Dr. Merlin Tuttle is an ecologist, award-winning wildlife photographer, and leading conservationist who has studied bats and championed their preservation for nearly 40 years.

In 1982, Merlin founded Bat Conservation International (BCI), an organization devoted to research, education, and conservation of bats. BCI emphasizes broad collaboration that balances both human and wildlife needs and has become a model for positive, no conflict solutions. Merlin has been recognized for these achievements through the Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. Award, the highest international honor conferred by colleagues in the field of chiropteran biology, and, in 1997, both the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Chuck Yeager Award and Chevron/Times Mirror Magazines Conservation Award.