About

Jonathan C. Slaght

On the tundra in northern Alaska, photo by Martin Robards

I am a wildlife biologist and award-winning author working full time for the Wildlife Conservation Society as the Regional Director of the WCS Temperate Asia Program, where I oversee our programs in China, Mongolia, and Afghanistan, and support projects in Russia and Central Asia. In addition, I am one of the world’s foremost experts on Blakiston’s fish owl.

My book Owls of the Eastern Ice, released in 2020, did surprisingly well and is now in eleven languages (English, Spanish, Chinese (two versions), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Italian, Dutch, German, and Polish). There is also a forthcoming Turkish edition.

For years I also wrote a semi-regular blog for Scientific American called East of Siberia, and am a contributor to WCS WildView, a photo blog. My other writings, scientific research, and photographs have been featured by the BBC World Service, the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, The New Yorker, and Audubon Magazine, among others.

Tigers Between Empires will be released in the US and UK/South Africa/Australia on 04 November, 2025.

Do I Tweet? I did. Find me on Bluesky or Instagram now instead.