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JOEL BERGER grew up in Los Angeles but traded surfing for desert and mountain adventures where, yes, he rode dirt bikes. But gradually he was attracted to wildlife and to science, and concentrated on animals larger than a bread box. His first studies were on bighorn sheep, both in North America’s deserts and in British Columbia. There were also iconic species across the next few decades many lesser known but not all: African black rhinos and Tibet’s wild yaks, Patagonia’s huemul, and saiga deep in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. In Alaska and the Russian Arctic, it was muskoxen and interactions with polar bears. As of late, he’s had joint projects in our own backyard – bison, pronghorn, and mountain goats. His current focus also includes desert bighorns with a concentration on prenatal stress during late gestation. Past support has been from the Guggenheim Foundation, Smithsonian, National Geographic, and the National Science Foundation, as well as state and federal agencies. His latest book is ‘Extreme Conservation – Life at the Edges of the World’. Joel is the University Chair in Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University.

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