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Professor Dr Nikolai Spassov. Photo: (c) N. Spassov
Professor Dr Nikolai Spassov. Photo: (c) N. Spassov

Nikolai Spassov

(Professor Dr)
phone: (+359 2) 9808391; (+359 2) 9885116 (ext. 728); e-mail:

Born: 7 April 1951, Sofia.
Education: Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Faculty of Biology (1974).
Speciality: vertebrate zoology.

Member of the European Academy of Sciences

Research interests


More than 270 scientific papers in the field of palaeontology, taxonomy and morphology of large mammals (Macromammalia), evolution of the terrestrial megafaunas, archaeozoology, evolution of the behaviour of vertebrates, ecology of carnivores, conservation of vertebrates.

Current projects


2008—2009. Coordinación de estudios sobre las primeras ocupaciones humanas en Eurasia: Intercambios científicos Bulgaria-España Ministerio de Education Y Ciencia. España. Leading institution: CENIEH, Burgos.
Elaboration of the second edition of the Red data Book of Bulgaria, vol. ‘Animals’ (In press). A project of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences supported by the Ministry of the Environment.
2008 and continues: Search for the Earliest Human Prehistory: Paleontological Investigations in the Locality of the Last Prehuman Hominoids in Europe (Azmaka near Chirpan, Bulgaria, Turolian). Granted by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Additional grants by L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the Fyssen Foundation and the University of Tübingen.
From 2008 and continues: Member of the working team for the creation of the Natinal Action plan for the wolf in Bulgaria. Project of Balkani Society supported by the Ministry of the Environment.
From 2008 and continues: Team leader of the large mammals group in the project: Development of the Natura 2000 Network in Bulgaria. A project of the Bularian Academy of Sciences, supported by the Ministry of the Environment.
From 2010: Molecular analysis of ancient dogs: A critical re-assessment of their ancestry and their co-evolution with humans. Leading institution: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

Most recent publications


Nikolov, V., Hristova, L., Markov, G., Bogdanova, R., Spassov, N., 2025. From the dinosaurs to the earliest human ancestors: The vertebrate palaeontology at the National Museum of Natural History-BAS. Part 3. — Geology and Mineral Resources, 32 (4—5): 37—43.

Nikolov, V., Hristova, L., Markov, G., Bogdanova, R., Spassov, N., 2025. From the dinosaurs to the earliest human ancestors: The vertebrate palaeontology at the National Museum of Natural History-BAS. Part 2. — Geology and Mineral Resources, 32 (2—3): 39—44.

Nikolov, V., Hristova, L., Markov, G., Bogdanova, R., Spassov, N., 2025. From the dinosaurs to the earliest human ancestors: The vertebrate palaeontology at the National Museum of Natural History-BAS. Part 1. — Geology and Mineral Resources, 32 (1): 29—34.

Uzunowa, K., Koychev, B., Peeva, S., Raichev, E., Spassov, N., 2024. Craniometrical sexual dimorphism of the grey wolf (Canis lupus, Canidae, Carnivora) in Bulgaria. — Historia naturalis bulgarica, 46 (5): 127—138.

Tsoukala, E., Nagel, D., Youlatos, D., Crégut-Bonnoure, E., Vlachos, E., Spassov, N., 2024. Primates and carnivores from Late Miocene and earliest Late Pliocene sites of Macedonia, Northern Greece. — Fossil Imprint, 80 (2): 362—389.

Spassov, N., 2024. The Final Pliocene and Early Pleistocene Faunal Dispersals from East to Europe and Correlation of the Villafranchian Biochronology between Eastern and Western Europe. — Quaternary, 7: 43. [PDF]

Milchev, B., Spassov, N., 2024. Invasive alien Coypu (Myocastor coypus) as a prey of the native predator Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) in Bulgaria. — Travaux du Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa”, 67 (2): 443—462. [PDF]

Marciszak, A., Lipecki, G., Spassov, N., 2024. Martes wenzensis Stach, 1959 within the early history of the genus Martes Pinel, 1792. — Acta Geologica Polonica, 74 (1): e4. [PDF]

Gurov, T., Atanassov, E., Yordanov, S., Serbezov, R., Gurova, S.-M., Stanchev, R., Spassov, N., 2024. HPDA Service for Estimating the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos L.) Population in Bulgaria. — In: Dobrinkova, N., Fidanova, S. (eds) Environmental Protection and Disaster Risks (EnviroRISKs 2024). Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 883: 104—115. [PDF]

Cazenave, M., Pina, M., Hammond, A. S., Böhme, M., Begun, D. R., Spassov, N., Vecino Gazabon, A., Zanolli, C., Bergeret-Medina, A., Marchi, D., Macchiarelli, R., Wood, B., 2024. Postcranial evidence does not support habitual bipedaism in Sahelanthropus tchadensis: A reply to Daver et al. (2022). — Journal of Human Evolution, 198: 103557. [PDF]


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