EP. 5 || Interview with The Batman - Dr. Merlin Tuttle

We had the absolute privilege of sitting down with the world's foremost bat biologist and conservationist, Dr. Merlin Tuttle. Dr. Tuttle has dedicated his life to preserving these misunderstood mammals, and teaching people about how important they truly are to our daily lives. In this Episode: - Colton Harbert with Capitol Ranch Real Estate - Dr. Merlin Tuttle Merlin Tuttle is an ecologist, wildlife photographer, and conservationist who has studied bats and championed their preservation for 60 years and continues a full-time schedule. He is globally known through his scientific discoveries, media appearances, popular articles, and photographs of bats. His work has been featured in expositions from Harvard University to the British Museum and in numerous feature articles that include the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and National Geographic. He founded Bat Conservation International (BCI), an organization devoted to research, education and conservation of bats, in 1982. Under his leadership BCI emphasized broad collaboration that balanced both human and wildlife needs and became a model for positive solutions to conservation challenges. Against all odds, BCI grew rapidly. When Tuttle retired in 2009 from nearly 30 years of service as its Executive Director, BCI employed 32 biologists, educators, and administrators, supported by 11,000 members in 60 countries. BCI gained permanent protection for many of the world’s largest remaining bat populations, sponsored research to document the vital ecological and economic roles of bats, trained hundreds of wildlife managers in bat research and conservation techniques, and vastly improved the public’s perception of bats. He founded Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation (www.MerlinTuttle.org) in 2014 in support of his many continuing conservation activities, entirely independent of his original organization.