George Schaller: Famous Poet And Conservationist

Biologist Research Paper- George Schaller

George Schaller was a famous biologist, mammalogist, naturalist, author and conservationist. He was well known for many things, but mostly for his work with animals such as the gorilla, giant panda, tiger, jaguar, lion, and more (Shubhobroto Ghosh). Before his work as a biologist, he lived in Germany, where he was born in 1933. He than moved to America after WW2, and moved on to do many great things in his life (Voices:George Schaller). He has traveled many places all over the world in order to help keep and conserve the natural wildlife. He is well known for being a conservationist and that is what motivated to do most of the work he has done (The Indianapolis Prize). These are all major parts of George

Schaller’s life, and there is only more to be told about this fascinating biologist.
As stated in the paragraph above, George Schaller was born in Berlin Germany, 1933. He grew up in Germany for most of his childhood, but later moved to the USA and got his Ph.D.

from the university of Alaska at age 22 (The Indianapolis Prize). He first started out as a wildlife management worker, but realized that was not the career he wanted to pursue. After that, George went into the field of biology and knew right away that was the career for him. He later got married to a woman named Kay, and they had two children together (Mitchell). After that, he went on one of his first journeys, studying the gorilla. He was only 26 at the time, but there was very little known about gorillas, and he wanted to find out the truth about gorillas. He did this by living by and studying gorillas until the publication of his book The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior and The Year of the Gorilla which both proved that gorillas are actually

very intelligent creatures. Some other studies he did in his career include African cats, Himalayan bharal (blue sheep), snow leopards, capybaras, alligators, and giant pandas. Not only did he help the lives of countless animals, but also established many of the best animal reserves around the world. Some of which are in the Amazon Basin, Gobi Desert, Myanmar, and Tibet (Lady of the Zoos). As Schaller said “It's essential that each country keep part of its natural heritage untouched, as a record for the future, a baseline to measure change, so people can see the splendor of their past, before the land was degraded.”(Schaller). There have been many people such as Aldo Leopold, Edward Wilson, Sir Peter Scott, David Attenborough, and Jane Goodall because of the positive impact they have had on the wildlife community (Shubhobroto Ghosh).
Although Schaller was well known for his work with gorillas, he has also made a big impact on many other animals, and the biological community as a whole. Much of his work has a lot to do with conservation. He tries to make the environment seem almost “untouched”. In order to do so, he travels to places all over the world, more recently he has traveled to Mongolia, Laos, and the Tibetan Plateau of China (Photographer George Schaller Biography). He studies animals in their natural habitat and helps inform the public by publishing novels on his findings. After Schaller did research on the giant pandas of China, their population increased by 45 percent! Other than informing the public, he also creates parks and reservations to keep the wildlife safe. Schaller traveled to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and China where he has developed a “peace park” that will protect over 20,000 square miles of land for wild animals, mainly sheep (Shubhobroto Ghosh). Throughout his career as a biologist, Schaller has created over 20 of the finest parks and reserves in the world. And this doesn’t go unnoticed. Some of his awards include the Indianapolis Prize, World Wildlife Fund’s Gold Medal, and National Geographic’s Lifetime Achievement Award (The Indianapolis Prize).
Much of Schaller’s motivation comes from the beliefs and values he has, one of which is being a conservationist.

Ever since he was a child, he loved animals, ever since than he has wanted to preserve their natural habitat so they will be there for many generations to come. He is affiliated with two conservation organizations, Panthera, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. He has been helping conserve wildlife for over 60 years now (Lady of the Zoos). Basically all the work he does revolves around the idea of conservation and preserving wildlife. His work has made an impact too. Without him, one could make the statement that there would be a much smaller population of many endangered animals today. He has created one of the greatest wildlife refugees of all time called The Chang Tang Nature Reserve. This reserve is over 200,000 square miles, tripling the size of America’s largest reserve (The Indianapolis Prize). This is a great achievement for both Schaller, and a big help to the conservationist community. It also supports Schaller’s answer to a question in his interview with Shubhobroto Ghosh. In the interview, Ghosh asked, “How would Schaller like to be remembered?”(Ghosh). Schaller responded, “I would like to be remembered as having contributed to conservation in countries where I have encouraged young conservationists to continue this work. This will be my lasting legacy”

(Schaller).
All in all, I would say that George Schaller is a very important man to the wildlife, conservationist, and the overall biology society. He published many books helping inform the public on unknown information about less known species, and helping the public realize the impact they make and how they can make a difference. For all these reasons, I would conclude that Schaller is a great man, and a necessity to the biology community.