George Schaller

George Beals Schaller, born on May 26, 1933, is an American mammalogist, biologist, conservationist, and author. He is known as a top field biologist who studies wildlife in Africa, Asia, and South America. He grew up in Germany and later moved to Missouri as a teenager.

Today, Schaller works as vice president of Panthera Corporation and leads their Cat Advisory Council. He is also a senior conservationist at the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society. His work helps protect many wild animal species and their homes around the world.

Early life

George Schaller was born in Berlin, Germany. He studied at the University of Alaska and later earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Schaller worked at many universities and research centers. He studied animals and nature all over the world. He has helped many groups work to protect wildlife.

Mountain gorilla research

In 1959, when George Schaller was 26, he went to Central Africa to study and live with the mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes. Before his work, not much was known about gorillas in the wild. His book, The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior, published in 1963, showed people how smart and gentle gorillas are. In 1964, he wrote another book called The Year of the Gorilla, sharing more about his time with these amazing animals and the efforts to protect them.

The zoologist Dian Fossey, helped by the National Geographic Society and Louis Leakey, continued this important work after Schaller. Together, they helped people see that gorillas are kind and very intelligent, much like humans.

Conservation career

In 1963-1964, George Schaller and his wife studied tigers in Kanha National Park in India. In 1966, they moved to Tanzania to live in the Serengeti, where Schaller did important research on big cats.

Schaller has traveled to many places to study wildlife. In 1973, he went to the Himalayan region of Dolpo in Nepal to study blue sheep and try to see the rare snow leopard. In the late 1970s, he studied animals like jaguars in Brazil. In 1980, he did research on giant pandas in China, helping to protect them. His work helped increase panda numbers in the wild. Schaller has also studied animals in Laos and helped create protected areas to save wildlife.

Conservation results

George Schaller's work has helped protect large areas in the Amazon, Brazil, the Hindu Kush in Pakistan, and forests in Southeast Asia. Because of his efforts, more than 20 parks and preserves have been created around the world. These include Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Shey-Phoksundo National Park in Nepal. One especially important area is the Changtang Nature Reserve, which is one of the largest wildlife refuges in the world. It covers more than 200,000 miles and helps protect natural habitats.

Bigfoot research

George Schaller thinks scientists should take reports about Bigfoot seriously. He isn't sure if the reports are true, but he believes scientists shouldn't ignore them without checking the evidence. Schaller is concerned because there is no physical proof, like remains or samples, to study. He says that with so many sightings, even if most aren't true, scientists should look closely at the remaining cases to find answers.

Publications

George Schaller has written more than fifteen books about animals in Africa and Asia. Some of his books are Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator–Prey Relations, The Last Panda, and Tibet's Hidden Wilderness. He has also written many magazine articles and scientific papers about tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, leopards, wild sheep, goats, rhinoceroses, and flamingos. For over fifty years, his work has helped protect wildlife around the world.

Awards and recognition

George Schaller has won many awards for his work in protecting animals and nature. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from National Geographic and the Gold Medal from the World Wildlife Fund for helping us learn about and protect animals in danger. He also earned the International Cosmos Prize, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and was the first person to receive the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Beebe Fellowship.

His books have also won awards. His book The Serengeti Lion won the U.S. National Book Award in Science in 1973. In 2008, he received the Indianapolis Prize for his work in saving animals. In 2017, a new type of scorpion was named Liocheles schalleri in his honor.

Further information: Guggenheim Fellowship
Further information: World Wildlife Fund
Further information: endangered species
Further information: International Cosmos Prize
Further information: Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
Further information: National Book Award
Further information: in Science
Further information: American Academy of Achievement
Further information: Indianapolis Prize

Personal life

George Schaller's wife, Kay, studied Anthropology at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. They met there and got married in 1957. For almost seven decades, Kay helped George with his work and writings. She passed away on March 7, 2023, at the age of 93. They had two sons together.