Why every endangered species needs a champion: a conversation with conservationist Bill Konstant
Russell Mittermeier has a running joke about Bill Konstant. The two have worked together, off and on, for more than four decades, and Mittermeier writes in the foreword to Wrestles With Wolves that Konstant seems to have a tolerance of roughly five years working directly for him before departing for another organization. Konstant has an […]
Russell Mittermeier jokes about Bill Konstant's tendency to work for him for only about five years before moving on to another organization. Mittermeier describes Konstant as a catalyst, someone who helps raise the energy of a system without necessarily staying around once the reaction has taken place. Throughout his career, Konstant has worked for various organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and zoos, focusing on primates but also covering a wide range of animals from golden frogs to elephants.
His journey into conservation began at Cornell University, where he became a teaching assistant for ornithologist Tom Cade, who founded the Peregrine Fund. This organization played a crucial role in restoring peregrine falcon populations after DDT caused steep declines. Later, while at Stony Brook University, Konstant took a position caring for and training chimpanzees, an experience that may have been inspired by Jane Goodall's groundbreaking work with these primates.
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