Thane Maynard
90-Second Naturalist, Monday-Friday, 7:45 am & 6 pm

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Thane Maynard is Executive Director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. The mission of his work teaching and writing is to tell the story of biological diversity, natural history, and wildlife conservation to the general public.

Thane is best known as a writer and host of numerous wildlife programs, including the daily public radio series The 90-Second Naturalist, which airs on stations across North America. He has been featured on Good Morning America, Today and CBS This Morning, and has been a regular wildlife expert on Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

As a boy growing up in central Florida, he explored the low country swamps in the days before condominiums. From this initial interest in wild places, he went on to receive his B.A. degree in environmental studies from Rollins College in his hometown of Winter Park, Florida, and his M.S. degree from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. Thane has been U.S. Project Coordinator with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and continues to work in partnerships with WWF and other conservation organizations including Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy. He is a graduate of the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program at the Harvard Business School, as well as the first National Education Leadership Institute sponsored by WWF and Disney.

Thane is the author of thirteen books on wildlife. His latest work, Working with Wildlife, is an exploration of various careers in wildlife. In 1996 he co-authored Rain Forest and Reefs with his daughter, Caitlin, chronicling their 2-week tropical ecology workshop in Belize. Other books include: Animal Inventors (1991); Saving Endangered Mammals (1992), named Outstanding Science Book of the Year by the National Science Teacher's Association and the Children's Book Council; Endangered Animal Babies (1993); and Animal Olympics (1994).

In addition to his work for the Cincinnati Zoo, Thane is an active member of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), serving on the Field Conservation Committee and Protected Areas Initiative. Thane is involved in the Cincinnati community as a member of Leadership Cincinnati Class XVII, The Hillside Trust and The Ohio Chapter of TNC.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Margo Marsh Biodiversity Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Most weekends, he and his wife, writer Kathleen Stewart, can be found hiking and bird watching.