Matt Becker

Matt is a conservation biologist and first started work in the Polar Regions in 1996, when he worked on seabird and shorebird studies in the Alaskan Arctic. After that project, he managed the Copacabana Field Station in the South Shetland Islands, one of the longest-running penguin and flying seabird research projects in Antarctica. Here he fell in love with “The Ice” and continued polar work thereafter, including positions as a bird surveyor on a winter NOAA cruise down the Antarctic Peninsula, and as a researcher for the Oceanites Antarctic Site Inventory.

In addition to his work in the Polar Regions, Matt has conducted research on a wide array of seabird, shorebird, and wading bird species across North America, and internationally on animals ranging from beetles to chimpanzees. He also started his career in environmental education, has guided trips in Antarctica, Africa, and his home of Yellowstone. He never tires of sharing the wonder, beauty, and fragility of the Polar Regions with visitors.

When he is not on an expedition, Matt’s full-time job is as the CEO of the Zambian Carnivore Programme, working to conserve Africa’s big cats, wild dogs, and hyenas through science, action and development of local leadership. He has spent the last 13 years working in Zambia, and lives in the Luangwa Valley, where he can safely wear flip-flops and shorts without getting frostbite.