Dr. Rachel A. Page, Author: Dr. Rachel A. Page is a Staff Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, where she leads the Smithsonian Bat Lab (www.noseleaf.org). Together, she and her students have studied bat sensory and cognitive ecology in the tropics for over twenty years. Page completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. She has published over one hundred peer-reviewed articles on bat behavior and the sensory and cognitive tools animals use to interact with their environments and each other.
Dr. Dina K. N. Dechmann, Author: Dr. Dina K. N. Dechmann is a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, lecturer at the University of Konstanz, and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. She has studied the bats of Panama for over twenty years and investigates adaptations of bats to variability and bottlenecks in their food landscape. Dechmann received her PhD at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Her research has been published in academic journals including Current Biology, Biological Reviews, Ecology Letters, Proceedings of the Royal Society, and Science Advances.
Dr. M. Teague O'Mara, Author: Dr. M. Teague O’Mara is the Director of Conservation Evidence at Bat Conservation International where he works on data-driven strategies for the conservation of global bat populations. Teague has studied animal behavior, movement, and physiology across the globe, with emphasis on bats in Panama. He is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, and an Adjunct Professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. He received his PhD from Arizona State University.
Dr. Marco Tschapka, Author: Dr. Marco Tschapka is a professor at the University of Ulm in Germany and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He works on bat-plant interactions and is especially interested in the ecology of Neotropical nectar-feeding bats. Tschapka received his PhD from Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. Together with many collaborators and his students, he has worked on related projects in many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Panama.
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Author: The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, USA. The institute furthers the understanding of tropical biodiversity and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics, and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems.
Christian Ziegler, Photographer: Christian Ziegler is a German photojournalist specializing in natural history and science with a focus on tropical ecosystems. An Associate for Communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama for twelve years, Ziegler currently works for the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and is a regular contributor to National Geographic. Ziegler's work has been awarded numerous prizes in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the North American Nature Photography Association competitions. A tropical ecologist by training, Christian has worked in tropical rainforests on four continents. His aim is to highlight species and ecosystems under threat and share their beauty and importance with the world.
