Mark recently completed three years of research funded by the Templeton Foundation concerning the life and death of societies across the natural world, and what this might tell us about humans.
He has been proclaimed a "Legend in Entomology" by the Entomological Society of America in their journal, American Entomologist.
His exhibit on "hunter-gatherers and the origins of architecture" was part of 2025 Venice Biennale.
“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 rain forests of Asia for his PhD 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."
—Twice Pulitzer Prize winner E.O. Wilson
A Smithsonian scientist, Mark Moffett strives to discover new species and behaviors, finding stories that make people fall in love with the unexpected in nature. A real-life adventurer honored for his exploration, he has awards for his books and articles as well as photography.
Mark is active in science, writing many academic articles, and his book The Human Swarm: How societies arise, thrive and fall is a product of his ongoing 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.
Click this link for Mark’s upcoming events.
Interviews of Mark Moffett from the last several years:
- For Sun magazine: on their website; PDF.
- For the biology journal, American Entomologist: on their website; PDF.
- For the sociology journal, Theory & Society: on their website; PDF.
- For the professional photography journal, Eye of Photography: on their website; PDF.
- For the Society of Personality and Social Psychology: on their website; PDF.
- For the American Journal of Play: on their website; PDF.
- For Psychology Today: on their website.
- For Atavist magazine: on their website; PDF.
- For Harvard magazine: on their website; PDF.
- Mark Moffett's Smithsonian webpage.
"THE WORLD-ROVING ZOOLOGIST...A STAR IS BORN"
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
"MOFFETT [IS A] DARING ECO-ADVENTURER"
MARGARET ATWOOD
"[MOFFETT'S BOOK] RANKS WITH THE BEST WORK OF JACQUES COUSTEAU"
BOSTON GLOBE
"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 IS THE JANE GOODALL OF ANTS."
JANE GOODALL
