Derek Yalden retired from Manchester University after 40 years of teaching vertebrate zoology in September 2005. He is the author/co-author of over 200 scientific publications. He has worked on birds and mammals in the Peak District, including long-term population studies of Common Sand pipers and Golden Plovers, and on the mammals of Ethiopia, with two species - <i>Leptopelis yaldeni</i> (tree-frog) and <i>Desmomys yaldeni</i> (rat) - named in his honour. His interest in the history of the British fauna dates back to undergraduate lectures on Pleistocene mammals, summarised in reviews, papers, and <i>The History of British Mammals</i> (1999). Derek is currently the President of the Mammal Society, and was Editor of their publication 'Mammal Review' for 22 years.
Umberto Albarella is based in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. He specialises in the study of animal bones (zooarchaeology), but his research is wide-ranging and strongly oriented towards the integration of different aspects of archaeology.