Jonathan Balcombe

Dr. Jonathan Balcombe (born February 28, 1959) is an acclaimed British-Canadian ethologist, biologist, and bestselling author whose popular science books have significantly advanced the global conversation on animal sentience and cognitive complexity. Born in England and raised across New Zealand and Canada, he earned three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology from the University of Tennessee, where his early fieldwork focused on communication systems in bats. Balcombe dedicated decades to animal protection science, notably serving as the Senior Research Scientist for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the Department Chair for Animal Studies at Humane Society University, and the Director of Animal Sentience for the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy. In 2015, his commitment to tracking emotional intelligence in non-human creatures culminated in co-founding Animal Sentience, a pioneering, open-access academic journal dedicated to animal feeling. He vaulted into mainstream international literary prominence with his 2016 masterpiece, What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins, a New York Times bestseller translated into 17 languages that shattered traditional assumptions by detailing the tools, social bonds, and pain perception of aquatic life. A highly versatile and poetic science communicator, his extensive bibliography includes Pleasurable Kingdom, Second Nature, The Exultant Ark, and his acclaimed 2021 study, Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. He has also authored over 60 refereed journal articles and a children's story, Jake and Ava: A Boy and a Fish. Currently based in Southern Ontario, Balcombe remains a widely sought-after international lecturer, developmental editor, and vegan media consultant.