Jeff Corwin wraps up speaker series with parade of exotic animals

The conservationist discussed human-caused habitat destruction as the final speaker of the semester

Five volunteers join Jeff Corwin and a member of his staff on stage to handle an anaconda. Photo: Joe Cascio

Steven stood on stage with his arms extended in front of him. “Whatever you do Steven don’t look behind you,” Jeff Corwin advised him while approaching a clothed table at the back of the stage.

The crowd waited anxiously to see what would appear from underneath the table, and Steven laughed nervously, still extending his hands.

The crowd gasped as Corwin reached down and pulled out a three foot long lizard. He lowered the lizard gently into Stevens hands saying “So Steven is really holding an incredible example of a reptile… it is a tegu lizard,” before excitedly listing facts about the Lizards biology.

Renowned biologist and wildlife conservationist Jeff Corwin served as the final speaker for this semester’s distinguished speaker series Tuesday night in the Center for the Arts.

Corwin is known for hosting various shows centered around wildlife and conservation efforts such as Going Wild with Jeff Corwin, The Jeff Corwin Experience, Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin, Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin, and most recently hosted Wildlife Nation with Jeff Corwin on ABC.

The first hour of Corwin’s event consisted of a presentation of various exotic animals, including a baby Sloth, a massive anaconda held up by 5 volunteers, the aforementioned tegu lizard, a gila monster, a tamandua anteater, a baby alligator, an echidna, a screech owl, and a great horned owl.

Each was brought out one by one while Corwin spoke about each animal's distinct features in their biology, their evolutionary advantages, and also how each of the animals' habitats were being negatively affected by humans.

In the final 15 minutes of the event Corwin answered questions which were vetted from the audience before the show began.

“What I hope people get the most out of watching my programs is really a sense of stewardship.” Corwin said in response to being asked what he hopes people take away from his programs. “We’re very lucky to live in America, because you can go to Madagascar and see the most wondrous creatures, and 99% of what lives in Madagascar only lives there, but 95% of Madagascar is gone, basically the sand is running out of the natural heritage hourglass in Madagascar.”

Corwin see’s four pillars as the environmental movement's biggest challenge; habitat loss, wildlife exploitation, environment degradation and pollution, and climate change. He encouraged the audience to cut down on single use plastics as an easy way to help the environment. He also emphasized the distinction between saving a few members of an animal species and saving the environment in which they can survive.

When asked what advice he would give people getting into wildlife conservation he said “There’s things we can all do with our lives. We face incredible challenges today with climate change...” and outlined the effects of climate change he has studied and seen first hand, and praised conservationists who “have given up life, livelihood, security, comfort, wealth, to focus in on saving something that they may never get to witness and doing it for the next generation.”

Corwin cited the coastal highway between Monterey to Big Sur as his favorite place to hike, which he does daily, and lauded his two daughters and his experience raising them as his most proud achievement.

He listed many animals which he especially enjoyed studying, such as bats for his Masters program, but cited snakes as a reason he became interested in biology in the first place when asked what his favorite animal was.

Originally written for the UB Spectrum April 7, 2022