Taggert Butterfield 

PhPhD candidate at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). 
I was born in Utah and grew up in Washington State where I attended Central Washington University as a STEP (student talent expansion program) student mentored by Dr. Daniel Beck. Dr. Beck introduced me to the tropical dry forest on the Pacific coast of Mexico and supported four different trips to this forest as an undergraduate before taking me on as a masters student. For my masters project I lived in the Chamela forest for one year and studied the ecology of a terrestrial turtle (see Research), where I solidified my own passion for natural history, evolutionary biology, and conservation.  Now I am a PhD candidate at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the Evolutionary Ecology lab under Rodrigo Macip-Ríos where I continue studying turtles in the wild and museums to enhance our understanding of how this ancient group has came to be. Photo from Sam Crow