(Posted November 19, 2001)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- A wildlife adventurer who has tracked a herd of flatulent elephants, milked the fangs of a venomous snake and slogged through bat guano will bravely trek to Juniata College to talk about the exciting highlights of hosting the Animal Planet cable network's "The Jeff Corwin Experience" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27 in Alumni Hall in the Brumbaugh Science Center on the Juniata campus.

The event is free and open to the public. Corwin will be available after the lecture at a reception to sign autographs or answer questions.

Corwin has been the host of "The Jeff Corwin Experience" since 2000. Before that, he hosted "Going Wild With Jeff Corwin" on the Disney Channel from 1997 to 1999. Corwin is a biologist whose range of interests include rainforest ecology and herpetology.

In his role as host and producer, Corwin has traveled to such off-the-beaten-track locales as Borneo, Komodo Island and India, as well as a few stateside visits to Alaska, Louisiana and Arizona. "The whole concept (of the show) is using television as a tool to explore my interest in nature and create a bridge between wildlife and people," Corwin was quoted in an interview with the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.

Corwin became interested in ecology and wildlife as an undergraduate at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Mass. As an undergraduate, he helped establish the Emerald Canopy Rainforest Foundation, a group dedicated to protecting rainforests. In 1994, he worked as an expedition naturalist for the Jason Project, a National Geographic program that assembles multimedia materials for schools. He first worked in wildlife television by helping the group with television broadcasts from the rainforests of Belize. He continued his media career by producing and hosting "Jaguar Trax," a natural history drama filmed in the jungles of Costa Rica.

In interviews with the New York Times and other publications, Corwin has said that "The Jeff Corwin Experience" strives to find animals in their natural element and film them without staging the encounters. He estimates the show shoots 15 hours of film to compile a 45-minute episode.

A sought-after speaker, Corwin specializes in outreach lectures on wildlife, ecology and conservation. He also is working to develop a series of books that detail the natural history and habitat of endangered species.

Corwin earned a bachelor's degree in biology and anthropology at Bridgewater State College. He also is enrolled in the graduate program in natural resources conservation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.