Mireya Mayor

Mireya Mayor (born 1973) is an American, anthropologist, and wildlife correspondent for the National Geographic. On one of her expeditions in Madagascar, she discovered a new species of lemur, considered the world’s smallest primate. She has co-written several scientific papers on lemurs species. She has been referred to as the "female Indiana Jones." Her work has provided her with extensive field experience studying primates, tarantulas, and other wild animals.

Background
Mayor was born to a Cuban mother and a Spanish father. She was raised by her mother, grandmother, and aunt after her father left the family.

Education
Mayor studied at the University of Miami where she obtained her bachelor's degree in anthropology and philosophy. During this time she was a cheerleader for the NFL Miami Dolphins.

She was a Fulbright Scholar before earning a PhD in anthropology from Stony Brook University in New York.

Career
In 1999, Mayor was hired as the first female wildlife correspondent for the National Geographic series Ultimate Explorer. Two episodes she hosted, "Girl Power" and "Into the Lost World," received Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Science, Technology and Nature Programming.

In 2009, she was cast in the Mark Burnett-produced miniseries Expedition Africa on the History Channel, which retraced H.M. Stanley's expedition through Tanzania to find David Livingstone. .

In 2019, she was cast in the Travel Channel documentary series Expedition Bigfoot, in which she and other wildlife researchers spent three weeks searching for evidence that Bigfoot exists. The show aired in January 2020 and has been renewed for a second season.

Co-discovery of a new species of lemur in Madagascar
Dr. Mayor co-discovered a new species of mouse lemur, considered the world's smallest primate, while on one of her expeditions in Madagascar, nominated Microcebus mittermeieri, or Mittermeier's mouse lemur, after Russell Mittermeier, the president of green group Conservation International and a renowned field primatologist.

Following the discovery, Mayor persuaded the prime minister of Madagascar to declare the mouse lemur's habitat a national park.

Publications
In 2011 Mayor published her autobiography, Pink Boots and a Machete: My Journey From NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer.