Jeff Corwin

Jeffrey Samuel Corwin (born June 11, 1967 in Norwell, Massachusetts), better known as Jeff Corwin, is the host and executive producer of The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest, two American television shows about animals airing on the Animal Planet cable channel.

He previously appeared in Going Wild With Jeff Corwin on the Disney Channel. He also made a cameo appearance in an episode of CSI:Miami, helping the detectives retrieve a human foot from inside a live crocodile, along with occasionally appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and he has also appeared on the Food Network's Iron Chef America as a judge. More recently he was hired by CNN to be their environmental correspondent.

On a recent show with Corwin, Jeff Corwin was chasing two Pygmy Elephants named Flora and Feisty in Borneo. Corwin caused the animals much distress and upset. The animals were only four years old and were totally stressed out by Corwin's abusive actions towards them.^{[citation needed]} Jeff Corwin is not a veterinarian, yet he frequently darts animals. Critics charge that a layperson darting animals with tranquilizer darts is unethical and dangerous to animals.

Early Life And Career

Jeff Corwin attended Norwell High School. Jeff spent his freshman year of college at Eastern Nazarene College, which is located in Quincy, Massachusetts. Later he attended Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Jeff has bachelor of science degrees in biology and anthropology. He conducted his graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, obtaining a master of science in wildlife and fisheries conservation and doing work on bats and snakes. In 1999, Bridgewater awarded Corwin an honorary doctorate in public education. He lives with his wife, Natasha, and daughter Maya Rose in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

Corwin first experienced the tropical rain forests in 1984 in Belize. As an undergraduate, he became active in conservation of rain forest in Central and South America and helped establish the Emerald Canopy Rainforest Foundation. He also participated in the youth action committee for the United Nations Environmental Program. He lectures on wildlife, ecology and conservation to audiences throughout the United States. In 1993, Jeff addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations regarding the need to conserve neotropical rain forests.

Corwin's big break into television came about thanks to famed oceanographer Bob Ballard, the man who discovered the wreck of the Titanic, in the 1994 documentary Bob Ballard produced for National Geographic called The Jason Project. Then, after several lean years, Corwin migrated over to the Disney Channel with Going Wild with Jeff Corwin. Eventually, he caught the eye of producers at Animal Planet, and since 2000 he's gone on to explore six of the seven continents- all except Antarctica, so far- taking the audience along for the experience, which can often make even the most-stoic of channel surfer's cringe.

Corwin was also certified as an Advanced Field Medical Specialist by the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is of Hungarian ancestry.

In the spring of 2007 Corwin began a new TV show on the Travel Channel titled "Into Alaska with Jeff Corwin." The show highlights wildlife in Alaska while also having a travel perspective. It was originally aired in letterbox format and it would most likely be in high definition when the Travel Channel HD launches in 2008 if it airs again.

Early Inspiration

Corwin's first encounter with snakes taken from an interview with Heartland Magazine.

"When I was, while exploring my grandparent's backyard in Middleboro, Massachusetts, I turned over a log and had an encounter that forever changed my life. I saw this garter snake, and was immediately transfixed by it. I remember catching it and bringing it into the house with me and seeing the terror it unleashed in people, but not understanding why they were so afraid of it. As I've often said, if I'd rolled back that log and found a golf club, I would have been Tiger Woods. I tracked that snake for two years and would visit it every time I went to my grandparents. One day, the neighbor next door snuck up behind me and cut off its head with a spade, thinking it was attacking me. I was so shocked by that behavior, by that expression of ignorance, it focused me on what I was going to do with my life. The day I found that snake was the day I became a naturalist. The day I saw it get killed out of a misunderstanding was the day I became a conservationist"

Close Encounters

In filming a segment of CNN's Planet in Peril with Anderson Cooper near Phnom Penh, Cambodia on March 22nd of 2007, Corwin was the victim of a playful elephant. This rough-play consisted of the elephant putting Corwin's elbow in its mouth and wrapping its trunk around his arm, swinging him around. He yelled as the elephant shook its head, releasing and throwing Corwin into the shallow water in which they were standing. Corwin noted that the pain was so overwhelming that he nearly blacked out, and to this day his arm still doesn't work right. Corwin later posted on Anderson Cooper's blog his explanation of the incident, and the following summary of injuries that resulted:

"To this day my arm doesn't work right. We tend to look at elephants as these very kind very gentle giants, like Dumbo and Jumbo from the cartoons. But the truth is, elephants are complex mammals with a huge array of emotions, from happiness to anger to jealousy, and when I turned away, this was his way of telling me he didn't want to be ignored, The trunk of an elephant can lift a 700-pound tree limb. You do not want to be that close to one when he;s having a bad moment."

"Truth is that elephant is easily 15,000 times stronger than my meager self, and if she had wanted to, she could have done far worse than crushing a bit of ligament and muscle. Lucky for me, no bone fracture, hopefully no connective tissue torn (we'll have to wait till I get home to find out about that)." [1]

During a segment entitled I Am Brave, which is a behind the scenes look at different outtakes and Jeff's playful personality while filming The Jeff Corwin Experience, he admitted to have handled several snakes while traveling the globe but having only experienced a bite from a single poisonous snake; A Coral Snake. This same creature is found as a tattoo on Jeff's left shoulder and is more specifically what looks to be an Arizona Coral Snake.

Filmography

Giant Monsters

Giant Monsters was a television documentary special on Animal Planet hosted by Corwin. It dealt with the world's largest creatures of all time, including Tyrannosaurus Rex, the saber-toothed cat Smilodon, the gigantic ground sloth Megatherium, the 50-foot crocodile Sarcosuchus, the Komodo dragon-like Megalania, the giant pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus, the huge spider Megarachne, to the giant squid Architeuthis dux.^[1]

Awards

In 2002, Corwin was named one of People Magazine´s 50 Most Beautiful People.[2]
In 2004, Corwin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for Jeff Corwin Unleashed. In 2005, he was nominated for the same award.

References

Heartland USA magazine, January/February Edition, 2008

^ Official show page

External links

Jeff Corwin biography on Animal Planet Web Site
Jeff Corwin at IMDb
Larry King interview where Jeff talks about his relation to Dracula
Into Alaska with Jeff Corwin From the Travel Channel.

[1] Official show page

[1]