George Schaller is a conservation nomad. He has saved more species in more countries than any other wildlife conservationist I can think of. I was honored to sit down with George and bring you some of his wisdom, practical advice, and inspiration (not hope!). Read on for highlights of my time with the legendary George Schaller.
Starting in 1956 when he joined Olaus Murie to study and protect an area that would become the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, George Schaller’s career has resulted in protection for snow leopards, jaguars, giant pandas, tigers, mountain gorillas, and Tibetan antelope.
Unusual for a field biologist, he has always believed that without emotion you can’t understand the animals you are observing. “You have to look at them with empathy and intuition to try to get into their world,” he says. Schaller always named his research subjects (similar to what Jane Goodall would later do with chimpanzees) rather than assigning them numbers like he and his colleagues were taught to do.
“Things don’t look so good when you look at the fact that over 90 percent of land vertebrates are domestic livestock and people. Wildlife is rather outnumbered. I can give endless statistics about all the bad that is happening, but I focus on where I can have an impact. I pick areas where I can do some good,” says Schaller. “I don’t deal in hope. I deal in action to accomplish something. I don’t sit around hoping.”
Happy Birthday George Schaller!
Yesterday, May 26, George turned 85. Although he sees himself now more as an “ecological missionary,” preaching the gospel of conservation, he is still traveling the globe saving wildlife and wild places. And he thinks all of us can and should be, taking action. “Get involved. Whether it’s in a local cause, writing to your politicians, or studying the sciences, we all have a role to play in saving the planet. All we need to do is do something!”
For more on George Schaller, read Wild Lives, Leading Conservationists on the Animals and Planet They Love.