George B. Schaller, Ph.D. | Academy of Achievement

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Schaller, Ph.D. | Academy of Achievement</title> <meta name="description" content="For months and years at a time, George Schaller has lived among the most beautiful and fascinating creatures on Earth, among them the lions and gorillas of Africa, the tigers of India, the jaguars of the Amazon, and the giant pandas of China. His painstaking observations of the daily life of animals in their natural habitats have yielded priceless insight into the breathtaking variety of life on Earth. Until he lived among the mountain gorillas of East Africa, they were thought to be violent, aggressive brutes; hunters and explorers avoided them altogether or killed them on sight. Living among them from day to day, he found them cooperative and affectionate in their relations with one another, gentle and friendly with humans who win their trust. In addition to his exhaustively thorough scientific studies of the animals he has lived among, George Schaller has shared his discoveries with the larger public in a series of captivating books for the general reader. His pioneering studies of China's giant pandas have helped to arrest their threatened extinction. He has done the same for the giant yak and snow leopard of the Himalayas and Central Asia. His advocacy for preserving the natural ecosystem where wild animals flourish has saved whole species from extinction and preserved vast stretches of wilderness around the world so that we can share our planet with these majestic creatures for generations to come."/> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"/> <meta name="googlebot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <meta name="bingbot" content="index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="George B. Schaller, Ph.D. | Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="For months and years at a time, George Schaller has lived among the most beautiful and fascinating creatures on Earth, among them the lions and gorillas of Africa, the tigers of India, the jaguars of the Amazon, and the giant pandas of China. His painstaking observations of the daily life of animals in their natural habitats have yielded priceless insight into the breathtaking variety of life on Earth. Until he lived among the mountain gorillas of East Africa, they were thought to be violent, aggressive brutes; hunters and explorers avoided them altogether or killed them on sight. Living among them from day to day, he found them cooperative and affectionate in their relations with one another, gentle and friendly with humans who win their trust. In addition to his exhaustively thorough scientific studies of the animals he has lived among, George Schaller has shared his discoveries with the larger public in a series of captivating books for the general reader. His pioneering studies of China's giant pandas have helped to arrest their threatened extinction. He has done the same for the giant yak and snow leopard of the Himalayas and Central Asia. His advocacy for preserving the natural ecosystem where wild animals flourish has saved whole species from extinction and preserved vast stretches of wilderness around the world so that we can share our planet with these majestic creatures for generations to come."/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2018-04-22T23:54:18+00:00"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/schaller-Feature-Image.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@achievers1961"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@achievers1961"/> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/#organization","name":"Academy of Achievement","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/","sameAs":["https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChe_87uh1H-NIMf3ndTjPFw","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Achievement","https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://twitter.com/achievers1961"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/12.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Academy of Achievement"},"image":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/#website","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/","name":"Academy of Achievement","description":"A museum of living history","publisher":{"@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/search/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/schaller-Feature-Image.jpg","width":2800,"height":1120,"caption":"GBS keeping warm in local clothes (Western China, 1987)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/#webpage","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/","name":"George B. 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<div class="icon-bar bottom-bar"></div> </div> <div class="search-toogle icon-icon_search" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#searchModal" data-gtm-category="search" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Header Search Icon"></div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="" role="document"> <div class="content"> <main class="main"> <div class="feature-area__container"> <header class="feature-area feature-area--has-image ratio-container ratio-container--feature"> <figure class="feature-box"> <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image feature-area__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/schaller-Feature-Image.jpg [(max-width:544px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/03/schaller-Feature-Image-1400x560.jpg [(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/03/schaller-Feature-Image.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">George B. Schaller, Ph.D.</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Wildlife Biologist and Conservationist</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-44111 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-biologist careers-ecologist careers-naturalist careers-zoologist"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">Remember, there are no victories in conservation. You may have a temporary ‘looks good.’ Suddenly things change and the fight begins all over. So we’ve got to continue fighting.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Wonder of the Natural World</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> May 26, 1933 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p>George Schaller was born in Berlin, Germany and spent his early years there, surviving the devastation of World War II. Following the war, he and his mother moved to the United States to live with an uncle, arriving in Missouri in 1947.  Exploring the woods and streams near his new home, the teenage Schaller discovered the joys of observing wild animal life. He kept a pet raccoon, collected snakes and lizards, and not surprisingly, gravitated towards a career as a natural scientist.</p> <figure id="attachment_44431" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44431" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44431 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44431 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1551" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven-380x259.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven-760x517.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44431" class="wp-caption-text">1952: Field biologist George B. Schaller and his pet raven paddle down the Colville River in Alaska in what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the 19.6-million-acre wildlife refuge located in the northeastern corner of Alaska. In 1956, Schaller’s work, surveying the land and studying the region’s wildlife, with Wilderness Society’s president, Olaus Murie, his wife, Mardy, and biologist Robert Krear, led to the establishment of the Arctic Refuge. In December 2017, Congress voted to grant permission to extract oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.</figcaption></figure> <p>He enrolled at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, where he volunteered to work in the wildlife laboratory.  As an undergraduate, he undertook his first zoological expedition, recording the movements of birds as they travel back and forth from Russia to Alaska.  He graduated in 1955 with degrees in both zoology and anthropology.  Shortly after graduation, he joined the renowned naturalists Olaus and Mardy Murie on a comprehensive survey of the wildlife of northeastern Alaska.</p> <figure id="attachment_44442" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44442" style="width: 2247px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44442 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44442 lazyload" alt="" width="2247" height="1530" data-sizes="(max-width: 2247px) 100vw, 2247px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them.jpg 2247w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them-380x259.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them-760x517.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44442" class="wp-caption-text">1959: An adult (silverback) male mountain gorilla and a subadult male watch Schaller as Schaller observes them nearby. In 1959 and 1960, Schaller and his wife, Kay, lived in Karaba — the saddle between Mikeno and Karisimbi, the two highest volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains — to conduct the first intensive study of the mountain gorillas.</figcaption></figure> <p>With the Muries, Schaller had the opportunity to observe wolves, bears, caribou and other creatures of the region.  The data collected by the Murie expedition, including Schaller’s contribution, informed the federal government’s decision to permanently protect the habitat of Alaska’s most vulnerable species.  The northeast corner of Alaska was designated the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by order of President Dwight Eisenhower.  Until the Murie expedition, Schaller might have considered a conventional career as an academic zoologist, but from then on, he was determined to work as a field biologist, studying wild animals in their native environments.</p> <figure id="attachment_44445" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44445" style="width: 2238px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44445 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44445 lazyload" alt="" width="2238" height="1547" data-sizes="(max-width: 2238px) 100vw, 2238px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek.jpg 2238w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek-380x263.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek-760x525.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44445" class="wp-caption-text">1963-1965: Schaller moved his young family into a little bungalow in the forest, in the jungles of Central India, to study wildlife in Kanha National Park. Here, his wife, Kay, and their two boys, Eric and Mark, play with toy boats by a creek. Schaller’s 1967 book, <em>The Deer and the Tiger, </em>is his detailed account of the ecology and behavior of Bengal tigers and four species of the hoofed mammals on which they prey, based on observations in Kanha National Park.</figcaption></figure> <p>Schaller continued his study of bird behavior as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 1957, the year he completed his master’s at Wisconsin, he married Kay Morgan, who would accompany him on his future travels around the world.  At Madison, his professor John Emlen proposed that Schaller join him on an expedition to study the mountain gorillas (<em>Gorilla beringei beringei</em>) of East Africa.  At the time, the image of gorillas in the popular imagination was one of savage creatures, violent and aggressive. This idea, based on a small body of anecdotal experience reported by hunters and explorers, had been widely disseminated through fiction and films.  From his own experience with wolves and bears in the Arctic, Schaller knew that wild animals seldom attack humans unless provoked. He suspected that the legend of the violent, hostile gorilla was more myth than fact.  Schaller procured a grant from the National Academy of Sciences to join the expedition.</p> <figure id="attachment_44448" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44448" style="width: 1586px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44448 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44448 lazyload" alt="" width="1586" height="2401" data-sizes="(max-width: 1586px) 100vw, 1586px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla.jpg 1586w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla-251x380.jpg 251w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla-502x760.jpg 502w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44448" class="wp-caption-text">1964: <em>The Year of the Gorilla</em> by George B. Schaller chronicles his two years of travel and observation of the gorillas in East and Central Africa in the late 1950s, high in the Virunga volcanoes on the Zaire-Rwanda-Uganda border.</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1959, Professor Emlen and the 26-year-old Schaller, along with their wives, traveled to the Virunga volcano region, an area intersected by the present-day boundaries of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  After six months in the wild, Emlen and Schaller established an appropriate site for long-term observation of the mountain gorillas. The Emlens returned to Wisconsin while Schaller and his wife remained. Over the following year, they became intimately familiar with the gorilla and its true nature, which was far gentler, friendlier and more cooperative than popular lore suggested. The great apes typically live in bands of five to 27 members, under the leadership of one mature male gorilla.  Relations among members of the band are typically gentle and affectionate. As Schaller would later write, “No one who looks into a gorilla’s eyes — intelligent, gentle, vulnerable — can remain unchanged, for the gap between ape and human vanishes; we know that the gorilla still lives within us.”  When George and Kay Schaller returned to America, his work with the gorillas was carried on by the American researcher Dian Fossey.</p> <figure id="attachment_44441" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44441" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44441 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44441 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1531" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969-380x255.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969-760x510.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44441" class="wp-caption-text">1969: George Schaller taking notes. From 1966 to 1969, Schaller and his family lived at Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Africa, to study the impact of the lion and other predators on the herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle.</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1962, Schaller received his doctorate in zoology from Wisconsin and accepted a fellowship at the Behavioral Sciences Department at Stanford. The following year, his first book, <em>The Mountain Gorilla — Ecology and Behavior</em>, was published, and he became a research associate at Johns Hopkins University. In 1964, Schaller shared a more personal story of his time in Africa in a book for the general public, <em>The Year of the Gorilla</em>. In 1966, he joined the New York Zoological Society as a research associate and zoologist. The Society, founded in 1895, is now known as the Wildlife Conservation Society. George Schaller’s association with the Society has lasted more than half a century.</p> <figure id="attachment_44455" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44455" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44455 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44455 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1544" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink-760x515.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44455" class="wp-caption-text">1966-1969, Serengeti National Park of Tanzania: A lioness grabs a zebra that has come to a waterhole for a drink.</figcaption></figure> <p>Schaller’s work with the mountain gorillas attracted the attention of the government of India, which invited him to carry out a similar study of the endangered Bengal tiger. Once again, Schaller and his wife chose to live in close contact with an animal of fearsome reputation. Schaller has always refused to carry a firearm while meeting with these animals because he believes the animals perceive a human carrying a weapon as a threat, whereas human beings who live nearby and maintain a regular routine without disturbing the animals can gradually earn their trust. He shared his observations of the wild tiger and its prey in his 1967 book, <em>The Deer and the Tiger</em>, and in <em>The Tiger: Its Life in the Wild</em> (1969).</p> <figure id="attachment_44452" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44452" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44452 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44452 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1540" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch-760x513.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44452" class="wp-caption-text">1966-1969, Tanzania: Ostriches sometimes drop an egg far from the nest. Here, George B. Schaller blows out the contents of an ostrich egg for an omelet, while his sons Eric and Mark watch. This technique keeps the shell intact.</figcaption></figure> <p>The Schallers, now a growing family, returned to Africa to study the lions and other wild cats of the Serengeti, a spectacularly diverse ecosystem straddling the borders of Tanzania and Kenya. George Schaller published his findings in his 1972 books <em>Serengeti: A Kingdom of Predators</em> and <em>The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations</em>. The latter book won the National Book Award in Science.  He continued his discussion of lions with the public in <em>Golden Shadows, Flying Hooves</em> and <em>Wonders of Lions</em>, co-written with his wife, Kay.</p> <figure id="attachment_44465" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44465" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44465 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44465 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1540" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery-760x513.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44465" class="wp-caption-text">1973, Nepal: Peter Matthiessen, author of <em>The Snow Leopard,</em> and George Schaller made a long trek through the Dolpo region of Northwest Nepal. Matthiessen, two Sherpas, and Schaller (behind the camera) met the Lama of Shey Monastery, where they stayed a month, and Schaller studied the behavior of wild blue sheep and the snow leopard. In 2016, Schaller repeated the trek with Peter’s son, Alex, to note changes in wildlife and Tibetan culture.</figcaption></figure> <p>Although Schaller and his family loved their life in the Serengeti, he eagerly accepted an opportunity to study the animals of the Himalayas. The Schallers relocated to the Dolpo region, which lies within the borders of Nepal, while its population is predominantly Tibetan in language and culture. In the Himalayas, he made groundbreaking studies of the rare mountain goats and sheep, a story he shared in <em>Mountain Monarchs: Wild Sheep and Goats of the Himalayas</em> (1977). He was one of the first Westerners in the 20th century to glimpse the elusive snow leopard in the wild. Schaller spent the late 1970s in Brazil, studying the jaguars and alligators of the Amazon, as well as the capybara, the world’s largest living rodent. In 1979, he became the director of Wildlife Conservation International, the international program of the New York Zoological Society (now known as the Wildlife Conservation Society).</p> <figure id="attachment_44459" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44459" style="width: 1992px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44459 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44459 lazyload" alt="" width="1992" height="2851" data-sizes="(max-width: 1992px) 100vw, 1992px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover.jpg 1992w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover-266x380.jpg 266w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover-531x760.jpg 531w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44459" class="wp-caption-text">1976: <span id="productTitle" class="a-size-extra-large"><em>The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations</em> by George B. Schaller. </span>“Predators are the best wildlife managers,” writes George Schaller. They weed out the sick and old and keep herds healthy and alert. Yet the large predators of the world have been and are still being exterminated because they are thought to harm the wildlife. Schaller’s award-winning work, based on three years of study in the Serengeti National Park, describes the impact of the lion and other predators on the vast herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle for which the area is famous.</figcaption></figure> <p>The following year, the government of China invited the World Wildlife Fund to study the endangered giant panda bear in its natural habitat. At the time, their dwindling numbers were attributed to the increasing scarcity of their staple food, bamboo. The Fund recruited Schaller to lead the effort. The Schallers spent the next two years in Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China, one of the last redoubts of the iconic black and white bear. After eight months back in New York, the Schallers returned to China for another two years to investigate the other remaining panda habitat areas. With close observation, Schaller determined that the hunting and capturing of the highly prized animal was the actual cause of their declining numbers, and he initiated a campaign to preserve the panda population in the wild. His 1985 book, <em>The Giant Pandas of Wolong,</em> helped alert the world to the threat of extinction facing the species. Schaller’s efforts have led to increased protection of China’s pandas. Since he began his work, the population of pandas in the wild has increased by 45 percent.</p> <figure id="attachment_44457" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44457" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44457 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig..jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44457 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1580" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig..jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig.-380x263.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig.-760x527.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig..jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44457" class="wp-caption-text">1977-1980: George Schaller studied wildlife, particularly jaguars, in the vast swamps of the Pantanal in Southwest Brazil. Here, Schaller follows a river with his pet white-lipped peccary, a species of the South American wild pig.</figcaption></figure> <p>Further travels in Asia have taken George Schaller from the deserts of Mongolia to the jungles of Indochina. He has found living specimens of species long thought extinct, such as the Vietnamese wart pig and the Tibetan red deer. And in Laos, he discovered a previously undocumented species, the saola, a forest-dwelling bovine.  He has also worked to protect the rare Tibetan antelope, the chiru, which had been nearly hunted to extinction for its coveted wool.</p> <figure id="attachment_44462" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44462" style="width: 3950px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44462 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44462 lazyload" alt="" width="3950" height="2711" data-sizes="(max-width: 3950px) 100vw, 3950px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank.jpg 3950w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank-380x261.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank-760x522.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44462" class="wp-caption-text">1977, Brazil: A jaguar watches George Schaller’s approach from a river bank in the Pantanal, the world’s biggest wetland. The Wildlife Conservation Society began working to conserve and understand jaguars in the late 1970s when Schaller completed pioneering studies of jaguars, focusing on their ecology and range use within the region.</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1993, the New York Zoological Society changed its name to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Schaller has continued his work with the organization, an association that has lasted for half a century. In 2006, he helped form Panthera Corporation, an organization exclusively dedicated to the conservation of the world’s 40 wild cat species and their ecosystems. It implements global strategies for the most imperiled large cats: tigers, lions, jaguars, cheetahs, pumas, and leopards, including the snow leopard.</p> <figure id="attachment_44471" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44471" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-44471 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-44471 size-full lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1547" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022-380x258.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022-760x516.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44471" class="wp-caption-text">1980s: A wild female panda entered George Schaller’s tent and slept on the bed. When he returned home, she looked at him through the window, then left. In the early 1980s, Schaller became the first foreigner allowed to study the panda in its native habitat in China’s Sichuan Province. In Schaller’s 1993 book, <em>The Last Panda</em>, he used the insight gained by four-and-a-half years in the forests of the Wolong and Tangjiahe panda reserves to document the plight of these mysterious creatures and to awaken the human compassion urgently needed to save them.</figcaption></figure> <p>In every country where he has worked, Schaller has recruited local scientists and volunteers to conserve native animals and their habitats. In 2007, he helped lead a multinational effort, coordinating with the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and China, to create a Peace Park to preserve the habitat of the Marco Polo sheep, the world’s largest species of wild sheep, whose spiral horns can measure six feet long. His efforts have also led to the creation of wildlife preserves in the Amazon, in Nepal, and in the Hindu Kush region of Pakistan, as well as the Chang Tang Nature Preserve in northern Tibet, three times the size of any wildlife refuge in the United States.</p> <figure id="attachment_44474" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44474" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44474 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44474 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="3353" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025-258x380.jpg 258w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025-517x760.jpg 517w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44474" class="wp-caption-text">A local herdsman and George Schaller hold a sedated snow leopard captured to attach a radio collar to enable them to track its movements. Schaller studied Mongolian wildlife intermittently from 1989 to 2007. He and his local colleagues studied Mongolia’s many rare animals, including the snow leopard, the Gobi Desert bears, wild Bactrian camels, argali sheep, and ibex. Schaller’s research work has been instrumental in establishing more than 15 protected areas, parks and reserves around the globe on behalf of endangered species. In 2008, Schaller was awarded the prestigious Indianapolis Prize for his work in animal conservation, and he was also awarded National Geographic’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In June 2015, Schaller was awarded the National Geographic Society’s highest honor, the Hubbard Medal, for his lifetime commitment to conserving the world’s wildlife. Schaller is Vice President Emeritus at Panthera and serves as a senior conservationist with the Wildlife Conservation Society.</figcaption></figure> <p>To date, he has written more than 15 books, including <em>Tibet’s Hidden Wilderness</em> and <em>Tibet Wild: A Naturalist’s Journey on the Roof of the World. </em>He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Geographic Society, the Gold Medal of the World Wildlife Fund, the International Cosmos Prize, and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. In his 80s, George Schaller continues to serve as an adviser to the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Corporation. Although they have spent more of their lives in the wilds of Asia, Africa, and South America than they have at home, George and Kay Schaller now make their home in New Hampshire.</p> </body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1988 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.biologist">Biologist</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.ecologist">Ecologist</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.naturalist">Naturalist</a></div> <div><a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.zoologist">Zoologist</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> May 26, 1933 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p>For months and years at a time, George Schaller has lived among the most beautiful and fascinating creatures on Earth, among them the lions and gorillas of Africa, the tigers of India, the jaguars of the Amazon, and the giant pandas of China. His painstaking observations of the daily life of animals in their natural habitats have yielded priceless insight into the breathtaking variety of life on Earth.</p> <p>Until he lived among the mountain gorillas of East Africa, they were thought to be violent, aggressive brutes; hunters and explorers avoided them altogether or killed them on sight. Living among them from day to day, he found them cooperative and affectionate in their relations with one another, gentle and friendly with humans who win their trust. In addition to his exhaustively thorough scientific studies of the animals he has lived among, George Schaller has shared his discoveries with the larger public in a series of captivating books for the general reader.</p> <p>His pioneering studies of China’s giant pandas have helped to arrest their threatened extinction. He has done the same for the giant yak and snow leopard of the Himalayas and Central Asia. His advocacy for preserving the natural ecosystem where wild animals flourish has saved whole species from extinction and preserved vast stretches of wilderness around the world so that we can share our planet with these majestic creatures for generations to come.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/vsVxzTVAN8U?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_11_40_10.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_11_40_10.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Wonder of the Natural World</h2> <div class="sans-2">West Lebanon, New Hampshire</div> <div class="sans-2">November 7, 2017</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>You’ve enjoyed being outside and watching animals since you were very young. Were you already thinking of being a biologist and a conservationist?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I enjoyed being out but not just to watch, watch, watch. That came when I went to the University of Alaska, and I helped the graduate students in the wildlife lab. And I went out with them, and I saw in detail what they were doing, that they were writing things down; they’re quantifying things. “How often does this animal scratch itself in one hour?” type of thing. I just said, “Hey, this sounds good. I want to do that.”</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/ttjknV45DhE?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_09_33_29.Still007-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_09_33_29.Still007-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I like to be alone, watching things, wandering around the forest, seeing wildlife, seeing an owl sitting up in a tree. I just basically enjoy that. That’s part of my character, being somewhat of a loner. But conservation is a step forward. In the beginning, no, I didn’t think about conservation as such, but then, particularly when I went to the Brooks Range in 1956 with Olaus and Mardy Murie — he was head of the Wilderness Society, a well-known conservationist — and he said, “We’re here to do a bit of science, but especially, the precious intangible values of the area, it must be protected.” I’ve been fighting for that ever since.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>What gives you the patience to watch the same animals, hour after hour, day after day?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, you want to try to understand an animal. If you have a dog, you stare at it and wonder what it’s thinking. The same is when you’re meeting a tiger. What is really going on in that tiger? And to even get close, you can never understand. I mean I have a hard time understanding my wife, but as far as understanding the tiger, by getting a lot of detailed facts, seeing the situation, I can get some impression of what kind of animal it is.</p> <p><strong>Humans are so varied in their personalities. You can’t always predict how they’re going to react. Are animals more predictable than humans in their behavior?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/VzjOSpZFO9M?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_19_58_05.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_19_58_05.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: Animals, like humans, are individuals. They’re fairly predictable because it depends on your behavior. They can sense much better than you can what your intentions are. If you want to run with a gun, you have a tension in your body, an aggressiveness that an animal often can sense. Whereas, if you just accidentally meet an animal, hey, the animal realizes this is an accident and you back off, usually, but then there are individuals that for whatever reason — it can be genetic, it’s because people have harmed it — they will attack. Why do you think most animals run away when you see them? We’ve made them shy. If you’re nice to them, they wouldn’t be running away.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_44476" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44476" style="width: 1432px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44476 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44476 lazyload" alt="" width="1432" height="2048" data-sizes="(max-width: 1432px) 100vw, 1432px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687.jpg 1432w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687-266x380.jpg 266w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687-531x760.jpg 531w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44476" class="wp-caption-text">September 1963, Tanzania: Zoologist George B. Schaller studying gorillas in Africa with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. Earlier that year, he published a landmark study on the ecology and behavior of the mountain gorilla, <em>The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior</em>. “This remarkable study is the result of the African Primate Expedition (1959-60), whose prime concern was to observe the mountain gorilla in the eastern Congo and western Uganda.” In 1964, he published <em>The Year of the Gorilla</em>, chronicling “his observations of gorilla society, celebrating the solitude of the naturalist, recounting the adventures he experienced along the way, and offering a warning against poaching and other human threats against these endangered creatures.” (Terence Spencer/<em>LIFE</em>/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>You’ve studied some of the most fascinating and charismatic animals — gorillas, pandas, jaguars, lions. You were the first to do major studies of these. How do you inspire people, when they’re not going to be the first, when they’re just following up on the groundbreaking work?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pudu5sGclok?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_17_43_12.Still014-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_17_43_12.Still014-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: Studying something spectacular — finding out that gorillas are not ferocious, that they’re very kindly, that there’s nothing more pleasurable than sitting next to a wild gorilla and looking into its brown eyes — but it’s the long-term studies that help protect it. And by studying something spectacular, I can also raise the money to go continue the studies or start new studies. And also remember, you’re not just studying a tiger. You’re studying all the hoofed animals — the deer, the wild bison, and others that the tiger eats. Then you’re studying the vegetation that the herbivores eat. So you’re doing an ecological study of an area. But what do people pay attention to? Not what the deer does but what the tiger does.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>At the time you studied gorillas, not much was known about them. Most of the information indicated these were very dangerous creatures. </strong></p> <p>George Schaller: People shot them usually.</p> <p><strong>That was the only information you had when you went to study them. How did you think you could get close enough to observe them for a year?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/4yiURn63jU4?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_29_19_14.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_29_19_14.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: Having worked in Alaska with various species, you know that nothing is wholly ferocious. That if you do it right, if you go near them gently, if you make them realize that you mean no harm, they’re not going to be concerned. And the same with gorillas. Day after day, you follow them slowly, a group. You sit near them. Don’t stare at them. Look away. If they come near you, just sit quietly. And after a few meetings, they realize you’re no problem and that you come there day after day. You can see now that, in the tourist groups, the big problem is that the gorillas want to come and touch you. Well, that’s not a good idea, either, because people are full of diseases which they can transmit to the gorillas. But all these animals — lions, tigers, and so forth — they become very used to people. You’ve got to be a little careful because you never know if a tiger has had a bad experience with people and jumps at you. But I’ve met tigers — from me to you — and they’re both surprised and back off without any aggression on either side.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_44480" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44480" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44480 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44480 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1583" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes-380x264.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes-760x528.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44480" class="wp-caption-text">An adult female mountain gorilla, one of the most endangered ape populations in the world, relaxes in mountain gorilla country of the Virunga volcanoes on the Rwanda-Congo border on the summit of the Mount Visoke volcano.</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>What do you do for a year watching gorillas? What do you look for?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/MJ0HsB18jKA?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_26_14_18.Still011-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_26_14_18.Still011-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: I find a group. I recognize all of them individually, in the area where I worked, about 200 or so. Their faces, particularly the nose area, is very distinctive. So I’d check out who’s there. And the wonderful thing, in Rwanda, is you go out with the guides there now. The guides now know all the gorillas and can check and see what’s happening. But so I’d go, “How far have they gone? What is their main food that day? Are they meeting somebody? And what happens when they meet?” Usually, there’s aggression when two gorillas’ groups meet. Sometimes they mix and you don’t know — you want to know who is aggressive. Do you know their history? And so forth.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>How long did it take before the gorillas accepted you and would let you just sit there and observe?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Usually, it took maybe ten to twenty meetings with a group. They live in tight groups, which makes it easy. You’ve got to get the big male to accept you because he’s the one that defends the group. If he pays no attention, the rest don’t pay attention, and then they get curious and come to you.</p> <p><strong>When did you get a breakthrough, when a gorilla would come near you or just sit down beside you and carry on?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/zk9aj5VoEOo?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_16_49_01.Still015-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_16_49_01.Still015-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: The forest where I was working had a lot of trees with big low branches. So to see them better in the vegetation, I’d climb and sit on a branch. And the female gorilla climbed up and sat on a branch next to me. Well, we were both a little nervous. She’d look at me and then quickly look away. I’d do the same. So we sat there awhile, and then she climbed down and walked off. Now, that’s lovely. And then others started coming close when I’d come near. I didn’t encourage it, but I just stayed there. It got so I could sleep with them at night. I’d see where they’re going to bed down. I’d lie down a hundred feet away or so and spend the night to find out what goes on.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_44484" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44484" style="width: 3975px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44484 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44484 lazyload" alt="" width="3975" height="2675" data-sizes="(max-width: 3975px) 100vw, 3975px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket.jpg 3975w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket-380x256.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket-760x511.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44484" class="wp-caption-text">Schaller studied wildlife in Kanha National Park in Central India during 1963-65. Here a tigress pulls a domestic calf she has killed into a thicket. In 1967, he published <em>The Deer and the Tiger,</em> his detailed account of the ecology and behavior of Bengal tigers and four species of the hoofed mammals on which they prey, based on his observations.</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>What about the tigers? Was it always in the back of your mind that you had to be more careful than you would if you were studying some other animal?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/VYHLBsIgwgQ?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_27_03_21.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_27_03_21.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: Actually, you know, I’m more worried about studying a bear than a tiger because a bear, its facial expressions are not as clear-cut as a tiger. You know what a tiger is thinking, but a bear, more difficult. So you have to decide what is best to do with these animals. And, for example, the tigers, where I worked in Central India — I was out all the time walking around. I’d meet the same tiger again and again. I’m sure they recognized me. I wore the same dirty clothes all the time. So again, the animals learn, “Hey, this guy’s no problem.” So they don’t make it a problem. In fact, they don’t necessarily run away. I’ve had them crouch ten feet away while I walked past and purposely not look at them.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>With an animal such as the snow leopard, where you’re seeing tracks or picking up the feces to study it, more than actually seeing the animal up close, is it as satisfying?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/bSua05XLpb0?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_07_04_08.Still005-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_07_04_08.Still005-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/passion/">Passion</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: For example, snow leopards live in open country. They can see you two miles away and hide. All right. My most wonderful encounters are when they accepted me. And I see them. They’re not running way. I watch them awhile. It’s dusk. I sleep right near them because they have a kill nearby and so they don’t run away. Well, to really feel that an animal accepts you, it’s one of the most satisfying things for somebody like myself.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_44564" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44564" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44564 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44564 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1564" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear-380x261.jpg 380w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear-760x521.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44564" class="wp-caption-text">George Schaller studied Mongolian wildlife from 1989 to 2007, including the very rare Gobi bear, of which only about forty survive, all in the Gobi desert. Here, Mongolian biologist R. Tulgat attaches a radio collar to a bear.</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>You’ve fought hard to protect some of these iconic animals, like the snow leopard. Is it harder to sell the public on protecting less well-known species, like the Tibetan antelope?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/JzPpH0nmhK8?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_13_35_29.Still016-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_13_35_29.Still016-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: People haven’t seen a Tibetan antelope — a beautiful animal. I was very fortunate, in that China, in recent years, has been truly interested in protecting some of these species and has set up reserves and started anti-poaching work. The poor antelope, of course, has been in big trouble because it’s got the finest wool in the world. During the 1990s, about 250,000 were killed on the Tibetan Plateau, the wool exported to India, and they make these lovely Shahtoosh shawls which ladies like to wear and buy at prices up to $15,000. Well, that market has gone down because countries are now more aware of this, and China has been protecting it. Borders are better patrolled. So it’s step by step. It takes time.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><figure id="attachment_44582" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44582" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44582 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44582 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="3389" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher-256x380.jpg 256w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher-511x760.jpg 511w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44582" class="wp-caption-text">A park guard has apprehended a poacher. Poachers around the Serengeti kill plenty of wildlife to eat and sell.</figcaption></figure> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body data-rsssl="1"><p><strong>Do you think a number of species have a better chance at survival today because of your work?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It certainly helped in raising awareness by government and the public.  But remember, there are no victories in conservation.  You may have a temporary “looks good.”  Suddenly, things change and the fight begins all over.  We’ve seen this with elephant ivory.  There was the big ivory, back 30 years ago,  then things improved, elephants increased.  Suddenly again, huge ivory market;  now again, things are improving.  So we’ve got to continue fighting.</p> <p><strong>There’s no finish line in conservation.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: No.</p> <figure id="attachment_44482" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44482" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-44482 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159im_/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002.jpg"></noscript><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-44482 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="3342" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002.jpg 2280w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002-259x380.jpg 259w, /web/20200917235159im_/https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002-518x760.jpg 518w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159/https://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002.jpg"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-44482" class="wp-caption-text">2006, Alaska: Martin Robards of the Wildlife Conservation Society and George B. Schaller are on the same site along the Sheenjek River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where Schaller camped in 1956. Robards and Schaller compare changes in vegetation, tree height, and retreat of glacier during the past 50 years from photos.</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>You did the first observations of so many species, but you didn’t just leave it at that.  You made sure the work continued after you left.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Right.  The one thing that has happened in so many of these studies, whether it’s tigers, lions, pandas, and so forth — that’s been continued by other biologists, both foreign and local, and that’s ideal.  So somebody continues the monitoring.  That’s why these places like the Serengeti still exist, because there are people there caring about it.</p> <p><strong>When you were starting out, was the work more about satisfying your own curiosity, or were you already thinking of the impact your studies could have in the long run?</strong></p> </body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20200917235159if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/gjW1Hip5PJk?feature=oembed&hd=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_06_11_22.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Schaller-George-2017-MasterEdit.00_06_11_22.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/keys-to-success/integrity/">Integrity</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>George Schaller: You realize early on that — you do a good scientific study and publish it, somebody will come on and continue that work with new questions, new answers. So this is an evolving situation, and it’s never a final one. So I was happy to do good studies, but then it turned into conservation, that I wanted to set up protected areas for these animals. You have a moral obligation, in effect, to help the animals that you study. Then the other very important step is that you find local graduate students in the country where you’re working, take them into the field, and get them enthusiastic about studying their own wildlife in their own country. That, in the final analysis, has given me probably the most satisfaction, when I look at some of these countries that I worked in.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>How interested in animals were you as a young person? When did you know you wanted to study animals as a career?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: When I was in high school, for example, I kept a pet opossum, pet raccoons, pet this, pet that. I liked to have them around — a lot of snakes, lizards. So I enjoyed having them, but it was not with the intention of “Hey, I’m going to make a living at doing that.” That sort of developed gradually. I don’t know a certain point.</p> <p><strong>Were you a good student?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I did not have an academic pursuit. I went to university as a mediocre student. High school was even more mediocre. But if you want to do what you enjoy doing, you have to be dedicated and work hard. How do you get grants? You’ve got to produce good results from a project. You’ve got to write them up; you’ve got to publish them. Then you get more grants.</p> <p><strong>What motivated you as a student?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, it depended on the subject. In high school, there was nothing that interested me particularly. I got to university. There were some courses that greatly interested me. So naturally, I focused on those.</p> <p><strong>You came to the United States from Germany with your brother and your mother when you were 14 years old. Is that right?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Correct.</p> <p><strong>Your mother tells you that you’re going to the United States, and you can bring one thing that you really care about. What was the one thing you decided to bring?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I decided to bring bird eggs. I’d been collecting. If I find a nest of something, I’d take one egg, blow it out, and pack it nicely in cotton wool. So I had a small bird egg collection that I brought with me.</p> <p><strong>That looks like a clue to your future career. </strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It’s a clue, in retrospect.</p> <p><strong>Can you tell us about your first field studies, when you were a student at the University of Alaska?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: The first study I did in northern Alaska was in 1952. And there, I had a very specific thing, to find out what bird species came from Russia over to Alaska. But then there was the Murie expedition in 1956. We collected everything — 40 species of lichens, three species of mosquitoes, so many plant species — just made an inventory of the area because that was a useful step. But at the same time, we had the bigger picture. Where are the caribou migrating to? Because it’s a major species, not only as a food species for the local Gwich’in Indians, but they go on to Canada, and then you have a migrating animal. And then you’ve got a real problem of conservation because you can’t protect them in a small reserve. You’ve got to protect them in a landscape. So all these issues arise, but as a first step there, we just grabbed a little bit of everything.</p> <p><strong>When did you decide you could do this for your entire life?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I never thought of it that way. I knew what I liked. Why change it? That’s one reason I’ve never become a university professor. I wanted to have the freedom to decide, “Well, gee, it’d be interesting to go to Iran and study the last cheetahs there,” and then find the money and go and do it, not having to wait in an official system. I was lucky. Since 1956, I was associated with the New York Zoological Society, which became the Wildlife Conservation Society, and they were wonderful in that they gave you the freedom to take off and do things as long as it fit their general program.</p> <p><strong>Would you say your career arc has been as much serendipity and luck as planning ahead? Was there any long-term plan or was it happenstance?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: No. I grabbed good opportunities. And some of the best ones, I was asked to do. I was asked to go to India to study wildlife. Then I was asked to come to the Serengeti and study lions by the head of the Tanzania Parks. Then World Wildlife Fund and the Chinese asked me to come and do pandas. So I went to China in 1980 to work on pandas, which we did for five years. And I still go there every year to collaborate with Chinese teams in wildlife studies. So a lot of these things just sort of develop.</p> <p><strong>What do you think was the biggest takeaway from your year of research with the gorillas?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It basically reinforced my feeling that I think animals are very approachable if you do it in the right way. Except people, of course — Kay, who was with me, of course, in the gorilla study — we had to leave the Congo because independence had erupted.</p> <p><strong>Your two sons were with you on many of these adventures. They were living nearby or sometimes camping out with you. To do what you did, do you think you had to make sacrifices in your family life?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I think it was the other way. I’ve been very, very fortunate that my wife, Kay, was happy to go into the field, but she’s the one that made the sacrifices because she followed me around. We raised our children in Tanzania, in India, in Pakistan — all certain problems when kids are small, but she bore the brunt of that. So that is something that one is extraordinarily fortunate for, to have a partner that is truly willing to put up with what I want to do.</p> <p><strong>If you had to make an estimate, do you have any idea how much of your life has been sleeping under the stars or in a tent?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I’m going to have to go through all my journals to give you that answer.</p> <p><strong>More than a few years in total?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Oh, yeah!</p> <p><strong>Do you think that to be truly successful, you have to do some things that the average person won’t do? The average person wants too much. It might not be a sacrifice for you, but for most people, it means giving up some pleasures.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, I’m not giving up my pleasures. Other people would give up some of theirs. You have to have the right psychology — if you want to call it that — for being willing to be away, willing to not have a crowd around you, willing not to have all these gadgets. All right. Some people aren’t willing, so they have to adapt to that. You can learn quickly by taking people out, and I take graduate students out, whether it’s in Brazil or China or whatever. You can learn very quickly, are they going to adapt, or it’s not going to work out for them.</p> <p><strong>To be at the top of any field, whether it’s biology or not, does it take single-mindedness?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Very much so. I, fortunately, have no hobbies except what I love to do. When I’m not in the field, I’m thinking about the field, making plans for the next trip, writing up my reports and whatever, but it’s always basically my work. For good or bad, I don’t know, but that’s what I enjoy doing.</p> <p><strong>When you’re in the field, do you think about the impact of your work? Is it just about the specific project you’re on at the time, or are you thinking, “I’m going to get a book out of this,” or a speaking tour and people are going to talk about what you’ve done?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I usually don’t worry about those things. They come to you once you’ve done the work and people want to find out more about it. But I do want to communicate, and that’s why, in all my studies, I write popular books, popular articles — because I feel the public needs to know the beauty of these animals, and they need to protect them. Nobody reads scientific papers except a few scientists. So you have to popularize what you’re doing in order to reach the public.</p> <p><strong>You were always moving on because somebody said, “Come study this animal,” or that animal. Was there one particular species or habitat that you hated to leave?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, you know, I’ve got a basic problem. I have a short attention span. After I work about five years on an animal, or four years, my mind says, “Now it’d be interesting to go to this country and work on this.” So yes, I know Kay hated to leave the Serengeti because it was a wonderful place for observing wildlife every day close-up. But on the other hand, it was time, I felt, to move on. So I started work in the Himalayas, in the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, high mountain country, and snow leopards and wild sheep and goats. In retrospect, yes, it would have been lovely to spend more years in the Serengeti, but at the time I felt I needed to move.</p> <p><strong>Is part of the key to being successful making sure that you’re always challenged, that you’re not getting bored with your study? Did that sometimes lead you to other animals or different types of research?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It’s not really boredom because scientifically there are always new questions. People that have followed me on studies on lions and tigers, they’ve got new information, new techniques, new statistics, and so forth, so there’s always something new coming up. But on the other hand, I could look at Central Asia: “Hey, nobody’s roaming those mountains to do research. I better go do it.”</p> <p><strong>Do you need to make up your mind, early on, what your career path is going to be if you’re going to be successful?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: You may not be sure of that when you get to university, but if you grab opportunities that you like, you may have a chance.</p> <p><strong>So it’s not too late to make your career decision in graduate school?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: No. When I went to the University of Alaska, I volunteered in the wildlife lab, where you had all these graduate students doing wildlife studies. What I saw there was that the Fish and Wildlife Service had brought in dozens of wolves that had been killed in remote areas for no reason. So immediately, the discussion of everybody was: “What’s the purpose of killing these wolves?” There’s no explanation. Well, that makes you think that government policies are not necessarily the best for all wildlife, and that still goes on.</p> <p><strong>Then you would say achievement needs something to fire a passion to get you motivated beyond just the ordinary interest?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Yeah. Passion is a good word for that. You’ve got to have passion to continue.</p> <p><strong>The documentation you gathered on one of your first times in the field was used to help create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It seemed pretty simple to have that much success on the first one. It didn’t always work out that way, though.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: But see, the success, in part, was due to Olaus and Mardy Murie, who then gave lectures all over the place and pushed things with the government departments in Washington and so forth. They built a political infrastructure to make it possible. All I did was collect some facts. They did the next important steps.</p> <p><strong>Is it harder today to have the facts speak for themselves and lead to action?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: People are not that interested in facts, especially Americans. Science is not high on the agenda in this country. You’ve got to approach it by emotion. Gorillas arouse emotions. Therefore, people will say, “Yeah, they must protect gorillas,” even though they never expect to see them. So you’ve got to find something to arouse the people’s interest and emotion to get something done politically.</p> <p><strong>We’ve counted the number of species. It’s far less than it was ten years ago. In a hundred years, many of the big animals you’ve been studying may disappear from the planet, and nobody’s motivated to act. Do you get discouraged?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Obviously, one of the jobs is to give enough information to the public so they will also consider who to vote for because the final decisions are always political. So if you want to save national monuments in this country, you have to be sure you have leaders that are willing and interested in nature. So this is true in every country.</p> <p><strong>But have you become discouraged?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: You get angry, really angry, that there’s so much lack of concern for the future of this planet or individual countries, but we keep fighting. We’ve got to pick specific fights. You can’t do everything. And those you can fight for, on behalf of — and every government, if I’m working in Brazil or Afghanistan or what have you — has people that want to protect. Take a look at Afghanistan. In spite of all this fighting in these decades, they set up new reserves.</p> <p><strong>You’ve taken on some difficult tasks. It’s hard enough to get one country to protect its own land, but you’re trying to get multiple nations that disagree on a lot of things to come together to create a reserve because in the wildlife, there are no borders, and they may be in an area that crosses four countries.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: You know, countries distrust foreigners, especially Americans, but once you get their trust that you’re really concerned about protecting their natural heritage, that you’re there to help them, then you find people — surprising people — that really come and work with you and want to help. So I’m very gratified that I’ve been accepted by various countries.</p> <p><strong>Did you think of yourself as gifted in any way?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Oh, I’m not in the least gifted. I just have persistence.</p> <p><strong>What inspires you today? What keeps you going?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, I see all these projects, some of them that I started, others — here you’ve got the Amazon. The Amazon forest is as big as everything west of the Mississippi in the United States. Very little work has been done. Somebody’s got to work with Brazilian teams to do more work. So then I started working in Brazil in the 1970s. So I find some Brazilian coworkers, and I say, “Let’s do something in the Amazon.” So I’ve been going to the Amazon for the past few years. And I’m very lucky because the Brazilian government departments concerned are very supportive.</p> <p><strong>It sounds like you have no trouble finding the next challenge. You don’t think everything’s been discovered or people have already done the interesting part?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Oh, no. There’s so much left, but right now the fight is to keep what you have. I’m personally not concerned with finding a new species of insect, but I am concerned about protecting the habitat for that insect and all the thousands of other species there.</p> <p><strong>When we look at the big picture of your career, we see a lot of success, but no journey is a straight path. Did you have down moments? Did you have setbacks?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I can’t remember any regular setbacks because if I see something isn’t going anywhere, I’ve already got a next step somewhere else.</p> <p><strong>What do you know about achievement now that you didn’t know when you were young?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: About achievement, in general? It’s satisfying when you do something that you think is a reasonably good job. But certainly, personally, it’s not something where I sit back and say, ”Hey, that’s it!” I’ve got several other things that I’m working toward. So if I can get good results, fine. If a country sets up a reserve that I recommended, wonderful; if it doesn’t, well, bad luck.</p> <p><strong>Where do you see the next big breakthrough in your field coming in the next 25 years? Where are the biggest advances going to be made in field biology?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: In field biology, things have been advancing in just identifying with DNA. I can pick up a scat — animal dropping — and find out from the DNA what it’s eaten, what species it is, was it a male or female that did it, and what individual it was. Those kinds of things will continue to develop, so you get more detail. Twenty years ago I would not have thought I’d pick up a tiger scat and get all this information from it.</p> <p><strong>Do you have advice for young people on how to achieve in whatever field they choose? What do you think people should be studying to be successful?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Certainly, if you want to get into the field of biology these days, you should also study anthropology because so much work now is with communities. How do you help communities? How do you convince communities to protect their environment? — Especially if, let’s say, you have a tiger eating your cows. The natural gesture is to kill that tiger. Well, what are the alternatives? That’s the kind of thing one is now increasingly working with.</p> <p><strong>Overall, are you hopeful for the future of the planet?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I don’t deal in hope. I deal in action.</p> <p><strong>Is the will there to take proper action for the future of the planet?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Not yet.</p> <p><strong>What needs to be done to make that commitment?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It’s a commitment by everybody, everybody, which means having actionable knowledge — having enough knowledge to know what’s going on and in some way help and act on it.</p> <p><strong>Who inspires you today? In your field, which biologists and scientists are doing work that inspires you?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: E. O. Wilson, from Harvard, has been a broad, inspiring thinker, which a lot of people have responded to.</p> <p><strong>Why do you like him? What is he doing that particularly stands out to you?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: He has good ideas and writes them in a way that’s readily intelligible.</p> <p><strong>So it’s not enough just to be a scientist. You have to be a communicator as well.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: If you want to reach beyond. Scientists too — other scientists — may then communicate what you’ve not communicated. A lot of it is so straightforward these days. It’s very frustrating when you have climate change deniers. It’s such an utterly ignorant thing not to learn enough about it to say, “Well, hey, there’s a lot of good data.”</p> <p><strong>You talked before about what brought you to the field. You were a bit of a loner. Did you have to work at the communication part? Did you have to work harder at selling the conservation message than you did to become a biologist?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: The writing has not been a challenge. Working directly with communities is a challenge because, usually, I work in a country where I don’t speak the language fluently. If you have to go through an interpreter, that’s a drawback.</p> <p><strong>Is there anything that you still desperately want to accomplish?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I want a major program in the Brazilian Amazon, to get more basic information. I’m working with Iran to save the last 40 or 50 Asiatic cheetahs anywhere. They’ve been very supportive. So these are all things I stay involved in.</p> <p><strong>There’s no end to the work of the field biologist.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: No. If you can get enough emotional impact, it will even have an impact after you’re gone.</p> <p><strong>You’ve certainly had an impact. You inspired a lot of people who are out in the field.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I’m happy about that, but I look ahead. What more can I do? And I’ve got Kay, who still offers support that she does continually. She even edits my manuscripts.</p> <p><strong>If you could come back as any animal that you’ve studied, what would it be?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It’s an interesting question because if I come back as a gorilla, there’s so few left, I’d have to fight for my life the whole time. But that is the one that one can most easily relate to.</p> <p><strong>Do you have a favorite animal? You’ve spent so much time looking at bears and gorillas and cats and antelope. Have you picked one that’s closer to your heart?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Oh, my. Individuals. Like in the Serengeti, we had a lion. It’s just a charming animal. That’s very close to the heart, but a lion is not the closest to my heart as a species. It’s like people liking a certain dog that they had at home.</p> <p><strong>If you had to pick one species to spend the rest of your life studying, what would that be?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I don’t know! Let’s just say gorilla.</p> <p><strong>So you picked a relative. </strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Yeah. There are so many fascinating areas and species. We started doing work in Laos in Vietnam. All these new species started appearing as trophies in religious huts. “Never seen this barking deer before. A new species!” — That sort of thing. Those are large mammals. So there’s still scope even for the larger creatures.</p> <p><strong>The daily behavior of some animals must be more interesting than others because they’re doing things that intrigue you, that you find endlessly fascinating. Lions spend most of their day sleeping. So they’re not as interesting as some other animal might be.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Yeah. But when they’re not sleeping, they’re very, very interesting. And look, how many hours a day do people sleep? The lion just does a lot of it during the day, and it goes hunting at night.</p> <p><strong>Many people are attracted to the animals that most remind them of themselves. So gorillas would be high on the list.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Absolutely. And they’re peaceful to watch.</p> <p><strong>What do you think has been your biggest contribution in the field of biology?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: In the end, it’s been basically, sure, I get some good information on some of these spectacular animals, but the contribution has been that biologists often in those countries — like the panda — have continued their work and even done better and more detailed work. So the effort continues. The government continues to be interested in protecting more areas that save all the other species in it and so forth. So it’s basically stimulating local effort that I think is the most important in the long run.</p> <p><strong>What’s the greatest challenge ahead in your field?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Saving anything from development.</p> <p><strong>Is it possible for humans and wildlife to coexist and both get their fair share?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Given the fair share, it’s going to be difficult — especially, if you don’t give nature a fair share, you kill yourself. If you hurt nature, you only hurt yourself in the long run.</p> <p><strong>Is that message hard to sell, or are people more interested in getting their next meal?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: It’s more than a meal. Most of the destruction is by big corporations for resources that should be preserved for the future. It’s not the local people.</p> <p><strong>How would you rate the planet’s odds of survival?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, the planet will survive, but what’s on it, a lot of it won’t.</p> <p><strong>What do you see happening?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: You see more destruction. You can see this climate change now, of which a lot of people seem to be in denial, even though, if you look at the history of the planet, there’s been climate change right and left every few millennia. So you’re going to have drastic habitat changes, drastic weather changes, drastic ocean changes. Everything’s going to change.</p> <p><strong>If you were trying to inspire others to be successful in their fields, what’s the best advice you would give them? What’s the most important thing you have to keep in mind in whatever you’re doing to be successful?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, for children, you’ve got to start young in making them aware. They can join the Audubon Society and other institutions that are local and go out with them. Schools should take them out on nature walks and so forth. But it’s a continual process because these days there are so many distractions under every child, teenager, and so forth, that to keep them focused on something is probably not so easy.</p> <p><strong>Are you hopeful that enough young people are still being attracted to your field?</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: I think people are attracted all the time. It’s just that the percent of people is not enough. When you take the fastest growing continent, which is Africa, there are very few people proportionately involved in conservation. And ultimately, it’s a country itself that has to protect its habitat. You can’t wait for outside biologists to come in to do it. In fact, a lot of countries do not encourage outside biologists anymore if they have their own biologists. I can fully understand that. But each country has to think of its own future.</p> <p><strong>Thank you very much for your time.</strong></p> <p>George Schaller: Well, I thank you for all these questions that make me think.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">George B. Schaller, Ph.D. Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>27 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67236842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket.jpg" data-image-caption="Schaller studied wildlife in Kanha National Park in Central India from 1963 to 1965. Here, a tigress pulls a domestic calf she has killed into a thicket. In 1967, Schaller published <i>The Deer and the Tiger</i>, his detailed account of the ecology and behavior of Bengal tigers and four species of the hoofed mammals on which they prey, based on his observations." data-image-copyright="INDIA. I studied wildlife there, mostly in Kanha National Park in central India from 1963-65. A tigress pulls a domestic calf she has killed into a thicket" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket-380x256.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/INDIA.-I-studied-wildlife-there-mostly-in-Kanha-National-Park-in-central-India-from-1963-65.-A-tigress-pulls-a-domestic-calf-she-has-killed-into-a-thicket-760x511.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67105263157895" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969.jpg" data-image-caption="1969: George Schaller taking notes. From 1966 to 1969, Schaller and his family lived in the Serengeti National Park of Tanzania, Africa, to study the impact of the lion and other predators on the herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle." data-image-copyright="1969-Serengeti, lion study- GBS taking notes (1969)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969-380x255.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1969-Serengeti-lion-study-GBS-taking-notes-1969-760x510.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven.jpg" data-image-caption="1952: Field biologist George B. Schaller and his pet raven paddle down the Colville River in Alaska in what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the 19.6-million-acre wildlife refuge located in the northeastern corner of Alaska. In 1956, Schaller’s work, surveying the land and studying the region’s wildlife, with Wilderness Society’s president, Olaus Murie, his wife, Mardy, and biologist Robert Krear, led to the establishment of the Arctic Refuge. In December 2017, Congress voted to grant permission to extract oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." data-image-copyright="1952-Schaller paddles down Colville River with raven" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven-380x259.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1952-Schaller-paddles-down-Colville-River-with-raven-760x517.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69473684210526" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes.jpg" data-image-caption="An adult female mountain gorilla, one of the most endangered ape populations in the world, relaxes in mountain gorilla country of the Virunga volcanoes, on the Rwanda-Congo border, on the summit of the Mount Visoke volcano." data-image-copyright="An adult female mountain gorilla relaxes" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes-380x264.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/An-adult-female-mountain-gorilla-relaxes-760x528.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.675" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch.jpg" data-image-caption="1966-1969, Tanzania: Ostriches sometimes drop an egg far from the nest. Here, George B. Schaller blows out the contents of an ostrich egg for an omelet, while his sons Eric and Mark watch. This technique keeps the shell intact." data-image-copyright="wp- africa-tanzania 1966-1969--Ostriches sometimes drop an egg far from the nest. I brought this one home to blow out the contents for an omelet while our sons Eric and Mark watch" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-africa-tanzania-1966-1969-Ostriches-sometimes-drop-an-egg-far-from-the-nest.-I-brought-this-one-home-to-blow-out-the-contents-for-an-omelet-while-our-sons-Eric-and-Mark-watch-760x513.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4312617702448" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687.jpg" data-image-caption="September 1963, Tanzania: Zoologist George B. Schaller, studying gorillas in Africa, with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. Earlier that year, he published a landmark study on the ecology and behavior of the mountain gorilla, <i>The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior.</i> “This remarkable study is the result of the African Primate Expedition (1959-60), whose prime concern was to observe the mountain gorilla in the eastern Congo and western Uganda.” In 1964, he published <i>The Year of the Gorilla</i>, chronicling “his observations of gorilla society, celebrating the solitude of the naturalist, recounting the adventures he experienced along the way, and offering a warning against poaching and other human threats against these endangered creatures.” (Terence Spencer/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="George B. Schaller" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687-266x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-GettyImages-50389687-531x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4700193423598" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025.jpg" data-image-caption="A local herdsman and George Schaller hold a sedated snow leopard, captured to attach a radio collar to enable them to track its movements. Schaller studied Mongolian wildlife intermittently from 1989 to 2007. He and his local colleagues studied Mongolia’s many rare animals, including the snow leopard, the Gobi Desert bears, wild Bactrian camels, argali sheep, and ibex. Schaller’s research work has been instrumental in establishing more than 15 protected areas, parks and reserves around the globe on behalf of endangered species. In 2008, Schaller was awarded the prestigious Indianapolis Prize for his work in animal conservation, and he was also awarded National Geographic’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In June 2015, Schaller was awarded the National Geographic Society’s highest honor, the Hubbard Medal, for his lifetime commitment to conserving the world’s wildlife. Schaller is Vice President Emeritus at Panthera and serves as a senior conservationist with the Wildlife Conservation Society." data-image-copyright="Scan_025" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025-258x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_025-517x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67894736842105" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022.jpg" data-image-caption="1980s: A wild female panda entered George Schaller’s tent and slept on the bed. When he returned home, she looked at him through the window, then left. In the early 1980s, Schaller became the first foreigner allowed to study the panda in its native habitat in China’s Sichuan Province. In Schaller’s 1994 book, <i>The Last Panda</i>, he uses the insight gained by four-and-a-half years in the forests of the Wolong and Tangjiahe panda reserves to document the plight of these mysterious creatures and to awaken the human compassion urgently needed to save them." data-image-copyright="Scan_022" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022-380x258.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Scan_022-760x516.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69078947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek.jpg" data-image-caption="1963-1965: Schaller moved his young family into a little bungalow in the forest, in the jungles of Central India, to study wildlife in Kanha National Park. Here, his wife, Kay, and their two boys, Eric and Mark, play with toy boats by a creek. Schaller’s 1967 book, <i>The Deer and the Tiger</i>, is his detailed account of the ecology and behavior of Bengal tigers and four species of the hoofed mammals on which they prey, based on observations in Kanha National Park." data-image-copyright="wp2-1963-1965-We took our young family into the jungle's of India. Here Kay and our two boys, Eric and Mark, play by a creek" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek-380x263.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp2-1963-1965-We-took-our-young-family-into-the-jungles-of-India.-Here-Kay-and-our-two-boys-Eric-and-Mark-play-by-a-creek-760x525.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-These-are-wild-Bactrian-or-two-humped-camels-now-rare-and-a-few-found-only-in-Mongolia-and-China.-The-domestic-camel-derived-from-this-wild-form.jpg" data-image-caption="These are wild Bactrian or two-humped camels, now rare, and a few found only in Mongolia and China. The domestic camel derived from this wild form." data-image-copyright="wp-These are wild Bactrian or two-humped camels, now rare and a few found only in Mongolia and China. The domestic camel derived from this wild form" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-These-are-wild-Bactrian-or-two-humped-camels-now-rare-and-a-few-found-only-in-Mongolia-and-China.-The-domestic-camel-derived-from-this-wild-form-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-These-are-wild-Bactrian-or-two-humped-camels-now-rare-and-a-few-found-only-in-Mongolia-and-China.-The-domestic-camel-derived-from-this-wild-form-760x515.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.675" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery.jpg" data-image-caption="1973, Nepal: Peter Matthiessen, author of <i>The Snow Leopard</i>, and George Schaller made a long trek through the Dolpo region of Northwest Nepal. Matthiessen, two Sherpas, and Schaller (behind the camera) met the Lama of Shey Monastery, where they stayed a month, and Schaller studied the behavior of wild blue sheep and the snow leopard. In 2016, Schaller repeated the trek with Peter’s son, Alex, to note changes in wildlife and Tibetan culture." data-image-copyright="1973 Nepal, Peter Matthiessen and Sherpas and Lama of Shey Monastery" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1973-Nepal-Peter-Matthiessen-and-Sherpas-and-Lama-of-Shey-Monastery-760x513.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank.jpg" data-image-caption="1977: A jaguar watches George Schaller’s approach from a river bank in the Pantanal, the world’s biggest wetland. The Wildlife Conservation Society began working to conserve and understand jaguars in the late 1970s when Schaller completed pioneering studies of jaguars, focusing on their ecology and range use within the region." data-image-copyright="1977-1980, Pantanal, Brazil: A jaguar watches my approach from a river bank." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank-380x261.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1977-1980-Pantanal-Brazil-A-jaguar-watches-my-approach-from-a-river-bank-760x522.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68684210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-SOUTH-AMERICA-BRAZIL.-I-studied-wildlife-particularly-jaguar-in-the-vast-swamps-of-the-Pantanal-in-southwest-Brazil-from-1977-1980.-This-is-a-habitat-scene-during-the-season-of-annual-flooding.jpg" data-image-caption="1977-1980: George B. Schaller studied wildlife, particularly jaguars, in the vast swamps of the Pantanal in Southwest Brazil. This is a habitat scene during the season of annual flooding." data-image-copyright="wp-SOUTH AMERICA-BRAZIL. I studied wildlife, particularly jaguar, in the vast swamps of the Pantanal in southwest Brazil from 1977-1980. This is a habitat scene during the season of annual flooding" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-SOUTH-AMERICA-BRAZIL.-I-studied-wildlife-particularly-jaguar-in-the-vast-swamps-of-the-Pantanal-in-southwest-Brazil-from-1977-1980.-This-is-a-habitat-scene-during-the-season-of-annual-flooding-380x261.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-SOUTH-AMERICA-BRAZIL.-I-studied-wildlife-particularly-jaguar-in-the-vast-swamps-of-the-Pantanal-in-southwest-Brazil-from-1977-1980.-This-is-a-habitat-scene-during-the-season-of-annual-flooding-760x522.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4312617702448" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover.jpg" data-image-caption="1976: <i>The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations</i> by George B. Schaller. “Predators are the best wildlife managers,” writes George Schaller. They weed out the sick and old and keep herds healthy and alert. Yet the large predators of the world have been and are still being exterminated because they are thought to harm the wildlife. Schaller’s award-winning work, based on three years of study in the Serengeti National Park, describes the impact of the lion and other predators on the vast herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle for which the area is famous." data-image-copyright="wp-1976--The Serengeti Lion front cover" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover-266x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-1976-The-Serengeti-Lion-front-cover-531x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.675" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-The-rivers-have-many-piranhas-making-swimming-a-bit-dangerous-in-places.jpg" data-image-caption="Brazil: The rivers have many piranhas, making swimming a bit dangerous in places." data-image-copyright="wp-The rivers have many piranhas, making swimming a bit dangerous in places" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-The-rivers-have-many-piranhas-making-swimming-a-bit-dangerous-in-places-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-The-rivers-have-many-piranhas-making-swimming-a-bit-dangerous-in-places-760x513.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69342105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig..jpg" data-image-caption="1977-1980: George Schaller studied wildlife, particularly jaguars, in the vast swamps of the Pantanal in Southwest Brazil. Here, Schaller follows a river with his pet white-lipped peccary, a species of the South American wild pig." data-image-copyright="1977-1980-Many rivers bisect the Pantanal. Here GBS follows a river with his pet white-lipped peccary, a species of South American wild pig." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig.-380x263.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1977-1980-Many-rivers-bisect-the-Pantanal.-Here-GBS-follows-a-river-with-his-pet-white-lipped-peccary-a-species-of-South-American-wild-pig.-760x527.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink.jpg" data-image-caption="1966-1969, Serengeti National Park of Tanzania: A lioness grabs a zebra which has come to a waterhole for a drink." data-image-copyright="wp-cir 1966-1969, Serengeti National Park of Tanzania - A lioness grabs a zebra which has come to a waterhole for a drink" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-cir-1966-1969-Serengeti-National-Park-of-Tanzania-A-lioness-grabs-a-zebra-which-has-come-to-a-waterhole-for-a-drink-760x515.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4671814671815" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002.jpg" data-image-caption="2006: Martin Robards of the Wildlife Conservation Society and George B. Schaller are on the same site along the Sheenjek River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where Schaller camped in 1956. Using old photos, Robards and Schaller compare changes in vegetation, tree height, and the retreat of glaciers during the past 50 years." data-image-copyright="wp-Scan_002" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002-259x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Scan_002-518x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5139442231076" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla.jpg" data-image-caption="1964: <i>The Year of the Gorilla</i> by George B. Schaller chronicles his two years of travel and observation of the gorillas in East and Central Africa in the late 1950s, high in the Virunga volcanoes on the Zaire-Rwanda-Uganda border." data-image-copyright="The Year of the Gorilla" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla-251x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Year-of-the-Gorilla-502x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them.jpg" data-image-caption="1959: An adult (silverback) male mountain gorilla and a subadult male watch Schaller as Schaller observes them nearby. In 1959 and 1960, Schaller and his wife, Kay, lived in Karaba — the saddle between Mikeno and Karisimbi, the two highest volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains — to conduct the first intensive study of the mountain gorillas." data-image-copyright="wp-An adult (silverback) male mountain gorilla and a subadult male watch me (GBS) near them" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them-380x259.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-An-adult-silverback-male-mountain-gorilla-and-a-subadult-male-watch-me-GBS-near-them-760x517.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Mongolian-gazelles-still-occur-in-great-herds-on-the-vast-eastern-steppes.jpg" data-image-caption="Mongolian gazelles still occur in great herds on the vast eastern steppes." data-image-copyright="wp-Mongolian gazelles still occur in great herds on the vast eastern steppes" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Mongolian-gazelles-still-occur-in-great-herds-on-the-vast-eastern-steppes-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Mongolian-gazelles-still-occur-in-great-herds-on-the-vast-eastern-steppes-760x508.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68157894736842" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1991-GBS-and-Kay-on-the-summit-of-Mt-Visoke-Scan_003.jpg" data-image-caption="George B. Schaller and his wife, Kay, in mountain gorilla country of the Virunga volcanoes, on the Rwanda-Congo border, on the summit of Mount Visoke. In 1959 to 1960, Schaller conducted a study of the gorillas and has revisited them several times since then. " data-image-copyright="1991-GBS and Kay on the summit of Mt Visoke-Scan_003" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1991-GBS-and-Kay-on-the-summit-of-Mt-Visoke-Scan_003-380x259.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1991-GBS-and-Kay-on-the-summit-of-Mt-Visoke-Scan_003-760x518.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68552631578947" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear.jpg" data-image-caption="Schaller studied Mongolian wildlife intermittently from 1989 to 2007, including the very rare Gobi bear, of which only about 40 survive anywhere, all in the Gobi Desert. Here, Mongolian biologist R. Tulgat attaches a radio collar to a bear." data-image-copyright="wp-gobi-bear" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear-380x261.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-gobi-bear-760x521.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-HEADER-GBS-keeping-warm-in-local-clothes-Western-China-1987.jpg" data-image-caption="1987, Western China: George B. Schaller, keeping warm in local clothes." data-image-copyright="1987, Western China: George B. Schaller keeping warm in local clothes" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-HEADER-GBS-keeping-warm-in-local-clothes-Western-China-1987-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-HEADER-GBS-keeping-warm-in-local-clothes-Western-China-1987-760x504.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67763157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Several-families-of-Mongolian-herders-wave-goodbye-as-we-complete-our-study-in-their-area.jpg" data-image-caption="Several families of Mongolian herders wave goodbye as Schaller completes his study in their area." data-image-copyright="wp-Several families of Mongolian herders wave goodbye as we complete our study in their area" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Several-families-of-Mongolian-herders-wave-goodbye-as-we-complete-our-study-in-their-area-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Several-families-of-Mongolian-herders-wave-goodbye-as-we-complete-our-study-in-their-area-760x515.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.675" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Shey-Monastery-lies-at-the-base-of-sacred-Crystal-Mountain.jpg" data-image-caption="1973, Nepal: Shey Monastery lies at the base of sacred Crystal Mountain." data-image-copyright="1973, Nepal: Shey Monastery lies at the base of sacred Crystal Mountain." data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Shey-Monastery-lies-at-the-base-of-sacred-Crystal-Mountain-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Shey-Monastery-lies-at-the-base-of-sacred-Crystal-Mountain-760x513.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4872798434442" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher.jpg" data-image-caption="Poachers around the Serengeti kill much wildlife to eat and for sale. This photo shows a park guard apprehending a poacher." data-image-copyright="wp-Poachers around the Serengeti kill much wildlife to eat and for sale. Here a park guard has apprehended a poacher" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher-256x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wp-Poachers-around-the-Serengeti-kill-much-wildlife-to-eat-and-for-sale.-Here-a-park-guard-has-apprehended-a-poacher-511x760.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> 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Bush</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/susan-butcher/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Susan Butcher</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-michael-caine/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Michael Caine</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-cameron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Cameron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/benjamin-s-carson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benjamin S. Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William J. Clinton</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/jennifer-a-doudna-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/peter-gabriel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peter Gabriel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol W. Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/paul-b-maccready-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul B. MacCready, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/reinhold-messner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reinhold Messner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20200917235159/https://achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. 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