Charlotte Uhlenbroek

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Charlotte Uhlenbroek
Born16 May 1967 (1967-05-16) (age 56)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater University of Bristol
Occupations
SpouseDaniel Rees (2006–present)

Charlotte Jane Uhlenbroek (born 16 May 1967) is a British zoologist and BBC television presenter.

Contents

Early life

Her Dutch father was an agricultural specialist with the United Nations who took his English wife and their family round the world with him. Uhlenbroek was born in London, but her parents moved to Ghana when she was only ten days old. Between the ages of 5–14 she lived in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Education and scientific work

Uhlenbroek attended Oakham School in Rutland, and then gained a BSc in Zoology and Psychology in 1988, followed in 1997 by a PhD in Zoology, at the University of Bristol. [1] She spent six months in Burundi helping primatologist Jane Goodall set up a conservation project for chimpanzees, followed by four years in the forests of Gombe Stream National Park in Western Tanzania on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, studying the communication of wild chimpanzees. [2] In 2007, Uhlenbroek was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford Brookes University for her work. [3]

Television career

Spotted by the BBC Natural History Unit, Uhlenbroek made her UK television debut in the series Dawn to Dusk, presented by Jonathan Scott, in an episode on the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park. She went on to present the BBC Two programme Chimpanzee Diary as part of the Animal Zone during 1998 and 1999. Uhlenbroek subsequently presented a number of documentaries (both series and one-off programmes) for the BBC, including: Cousins (2000), Congo's Secret Chimps (2001), Talking with Animals (2002), Jungle (2003), Secret Gorillas of Mondika (2005). In 2004, she was one of the subjects of the short documentary series The Way We Went Wild , about television's natural history presenters.

Uhlenbroek visited the Mefou National Park in Cameroon in 2006 to provide narration for Animal Planet's Going Ape TV series, based on the charity Ape Action Africa. [4] [5]

In 2007, she presented Safari School, a twenty-part BBC 2 "reality" series in which eight celebrities had to learn to become game rangers at the Shamwari Game Reserve. [6] In 2009 she was associate producer for and presented Among the Apes, a four-part series on Five, each part concerning a different primate species. [7]

In recent years she has made minor appearances on BBC nature programmes, written about elephant conservation in the Daily Mail and been involved with several conservation charities. [8]

Synopsis

YearTitleChannelRoleNotes
1996
Nature PBS Scientific consultantOne episode, "Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees"
1998–1999
Chimpanzee Diary BBC Two PresenterPart of Animal Zone
2000
Cousins BBC One Presenter
2001
Congo's Secret ChimpsBBC TwoPresenterPart of Wild Zone
2002
Talking with AnimalsBBC OnePresenter
2003
JungleBBC OnePresenter
2005
Lemurs of MadagascarBBC TwoPresenter
2005
Secret Gorillas of MondikaBBC TwoPresenter
2006
Going Ape Animal Planet NarratorFilmed at Ape Action Africa, Cameroon
2007
Safari School BBC TwoPresenterReality TV
2009
Among the Apes Five
  • Presenter
  • Associate Producer
The Museum of Curiosity BBC Radio 4 Panelist Series 2 Episode 4
2011
The Adventurer's Guide to Britain ITV1 Co-presenter
2013
Going Ape National Geographic Channel Features presenter
2013
Springwatch BBC Two Features presenter
2014
Countryfile BBC One Features presenter

Personal life

Since 2006, she has been married to Daniel Rees, who works as a producer for the BBC Natural History Unit.

Uhlenbroek supports Animal Aid and their campaign against primate experiments, stating: "I have yet to hear a sufficiently compelling scientific argument that justifies the suffering inflicted on primates in medical research." [9] She is also a supporter of many animal-orientated charities, including Ape Action Africa, Fauna and Flora International, For Life On Earth the Great Apes Survival Project, the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre and Compassion in World Farming. [1]

Publications

Uhlenbroek also wrote the introduction to Wildlife Portfolio of the Year: Volume Nine, one of an annual collection of prize-winning images.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimpanzee</span> Great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa

The chimpanzee, also simply known as the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the common chimpanzee or the robust chimpanzee. The chimpanzee and the bonobo are the only species in the genus Pan. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that Pan is a sister taxon to the human lineage and is thus humans' closest living relative. The chimpanzee is covered in coarse black hair, but has a bare face, fingers, toes, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. It is larger and more robust than the bonobo, weighing 40–70 kg (88–154 lb) for males and 27–50 kg (60–110 lb) for females and standing 150 cm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Goodall</span> English primatologist and anthropologist (born 1934)

Dame Jane Morris Goodall, formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, after 60 years' studying the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees. Goodall first went to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to observe its chimpanzees in 1960.

<i>Pan</i> (genus) Genus of African great apes

The genus Pan consists of two extant species: the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Taxonomically, these two ape species are collectively termed panins. The two species were formerly collectively called "chimpanzees" or "chimps"; if bonobos were recognized as a separate group at all, they were referred to as "pygmy" or "gracile chimpanzees". Together with humans, gorillas, and orangutans they are part of the family Hominidae. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, chimpanzees and bonobos are currently both found in the Congo jungle, while only the chimpanzee is also found further north in West Africa. Both species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and in 2017 the Convention on Migratory Species selected the chimpanzee for special protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Zoo</span> Zoo in Bristol, United Kingdom

Bristol Zoo was a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission was to "maintain and defend" biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider understanding of the natural world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twycross Zoo</span> English animal park specialising in primates

Twycross Zoo is a medium to large zoo near Norton Juxta Twycross, Leicestershire. The zoo has the largest collection of monkeys and apes in the Western World, and in 2006 re-launched itself as "Twycross Zoo – The World Primate Centre".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gombe Stream National Park</span> National park in Tanzania

Gombe Stream National Park is a national park in Kigoma District of Kigoma Region in Tanzania, 16 km (10 mi) north of Kigoma, the capital of Kigoma Region. Established in 1968, it is one of the smallest national parks in Tanzania, with only 35 km2 (13.5 sq mi) of protected land along the hills of the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The terrain is distinguished by steep valleys, and the vegetation ranges from grassland to woodland to tropical rainforest. Accessible only by boat, the park is most famous as the location where Jane Goodall pioneered her behavioural research on the common chimpanzee populations. The Kasakela chimpanzee community, featured in several books and documentaries, lives in Gombe National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monkey World</span> Zoo in Dorset, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Goodall Institute</span> Global wildlife and environment conservation organization

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The Jane Goodall Institute (Hong Kong) (Chinese: 國際珍古德(香港)協會), founded in 2002, was established as a local registered charity involved in the promotion of the well-being of the community, animals and environment. The Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong is one of the Asian branches of the Jane Goodall Institute which was founded in 1977 in California by Jane Goodall and Genevieve, Princess di San Faustino. With its headquarters in the US, the Jane Goodall Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization with 17 overseas offices.

<i>Cousins</i> (TV series) British nature documentary TV series

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<i>Saving Planet Earth</i> British TV series or programme

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ape Action Africa</span> Animal conservation group

Ape Action Africa is a non-profit NGO founded in 1996 dedicated to the conservation of endangered gorillas and chimpanzees, threatened by the bushmeat trade in Central and West Africa. Ape Action Africa manages the rescue and rehabilitation of Great apes across much of Cameroon, with a large sanctuary in the Mefou forest. Some of these Apes include the Western gorilla, Western lowland gorilla, Cross River gorilla, and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. With more than 300 primates in its care, Ape Action Africa is now one of the largest conservation projects of its kind in Africa. Many of the animals arrive at the sanctuary as orphans, mainly due to the illegal bushmeat trade, which has grown in recent years as a result of deforestation of the Cameroonian jungle.

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References

  1. 1 2 "University of Bristol – Alumni and friends – Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  2. Friends of the Earth: Living
  3. Sheldrick, Giles (9 September 2007). "Honorary survivor". Oxford Mail . Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  4. "Animal Planet – Going Ape". Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  5. Ape Action Africa
  6. "Charlotte Uhlenbroek: On living in the wild". The Independent. London. 21 January 2007. Archived from the original on 24 January 2007.
  7. How Rutland taught me to live with Apes! Leicester Mercury , 20 June 2009.
  8. BBC One - Countryfile
  9. Menache, André. "The scientific case against primate research". Animal Aid. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.