Charlotte Uhlenbroek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek (born 4 January 1968) is a British zoologist and BBC television presenter.
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.
Uhlenbroek gained a BSc in Zoology and Psychology, followed by a PhD in Zoology at the University of Bristol. She then spent six months in Burundi helping famed primatologist Jane Goodall set up a conservation project for chimpanzees. She then spent four years in the forests of Gombe, Tanzania, studying the communication of wild chimpanzees at Goodall's main project base[1].
Spotted by the BBC Natural History Unit, Uhlenbroek made her television debut in the series Dawn to Dusk, presented by Jonathan Scott, in an episode on the chimpanzees of Gombe. She went on to present the BBC 2 programme Chimpanzee Diary as part of the Animal Zone during 1998 and 1999.
The three-part series Cousins, which screened in 2000, was Uhlenbroek's first major series for the BBC. In 2001, she presented Congo's Secret Chimps for BBC2's Wild zone, and in 2002 she presented another major BBC series on animal communication, titled Talking with Animals.
In 2003, she presented the documentary Jungle, which was screened in November of that year on BBC1.
In 2004, she was one of the subjects of the short documentary series The Way We Went Wild, about television's natural history presenters.
In 2005, she presented the documentary Secret Gorillas Of Mondika, which was screened on Sunday, 6th November, 2005 at 5:30pm on BBC2.
Uhlenbroek has also written two books: "Talking With Animals" in 2002, and "Jungle" in 2004. She also wrote the introduction to "Wildlife Portfolio of the Year: Volume Nine", an annual collection of prize-winning images.
Uhlenbroek supports Animal Aid and their campaign against primate experiments [1], stating:"I have yet to hear a sufficiently compelling scientific argument that justifies the suffering inflicted on primates in medical research."
In 2007, she presented Safari School a twenty-part BBC 2 series in which eight celebrities had to learn how to become game rangers at the Shamwari Game Reserve[2].
