Conservation in the Field: The Search for the Con Giai (Conzai), the World's Largest and Rarest Freshwater Turtle, and How it's Important to YOU!

Peter Pritchard, Ph.D.
Chelonian Research Institute

Directions to the Meadows Museum. 

Dr. Peter C.H. Pritchard has a B.A. (with Honours) and M.A. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Oxford University, and a PH.D. in Zoology from the University of Florida, where he studied sea turtle biology with Dr. Archie Carr. After 4 years work with the World Wildlife Fund, he became an officer of the Florida Audubon Society in 1973, where he held various positions including those of Assistant Executive Director, Senior Vice President, and Acting President. Since 1998 he has been Director of the Chelonian Research Institute in Oviedo, Florida, and is an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Central Florida.

 He is best known as an authority on the biology and conservation of turtles and tortoises. Both before and after receiving his doctorate in 1969, he has undertaken extensive field work with turtles in all continents and many remote islands, and he has established a permanent field station for turtle conservation in northwestern Guyana. Three species of turtle are named for him. He has been recognized as a "Champion of the Wild" by the Discovery Television Channel, and as a Hero of the Planet by TIME Magazine. In 2001, he was declared "Floridian of the Year" by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

He has written 6 books: Living Turtles of the World, Marine Turtles of Micronesia, Encyclopedia of Turtles, Turtles of Venezuela, The Alligator Snapping Turtle, and Galapagos Tortoises: Nomenclatural and Survival Status. He also authored Saving What’s Left, a manual on saving environmentally endangered lands in Florida that has been widely acclaimed by conservationists, legislators and lobbyists alike. In addition, he has participated in the filming of several educational documentaries, including one called The Turtle Planet, which took him to many field localities around the world. All this is in addition to the many academic papers he has published, which report the results of his scientific research.

Dr. Pritchard has served on numerous policy committees. He was Chairman of the Florida Endangered Species Advisory Committee, founding Chairman of the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group, and was co-chairman of the SE Region Marine Turtle Recovery Team. He was also a member of the USFWS Manatee, Kemp’s Ridley, and Florida Panther Recovery Teams and served on the National Academy of Sciences Sea Turtle Conservation Committee.

He has developed the art of conservation without confrontation, recognizing that finding common ground with those identified as opponents, and developing consensus positions by a process of mutual education, may be the only way of establishing lasting changes without provoking constant challenges and demanding impracticable levels of law enforcement. He has applied these techniques both in Florida and around the world, and has, over the years, been invited by the governments of nations ranging from Trinidad and Tobago to Papua New Guinea to develop socially sensitive programs for wildlife conservation. Dr. Pritchard has worked for many years with the Arawak people of Guyana, gently but firmly steering them towards a more protective attitude to the wildlife species, especially marine turtles, upon which they depend. This project has attracted international attention, and was described in the National Geographic book Hidden Worlds of Wildlife.