Mark has embarked on three years of research with funding from the John Templeton Foundation to study the life and death of societies across animal species and what it might tell us about humans. Read about it here.

 

 

“Mark has the soul of a 19th-century explorer, a wandering naturalist in the tradition of Darwin and Wallace. He spent two years in the rainforests of Asia for his doctoral research, and has since personally explored almost all the other major tropical forests around the world, traveling long distances by boat and on foot along the shadowed trails and climbing up ropes, towers, and ladders into the canopy."

—E.O. Wilson, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Three column picture of me

Smithsonian scientist Mark Moffett has discovered new species and behaviors  to find stories that make people fall in love with the unexpected in nature. He is a real-life adventurer with awards for writing books and articles and for his photography, as well as the highest honors in exploration.

Mark is active in science, and his 2019 book, The Human Swarm: How Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall, is a product of his efforts at the interface of anthropology, psychology and sociology. Listen to Mark on TV and radio, or invite him to speak and be intoxicated by his passion. Read a story about his life and new book here

For Mark’s upcoming events click this link.

"THE WORLD-ROVING ZOOLOGIST...A STAR IS BORN"

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

"MARK MOFFETT [IS A] DARING ECO-ADVENTURER"

MARGARET ATWOOD

"I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE STILL ALIVE"

EDWARD O. WILSON

"MOFFETT'S BOOK IS A REMARKABLE INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENT OF SUSTAINED INTENSITY."

QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY

"HIS BOOK IS SO GORGEOUS, I WISH I WAS IN IT."

STEPHEN COLBERT

"MARK MOFFETT IS THE JANE GOODALL OF ANTS."

JANE GOODALL