B.Sc., Zoology, University of Toronto, 1980-1984
M.Sc., Biology, York University, 1994-1996
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 1999-2007
Certificate in Global Journalism, Munk School of Global Affairs, U of T, 2012-2013

Burton Lim is Assistant Curator of Mammalogy in the Department of Natural History at the ROM.

Born, raised and educated in Toronto, Burton has been employed at the ROM since completing his undergraduate degree and pursuing graduate studies. He has travelled to 28 countries (and counting) conducting fieldwork on mammals. His research interests focus on the evolution and biodiversity of mammals with a specialization on tropical bats.

His dissertation examined the molecular phylogenetics of New World sheath-tailed bats (Family Emballonuridae), their origin, divergence times, biogeography in Central and South America, and the evolution of morphological and behavioural characters. Burton continues this integrative biological approach on other groups of mammals.

He uses information gathered from faunal surveys in the Guiana Shield (primarily Guyana and Suriname) to investigate species diversity and relative abundance of small mammals (bats, rats, and opossums). The establishment of baseline data on distribution and community ecology enables the monitoring of changes in the environment to assess aspects of conservation and sustainable development.  Since 2011, Burton has been collaborating with Operation Wallacea on monitoring biodiversity at Iwokrama Forest and Surama Village in central Guyana, including bats, to track changes in the ecosystem.

Dr. Lim is also participating in the International Barcode of Life (iBOL) project to create a genetic reference system for species identification and discovery of mammals.  And he couldn’t pass up the once-in-a-life-time chance to skin a blue whale, the largest animal to ever live on earth, when 1 of 9 that had accidentally died during a year of exceptional ice formation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence washed ashore beside the boardwalk of Trout River on the west coast of Newfoundland.

Since 2017, Burton has been Chair of the Board of Directors of the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR).  In addition, he has been Associate Editor of Acta Chiropterlogica – an international journal on bat research – since 2015.