Charles Overton Handley, Jr. (July 14, 1924 - June 9, 2000) was a zoologist and explorer who conducted various expeditions for the United States government. Born in Longview, Texas, Handley's father was a professor of wildlife management and an avid bird-watcher. In the summer after his high school graduation, Handley participated in an expedition to collect mammals in the Southern Appalachian mountains, with the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan. He thereafter resolved to study mammals. Handley received a B.A. from Virginia Tech in 1944, and served in World War II as a rifleman in the 120th Infantry, seeing action in Europe. After the war, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Alexander Wetmore, hired Handley to collect birds and mammals on a naval icebreaker expedit