Mark Moffett

Mark Moffett is an entomologist, nature photographer, and explorer. He received his Ph.D. at Harvard University, studying marauder ants with renowned insect scientist Edward O. Wilson, and is currently a research associate in entomology at the Smithsonian Institution. He has written more than 20 articles for National Geographic Magazine, which has featured nearly 500 of his images. He is also the author of several books, most recently "Adventures Among Ants: A global safari with a cast of trillions."

Moffett is known for documenting new species and behaviors during his exploration of remote places in more than a hundred countries. He takes pleasure not just in physical adventure but in the intellectual challenge of finding connections across fields, whether it’s comparing the structure of bacterial communities and forest canopies, or examining the life and death of societies across the animal kingdom and in humans right up to the present day. When not lost in nature he lives with his wife and fellow globetrotter Melissa Wells in Brooklyn, New York, and keeps an office overflowing with books, tree-climbing gear, entomology supplies, and cameras in Greenport, Long Island.

Conservation and human and animal behavior don’t need to be presented as dry statistics and dismal news. Self-funded through his writing and photography, Moffett challenges himself to find new ways to tell stories about the little-known in the natural world. Through his unique and firsthand scientific knowledge, he introduces a Universe of special creatures in his smart, adrenaline-packed appearances. Moffett lectures on tropical exploration and the societies of humans and other animals.