Adrian Cerda

Adrian studied biology at the national Autonomous University of Mexico. In 1991 the Wildlife Preservation Trust of Jersey, on Britain's Channel Islands, awarded Adrian with a scholarship to its prestigious 16-week training program in Captive Management and Breeding of Endangered Species. This pioneering course of study is responsible for the conservation and rescue of countless species on the verge of disappearance. While there, Adrian also received a six month diploma in endangered species management.

Adrian has actively participated in several research projects including a two-year period working among the islands of the Sea of Cortez as herpetologist (a specialist in amphibians and reptiles), and a one-year period in the Lacantun Forest studying fresh water turtles. He also carried out a census of the maroon-fronted parrot in the Sierra Madre Oriental, a mountain range in northeastern Mexico.

Adrian has also developed conservation strategies for the Mexican gray wolf, focusing on genetic and demographic management and calculating probabilities of extinction through computer simulations of population growth and decline. His main interest as a biologist is the conservation biology of fresh water turtles and other herpetofauna, but he is also a natural history enthusiast with a particular interest in birds and mammals of the Baja and Chihuahua ranges. A freelance painter, photographer and writer, Adrian has exhibited his oil and ink works in three Mexican galleries, and is the author of more than 140 articles on wildlife conservation.