Special Offer: Get 50% off your first 2 months when you do one of the following
Personalized offer codes will be given in each session
Name
Charles Munn
Bio
In 1977, Charles Munn graduated number one in biology at Princeton, then earned a master’s degree in Zoology at Oxford, and a PhD in evolution and ecology back at Princeton. His theses were on mixed-species bird flocks of the Amazon, the most complex multi-species assemblages of any organisms on Earth. This work led to the discovery of lying sentinel birds, namely “Birds that ‘Cry ‘Wolf!’”, published in NATURE in 1986 and featured in the New York Times and animal behavior textbooks worldwide.
From 1984-2000, Munn was a field scientist for New York Zoological Society (WCS), researching macaws and Giant Otters in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. In 1998, Munn’s three-pronged approach of macaw research, park creation, and ecotourism to protect parks was chosen as the cover story of a leading conservation biology textbook, which lauded the work as one of the world’s finest examples of complete, applied conservation biology.
In 1985, while researching macaws at clay licks in Peru, Munn discovered a new bird species for science, the “Manu” or “Amazonian Parrotlet”.
In 1987, Munn served as the director of the Brazilian government/World Wildlife Fund field survey of the Hyacinth Macaw, which led to the global trade ban of that species, which since has recovered to healthy wild populations.
WWF sent Munn undercover to Paraguay, where he posed as a macaw buyer and thereby found the two last wild-born Spix’s Macaws. The birds were recovered during a police raid and rode in first class airline seats to Brazil.
In 1992, Munn helped pass into law the U.S.’s “Wild Bird Conservation Act”, which banned importation of wild caught, exotic birds.
In 1992, Munn was the first scientist in history to discover the wild location of the extremely rare Blue-throated Macaw, which at only 100 birds in the wilds of northern Bolivia, is one of the world’s most endangered birds. At the time, that striking macaw was described only from skins from 1888 and then in the 1970’s and 1980’s from living birds in macaw breeding collections in the USA and Europe.
From 1997 to 2002, Munn led field teams in NE Brazil to survey the wildlife population of Lear’s Macaw, and this work led to a global count of 500 birds instead of the original estimate of 60. This project attracted permanent Brazilian federal government funding and field personnel, and that macaw has been increasing steadily ever since.
Between 1986 and 1998, Munn created a nonprofit Indian-rights group in Amazonian Peru and raised $1.2 mm that he used to create a mosaic of 2.5 million acres of protected areas composed of titled lands for indigenous Amerindians and large, new conservation units. The goal was to protect the vulnerable western and northern flanks of Peru’s premier Amazonian reserve, the Manu National Park.
In 2000, Munn shifted gears to focus on developing replicable models of ecotourism to save Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal.
From 1985 to 2000, Munn formed and led teams that created 15 million acres of new Amazonian parks, an area equivalent to 15% of California. His work in the Amazon and Pantanal produced 30 lodges, the largest network of rainforest ecolodges in the world. Among these were all three of the Amazon’s three successful, Indian-owned lodges.
For the last 10 and 15 years, respectively, Munn has spearheaded the conspicuous growth of conservation tourism of Jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal and of Mountain Lions in Chilean Patagonia.
Since 2015, Munn simultaneously has conserved and showcased nests of the world’s largest eagle, the Harpy Eagle, in the Brazilian Amazon. By February 2023, the project is protecting 35 Harpy Eagle nests and carefully installs temporary viewing towers to allow photographers to snap guaranteed photos from 50 yards or less with a green background. This eagle conservation work was featured in the October 2020 National Geographic Magazine.
Munn’s work has been featured widely in Emmy-Award-winning TV documentaries, two cover stories in National Geographic Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent on Sunday, the Financial Times, TIME, NEWSWEEK, New York Times, Bloomberg Pursuits, and dozens of other magazines. Condé Nast Traveler chose a Munn lodge as the top wildlife destination in the entire Amazon.
At this point, Munn is the only person in the world who guarantees high-quality, private viewing in completely wild nature of any of the following charismatic animals:
Jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal
Mountain Lions in Patagonian Chile
Ocelots in the Brazilian Pantanal
Giant Anteaters in central-western Brazil
Giant Otters at sites in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Maned Wolves in Northeastern Brazil
Tool-using Bearded Capuchins in NE Brazil
Golden-backed Uakari Monkeys in the Central Amazon
White Uakari Monkeys in the southwestern Amazon
White-nosed Bearded Saki Monkeys in Mato Grosso, Brazil
Harpy Eagles in Mato Grosso, Brazil
In 1994, TIME Magazine chose Munn as one of the 100 young leaders for the planet, one of only three environmentalists. That list also included Bill Gates and Condoleezza Rice.
From 1984-2000, Munn was a field scientist for New York Zoological Society (WCS), researching macaws and Giant Otters in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. In 1998, Munn’s three-pronged approach of macaw research, park creation, and ecotourism to protect parks was chosen as the cover story of a leading conservation biology textbook, which lauded the work as one of the world’s finest examples of complete, applied conservation biology.
In 1985, while researching macaws at clay licks in Peru, Munn discovered a new bird species for science, the “Manu” or “Amazonian Parrotlet”.
In 1987, Munn served as the director of the Brazilian government/World Wildlife Fund field survey of the Hyacinth Macaw, which led to the global trade ban of that species, which since has recovered to healthy wild populations.
WWF sent Munn undercover to Paraguay, where he posed as a macaw buyer and thereby found the two last wild-born Spix’s Macaws. The birds were recovered during a police raid and rode in first class airline seats to Brazil.
In 1992, Munn helped pass into law the U.S.’s “Wild Bird Conservation Act”, which banned importation of wild caught, exotic birds.
In 1992, Munn was the first scientist in history to discover the wild location of the extremely rare Blue-throated Macaw, which at only 100 birds in the wilds of northern Bolivia, is one of the world’s most endangered birds. At the time, that striking macaw was described only from skins from 1888 and then in the 1970’s and 1980’s from living birds in macaw breeding collections in the USA and Europe.
From 1997 to 2002, Munn led field teams in NE Brazil to survey the wildlife population of Lear’s Macaw, and this work led to a global count of 500 birds instead of the original estimate of 60. This project attracted permanent Brazilian federal government funding and field personnel, and that macaw has been increasing steadily ever since.
Between 1986 and 1998, Munn created a nonprofit Indian-rights group in Amazonian Peru and raised $1.2 mm that he used to create a mosaic of 2.5 million acres of protected areas composed of titled lands for indigenous Amerindians and large, new conservation units. The goal was to protect the vulnerable western and northern flanks of Peru’s premier Amazonian reserve, the Manu National Park.
In 2000, Munn shifted gears to focus on developing replicable models of ecotourism to save Amazon rainforest and the Pantanal.
From 1985 to 2000, Munn formed and led teams that created 15 million acres of new Amazonian parks, an area equivalent to 15% of California. His work in the Amazon and Pantanal produced 30 lodges, the largest network of rainforest ecolodges in the world. Among these were all three of the Amazon’s three successful, Indian-owned lodges.
For the last 10 and 15 years, respectively, Munn has spearheaded the conspicuous growth of conservation tourism of Jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal and of Mountain Lions in Chilean Patagonia.
Since 2015, Munn simultaneously has conserved and showcased nests of the world’s largest eagle, the Harpy Eagle, in the Brazilian Amazon. By February 2023, the project is protecting 35 Harpy Eagle nests and carefully installs temporary viewing towers to allow photographers to snap guaranteed photos from 50 yards or less with a green background. This eagle conservation work was featured in the October 2020 National Geographic Magazine.
Munn’s work has been featured widely in Emmy-Award-winning TV documentaries, two cover stories in National Geographic Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent on Sunday, the Financial Times, TIME, NEWSWEEK, New York Times, Bloomberg Pursuits, and dozens of other magazines. Condé Nast Traveler chose a Munn lodge as the top wildlife destination in the entire Amazon.
At this point, Munn is the only person in the world who guarantees high-quality, private viewing in completely wild nature of any of the following charismatic animals:
Jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal
Mountain Lions in Patagonian Chile
Ocelots in the Brazilian Pantanal
Giant Anteaters in central-western Brazil
Giant Otters at sites in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.
Maned Wolves in Northeastern Brazil
Tool-using Bearded Capuchins in NE Brazil
Golden-backed Uakari Monkeys in the Central Amazon
White Uakari Monkeys in the southwestern Amazon
White-nosed Bearded Saki Monkeys in Mato Grosso, Brazil
Harpy Eagles in Mato Grosso, Brazil
In 1994, TIME Magazine chose Munn as one of the 100 young leaders for the planet, one of only three environmentalists. That list also included Bill Gates and Condoleezza Rice.
