Jan van Hooff briefly recapped what was previously discussed in episode 44 of iBuzz, saying how he grew up in Burger’s Zoo and studied biology at the University of Biology.

Jan discusses how he initially got his biology kick from working in the institute of Sven Dijkgraaf, who is famous for his input towards the discovery of echolocation in bats during World War II. Jan states that Dijkgraaf himself was inspired by Lazzaro Spallanzani. He observed that bats could still navigate when blinded, but not when their ears are plugged. Building on this Dijkgraaf noted that bats could distinguish different shapes using different calls. Jan also noted that Donald Griffin simultaneously discovered echolocation in bats and dolphins. His work triggered an interest from the Navy, which allowed the development of sonar in submarines.

Jan noted that Dijkgraaf and his team also discovered the use of electroreception in sharks, enabling them to find prey in the sand. This work triggered many...

Gregg Tully is the Executive Director of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), the largest association of wildlife centres in Africa, with the aim of securing a future for the African primates and their habitats.

Gregg shares with us how he has always had a passion for nature and animals, he just did not know how to obtain a career in that field. Consequently, he went to university to study biology with a major in environmental studies. Soon he identified that he loved teaching older people and believed this way he could share his passion for animals. Gregg understood that this required a PhD, so he earned one in Evolutionary Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2006.

Gregg, alongside his studies, volunteered at the Nepal Youth Foundation. Here, he developed his passion for working for non-profit organisations. Following his PhD, he became the Development Director of the Nepal Youth Foundation. He highlighted his skills in funding proposals and how they...

When Jill Robinson moved to Hong Kong in 1985, she soon joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Her responsibilities for the position back then included many investigative work in live animal markets and animal protection programmes throughout Asia. 

There was a time that Jill had the opportunity to visit a bear bile farm and it inspired her to found Animals Asia Foundation with the mission of further improving animal welfare and providing sanctuary for bears rescued from the bear bile industry.

Jill shares some of the practical work of the Animals Asia Foundation, including the collaborations with both local communities and governments. She also explains how and why some of the work is done differently in different countries. 

Jill said, “We are all connected. We all have our individual personalities and characters” and she strongly believes that every individual, animal or human, is worthy of respect. One of her philosophies is to work from...

Award-winning animal welfare attorney and author James Gesualdi, works on animal law since 1989. He is the founding Member and former Chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Animals and the Law; Founding Co-Chair of the Suffolk County Bar Association Animal Law Committee; and Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Animal Law Committee.   

James has a B.A., magna cum laude, with highest honours in Government by the St. Lawrence University; a M.A., in Political Science by the State University of New York at Stony Brook; and a J.D. with Distinction by the Hofstra University School of Law. He was also a recipient of both the Animals and the Law’s Exemplary Service Award in 2018 and Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law Award in 2019. 

James shares his encounter with a well-known performing dolphin, Little Bit, and how this inspired him into serving people and animals through the power of...

Clive Wynne is the founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. He is also the Director of Research at Wolf Park in the USA and the author of many books, including his latest ‘Dog is Love’. 

Clive is from Britain and he was inspired to study animals while he was studying in London. Later, he went to University of Edinburgh to study for a PhD and further studied animal behaviour and minds, psychology and cognition. 

Afterwards, Clive had the opportunity to study the behaviour of marsupials in Australia. Then, he went to University of Florida, where he developed a keen interest in animal-human relationship, especially that of dogs and humans, and he then expanded this context to other canines. 

When speaking of his past and current research interests, Clive starts by talking about the issues of animal shelters in the US, and in particular dogs. As the number of euthanasia cases in shelters have decreased in the past few...

Dr Marek Špinka is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Animal Science in Prague and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Charles University in Prague. Marek Špinka shares how he began his career studying animals. He wasn’t like many others who knew that they wanted to study animals at a young age. During his university years, he was inspired by his biology professor who always had thought-provoking questions for the class.

Marek then discusses how his original interests in ethics, philosophy, and human psychology still intersect with comparative psychology and animal ethics, which he teaches at university. He mentions that it is enriching to stop considering animals and humans as separate because we are all animals, just different. During his ethics course, he encourages students to think about their ethical judgements and to consider the other sides of arguments before making these judgements.

Marek moves on to discuss his experiences...

Dr. James Karl Fischer operates the Zoological Lighting Institute (ZLI), a charity dedicated to supporting and advocating for photobiology research in wildlife conservation and animal care.

Dr. Fischer completed advanced degrees in physics and architecture at Wesleyan University and began his career as an architect, serving as a liaison to architects around the globe. He was inspired to found ZLI after a conversation with a zookeeper who wanted to study the effect of lighting on seahorse colouration, when he realised that there was a huge need to provide animal keepers with the necessary support and funding to conduct more comprehensive studies on light and animal behaviour and physiology.

James tells us about how light is central to various aspects of animal life, and how the ZLI supports research into topics including photobiology, sensory ecology and the impact of light on ecosystems. He discusses the way that light influences behaviour and ecology not only in the context of...

Craig Saffoe is the Curator of Large Carnivores at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park located in Washington DC. Overall, he has over 27 years working with animals within zoos.

Craig started his career thinking that the only career available in the animal industry, is to become a veterinarian. As such he went to get a degree in Animal Science with a pre-vet track at North Carolina State University.  Whilst there he was inspired by a single professor to explore animal husbandry careers. She also helped him to get an internship at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Zoo in 1994. From here, he got hired as an animal keeper and moved through the ranks becoming a curator. Throughout this process, Craig says he “cannot stress enough to the people with whom I work that the most fun part of this career field in my mind is that I feel like I have never stopped learning”.

Craig highlights that during his career he has noticed that the zoological and aquatic...

Luke Harding is the Blue Iguana Conservation Programme Manager at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands. He is a conservation biologist with over 14 years of experience in the conservation sector. 

Luke shares with us how his family and early life experiences kindled his particular interest in the conservation breeding and captive management of amphibians and reptiles. Critically, he references his BTEC at Sparsholt College Hampshire as key in kindling his passion for animals.  Furthermore, he participated in a two-week work experience at Chester Zoo which increased his passion for Herpetology.  

Luke went on to get a degree in Zoology / Animal Biology at Nottingham Trent University, which he completed whilst working in the industry to gain more experience. In doing so, Luke has worked within some of the some of the largest zoos in the UK and gained extensive in situ field experience with flag ship species such as the Mountain Chicken Frog (Leptodactylus...

Jon has almost 60 decades of experience, and completed over one hundred sixty planning and design projects for eighty-two zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, theme parks, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in thirteen nations on six continents.

Jon shares with us about how fighting elephants at Boston Zoo sparked his thesis idea which would be on Artificial Habitats for Captive Animals. After receiving his undergraduate degree and his master’s degree, it still took Jon 7 years before getting his first project. Jon’s first project was working with Jones & Jones in Seattle, between 1973 – 1983. Together they invented the landscape immersion design at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle with the idea being ‘back to nature’.

Jon went on to found CLR design in Philadelphia, from 1984 – 2004. CLR Design allowed the client to choose the subject of innovation while creating projects and designs. Jon highlights how they work FOR animals WITH...