Jonathan Kolby became involved in wildlife conservation at the age of 15, when he volunteered on his first expedition to document biodiversity in Southeast Asia. He has since been involved in 20 field expeditions spanning the globe, from Honduras to Madagascar to Hong Kong. In 2007, Kolby was awarded a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant to study chytrid fungus and amphibian declines in Honduras. After completing this project, Kolby decided to dedicate himself to combatting global amphibian declines and extinction. He recently established the Honduras Amphibian Research & Conservation Center to specifically prevent amphibian extinctions in Honduras. Kolby completed his Ph.D. at James Cook University in Australia, where he studied the global spread of amphibian chytrid fungus and ranavirus. Kolby has published over a dozen scientific papers, written blog posts for National Geographic and the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group, and currently runs a citizen science project on iNaturalist called "Saving Salamanders with Citizen Science" to help monitor for the emergence of salamander chytrid fungus in the United States. To make science more accessible to the general public, Kolby actively uses photography and social media to help raise awareness about wildlife conservation issues. He also manages a YouTube channel featuring videos and short films produced for the Honduras Amphibian Research & Conservation Center.
Nat Geo Live: Weird World of Frogs
Bright colors and captivating calls are just the start with some of Earth’s most amazing species. Frogs can turn nearly invisible, leap more than 20 times their body length, and defend themselves with poison. We go on assignment with conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer Jonathan Kolby to discover all kinds of incredible abilities and springy biodiversity.
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