Steve Backshall
Biologist/Mountaineer

Read Steve's Diary

Steve Backshall is a British naturalist and TV host for the Children's BBC program The Really Wild Show. He loves snakes, especially the green anaconda, as well as bugs and wolves.

He says his greatest fear is that his kids will only be able to see some of the critters he loves in picture books with "extinct" written underneath.

Gordon Buchanan
Wildlife Filmmaker

Having spent his childhood on the hills and shores around his home on the Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland, it was no surprise to his friends and family that Gordon Buchanan pursued a career in wildlife filmmaking.

At the age of 17, Gordon landed the opportunity of a lifetime when renowned filmmaker Nick Gordon offered him a job as a camera assistant working in the tropics — first in Sierra Leone and then in the jungles of the Amazon.

Gordon has specialized in filming big cats. He has made documentaries about leopards in Sri Lanka and tigers in India, as well as being a regular cameraman on the TV series Big Cat Diary.

Justine Evans
Wildlife Camerawoman and Climber

Justine Evans is an expert in working and filming in the jungle canopy. She specializes in filming stories that say something about the relationship between humans and the other animals on the planet.

Justine's career has led her to many fascinating parts of the world —  from the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, where shepherds lead a medieval existence guarding their livestock from bears and wolves, to the top of some of the highest tropical trees in Southeast Asia and the Americas to film canopy dwellers such as gibbons and orangutans.

As a director/camerawoman she has co-produced two films for the BBC, both of which focus on conflict and coexistence between humans and wildlife.

Professor Tyrone Hayes
Biologist/Herpetologist
University of California, Berkeley

Tyrone Hayes has been passionate about frogs, turtles and snakes since his childhood in South Carolina. He heads up major research projects in Ethiopia and Uganda, and has traveled the world for work. He is most interested in studying the development of frogs and the effect of hormones and chemical pollutants on their growth.

Dr. George McGavin
Assistant Curator of Entomology
Oxford University Museum of Natural History

George McGavin eats insects regularly and has appeared on the British TV show The Richard and Judy Show as a guest chef. He has three insect species named in his honor and hopes they survive him.

Research and travels have taken George from the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea to the caves of Thailand, and from the jungles of Belize to the savannas of Tanzania.

George is a regular contributor to radio and television programs in Britain. In addition to scientific papers, he has also written books on insects for adults and children, including the popular textbook Essential Entomology: An Order by Order Introduction, the best-selling Dorling Kindersley Handbook to Insects, Spiders and Other Terrestrial Arthropods and Endangered: Wildlife on the Brink of Extinction.

Dr. Tara Shine
Environmental Scientist

Tara Shine is a consultant who travels the globe advising governments on development and conservation.

Having lived and worked in some of the most challenging corners of the world, from the searing heat of the Western Sahara to the freezing tundra of the Gobi, Tara's extensive and varied background in environmental science and natural resource management make her a truly unique talent.

Tara has made numerous scientific and production contributions to films, including filming on the BBC's Lost Crocodiles of the Pharaohs. Tara also conducts international negotiations on climate change and biodiversity for the European Union.