Kenneth S. Norris

Kenneth Stafford Norris (August 11, 1924 – August 16, 1998)^[1] was an American marine mammal biologist, conservationist, naturalist, and co-founder of SeaWorld.

Kenneth Stafford Norris

Norris did pioneering work on dolphin echolocation.^[2][3] His conservation work included helping establish the University of California Natural Reserve System and work towards passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.^[2] Norris was a professor at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz.^[4]

Norris, Milton Shedd, David Demott and George Millay co-founded SeaWorld. The four graduates of UCLA originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and marine life show.^[5] When the underwater restaurant concept was deemed unfeasible, they scrapped those plans and decided to build a park instead, and SeaWorld San Diego was opened on March 21, 1964.^[5]

Selected bibliography

• Norris, Kenneth Stafford (1974). The Porpoise Watcher. ISBN 9780393063851.
• Norris, Kenneth Stafford (1991). Dolphin Days: The Life & Times of the Spinner Dolphin. ISBN 9780380719655.

as editor

• Norris, Kenneth S., ed. (1966). Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Cetacean Research, held in August 1963 in Washington, D.C.; conducted by the American Institute of Biological Sciences. University of California Press; xv+789 pages, illus., maps, 26 cm.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)^[6] ASIN B0000CN4XU