him to be less than approachable, but that’s definitely not the case. He was one of the people at the Donkey Welfare Symposium that was pretty hard to separate from the 42 fans constantly wanting to talk to him, and with good reason. He is…The Most Interesting Man in the Donkey Research World.
Okay, so he just talks like that guy in the ads. What he really is is the Indiana Jones of the Donkey Research World, and one of his professional goals is to figure out where your ass came from. Literally. The Nubian Desert in Sudan, in case you were interested, and about 5,000 years ago, is the next part of the answer. We’re sure he has used traditional research methods like lots of reading and DNA testing and the like, but he has also delved into historical representations in art, architecture, and archeology, and studies in history and anthropology. This very bright professor travels the globe as a part of his quest, and then comes back to the University and grades papers. Sounds like Indy, no?
He is a big believer in conserving diversity, so of course we’re fans. Currently, he studies donkey behavioral and cognition genetics, quantitative genetics of functional traits and biostatistics. You’ll find all that and more on Researchgate.net. He actually makes all of that science sound interesting -- and he finds the Holy Grail in his spare time (okay, maybe not, but we think he probably could if he wanted to).
And remember -- in the Latin alphabet, “Donkey” begins with an “A.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Francisco_Navas_Gonzalez