Martin Jenkins

Martin Jenkins was born in Surrey in 1959 but grew up in Spain, Ireland and Kent and he attended Cambridge University. A conservation biologist by trade, Martin worked full-time for ten years for World Conservation Monitoring Centre, writing about a range of conservation issues. Since 1990 he has worked freelance for organisations such as WWF and a number of UN bodies concerned with conservation and the environment. Martin’s jobs have varied greatly: “I’ve been an orchid-sleuth in Germany, a timber detective in Kenya and an investigator of the chameleon trade in Madagascar.” Martin became involved with children’s books when he was asked to advise on Walker Books’ Animals at Risk series. Since then he has written several titles, including “Fly Traps! Plants that Bite Back”. He aims to excite children about the natural world, “preferably by making them laugh.” Martin lives in Cambridge and London.