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Meet the Scientists
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Jeremy Holden
Jeremy Holden originally traveled to Kerinci Seblat in Sumatra as a photographer in 1994, but an encounter with the mysterious Orang Pendek, a bipedal ape of Yeti-like reputation, changed his life. He and Debbie Martyr persuaded Fauna and Flora International (FFI, Britain's oldest conservation organization) to fund a project to photo-trap the elusive animals of Kerinci Seblat.
In addition to allowing Jeremy to study animals like tigers and tapirs, the project revealed animals previously thought to be extinct (Schneider's pitta) as well as those that had never been photographed before (the Sumatran rabbit).
Jeremy now lives six months of the year in Sumatra and spends the rest of the time photographing around the world for FFI. He is still trying to obtain the first ever photo of the Orang Pendek.
Phil DeVries
Phil DeVries recently left his post as Director for the Center for Biodiversity Studies at the Milwaukee Public Museum and Adjunct Professor in Biology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to join the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of New Orleans. He studies species diversity, especially tropical butterfly communities, and the evolution of symbiotic associations between caterpillars and ants.
"My work includes two major books on the comparative biology of Costa Rican butterflies and over 70 separate research articles on a broad range of topics relevant to understanding insect diversity. Several significant awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Dodge Foundation Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship have supported my research," he says.
Phil has been involved in several television programs, including National Geographic's BUG ATTACK and HEROES OF THE HIGH FRONTIER.
Elisabeth Kalko
Known as the "Bat Woman of Panama," Elisabeth Kalko is at the forefront of research on bats, the most diverse mammals in the tropics. Kalko is intrigued by bats' hunting and feeding strategies and methods. She is also interested in studying bats' indispensable roles in dispersing large quantities of seeds, pollinating flowers, and controlling insect populations.
Elisabeth Kalko is a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and works at the University of Ulm in Germany, but also conducts research in Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Europe. She uses a range of technology, from thermal and infrared imaging to laptops capable of analyzing the bats' echolocation.
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