Richard Ellis is an American marine biologist, author, and illustrator. He is a research associate in the American Museum of Natural History's division of paleontology, special adviser to the American Cetacean Society, and a member of the Explorers Club. He was U.S. delegate to International Whaling Commission from 1980 to 1990.
His paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and his murals can be seen in the Denver Museum of Natural History, the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts, and Whaleworld, a museum in Albany, Western Australia. He is the author of more than 100 magazine articles, which have appeared in leading magazines such as National Geographic, Audubon, and Reader's Digest. He has written over 20 books on animals and marine life. - Wikipedia