I always say I blame my mum, in the nicest way. I was born in South Africa and we grew up doing doing holidays on game parks. My mum's really into nature and wildlife.
We always had animals at home, orphans that we were rehabilitating and from birds to chameleons and everything in between.
So really it was from my mum at an early age, and then my brother is also in environmental science. He also works in conservation biology. I always said I wouldn't follow in my brother's footsteps, but it was just too good - and here we are!
At university I did an undergraduate degree, starting off in physical geography and then found that I was more interested in the ecology subjects. So I moved sideways into ecology, and then came across an honours project on bird research. My honours and my PhD are in behavioural ecology.
I'm a behavioural ecologist, so I did a lot of work on breeding behaviour and social behaviour. Then, when we came to Tasmania, that's when I found myself moving more into the conservation space.
My husband and I moved here from Canberra because he wanted to do a PhD on Tasmanian devils. So we ended up down here.
Really the conservation community in Hobart is so strong. There is actually a big group from the Australian National University (ANU) working down here in Tassie. I started working with them and got involved in Inala and that's how I moved more into conservation.
I wear a lot of different hats. My main job is working for an organisation called NRM South and through that I do project management. I also work as a tour guide for Inala Nature Tours, and I work for the Difficult Bird Research Group at ANU as well.
I always say I blame my mum, in the nicest way. I was born in South Africa and we grew up doing doing holidays on game parks. My mum's really into nature and wildlife.
We always had animals at home, orphans that we were rehabilitating and from birds to chameleons and everything in between.
So really it was from my mum at an early age, and then my brother is also in environmental science. He also works in conservation biology. I always said I wouldn't follow in my brother's footsteps, but it was just too good - and here we are!
At university I did an undergraduate degree, starting off in physical geography and then found that I was more interested in the ecology subjects. So I moved sideways into ecology, and then came across an honours project on bird research. My honours and my PhD are in behavioural ecology.
I'm a behavioural ecologist, so I did a lot of work on breeding behaviour and social behaviour. Then, when we came to Tasmania, that's when I found myself moving more into the conservation space.
My husband and I moved here from Canberra because he wanted to do a PhD on Tasmanian devils. So we ended up down here.
Really the conservation community in Hobart is so strong. There is actually a big group from the Australian National University (ANU) working down here in Tassie. I started working with them and got involved in Inala and that's how I moved more into conservation.
I wear a lot of different hats. My main job is working for an organisation called NRM South and through that I do project management. I also work as a tour guide for Inala Nature Tours, and I work for the Difficult Bird Research Group at ANU as well.
For ecologist/ornithologist and Birdlife Tasmania Convenor Dr Karen Dick, her love of nature comes from her South African childhood, a mother who rehabilitated wildlife and an unexpected encounter with the incredible secretarybird.
I had an experience where I was volunteering with sea turtles in Costa Rica, writes ecologist and University of Tasmania PhD student Edith Shum. It was my first trip abroad and that kind of made me. It was the first time I was really out in nature on my own, and made me realise how small I was. It sparked a lot.
Dr Eric Woehler has been asked a few times where his passion and interest came from. He grew up in Hobart in a caring home, but nature wasn’t something that was a thread in conversations. That inspiration happened at university.
I think I'm going to blame my parents. I grew up on the shore of Loch Ness in Scotland and they own a garden nursery, so I was permeated with plant names since day one, says specialist bird and nature guide Cat Davidson, of her early connection to nature.
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