79 - Amphibian Husbandry Experts

Thomas Ziegler has been the Curator of the Aquarium/Terrarium Department of the Cologne Zoo, Germany, since 2003. He is also the Coordinator of the Biodiversity Research and Nature Conservation Projects of the Cologne Zoo in Vietnam and Laos. He has studied biology at the University Bonn, Germany, and conducted his diploma and doctoral thesis at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, with a focus on zoological systematics and amphibian and reptile diversity. He has been engaged with herpetological diversity research and conservation in Vietnam since 1997. He has published more than 500 papers and books, mainly dealing with herpetological diversity and conservation. He has scientifically described 128 species mainly of amphibians and reptiles, predominantly together with the cooperation partners from Vietnam. As a Zoo Curator and Project Coordinator, he tries to combine in situ and ex situ approaches, such as to link zoo biological aspects with diversity research and conservation in the Cologne Zoo, in rescue stations and breeding facilities in Vietnam, and in the last remaining forests in Indochina. He is member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and of the IUCN/SSC Amphibian, Crocodile, Monitor Lizard and Skink Specialist Groups. He is Regional Chairman of the IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group for Europe and European Studbook Keeper for the Philippine crocodile. He is in the advisory council of Stiftung Artenschutz, in the operative advisory council of Citizen Conservation c/o Frogs & Friends and Advisor of Yayasan Ulin (Ironwood Foundation), East Kalimantan. Thomas Ziegler is Editorial Board member of a number of Journals, amongst others Nature Conservation, The Zoological Garden, and ZooKeys. Beginning in February 2009, he has been an Associate Professor at the Zoological Institute of Cologne University, Germany, and since 2016 is an Adjunct Professor. He also has a guest lectureship at the Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi. He teaches diversity research and conservation of amphibians and reptiles, as well as zoo biology and implementation of zoos as modern arks / conservation zoos. His current research focuses on the realisation of IUCN’s One Plan Approach, which aims at developing integrative strategies to combine in situ and ex situ measures with groups of experts for the purpose of optimized species conservation.