Joshua Plotnik
Conservation Behavior Researcher of the intelligence of elephants
Joshua Plotnik, Ph.D. is a comparative psychologist who has studied elephants in Thailand since 2007. Recently, Dr. Plotnik has been working with students and colleagues to understand how research on animal behavior and cognition can be applied directly to the mitigation of human-wildlife conflict. He received his Ph.D. from Emory University, and was a Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York in New York City (www.elephantlab.org). He is also the founder of Think Elephants International (www.thinkelephants.org), a U.S. non-profit charity focused on conservation education in the U.S. and Thailand. Dr. Plotnik is a member of the IUCN Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force and the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group. (Photo: Adam Ferguson)