Josh Phangurha

Josh has been passionate about wildlife as far back as he can remember. His mother has told him stories about his inquisitive behaviour towards nature even before he could walk, such as how he would crawl after insects on the ground as a baby. His first love was spiders and he held large collections of native and exotic spiders around the house as a child, and would collect orb web spiders on his way home from school to study during autumn. Since then he has developed a broader fascination into the world of herpetology and entomology, as well as becoming a keen birdwatcher and fungi finder!

This passion for the natural world spurred Josh on to study Zoology at Bangor University and then to study spider web-building ecology at the University of Bristol for his master's project. While studying, Josh assisted in the conservation research of the critically endangered Utila Spiny-Tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura bakeri) off the northern coast of Honduras and he also volunteered as a research assistant in Guyana with the NGO Operation Wallacea.

As part of his undergraduate degree, he travelled to Arizona to complete a field course based on the ecology of herpetofauna in the Southwestern United States, where he would return to the following year to guide the new students through the course. Since graduating from both of these universities, he has been an expedition herpetologist for Operation Wallacea to survey reptiles & amphibians in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico and Krka National Park, Croatia.

Having previously been employed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and Hampshire County Council ecology team, Josh now works in the Naturetrek office as a Website and Media Assistant while leading Naturetrek tours.

Josh's main aim is to show people the little-known and currently less 'popular' species around world to raise awareness about their remarkable biology and the importance of protecting them.