Naturalist traveller
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We're going to meet an old fashion naturalist
A Portuguese biologist who has roamed deserts, jungles and forests
observing and studying the natural world.
I'm reaping the exuviae
The exuviae are the external skeleton
that insects have
They exchange for developing
or to change their state.
This gathering of dragonflies exoskeletons
is part of the fieldwork that
Luísa Ferreira Nunes is developing
with other Iberian researchers.
I'm studying two species
because we realized that along the
central mountain system rivers
the same species appear to show a different
morphology or morphological dimension.
And so we want to understand the cause of this differences.
Scientific research and university teaching
are Luísa main activities.
But expeditioning, in a 19th century
naturalist fashion, is what she likes most.
I like wide horizons very much
e like forests a lot.
The willing to do expeditions and to know
the natural world comes since childhood
by my father's influence.
She concluded the PhD in Insect Ecology in the US
where she toured trough the south Alaska
and where once she crossed the desert.
One of the expeditions I did alone
was to the Mojave desert, thus I crossed it alone.
And it was the loneliest travel I had.
So for many days I did not say a word.
And I had to sleep in a car in the desert.
And I could not leave. I had some concern.
There were many coyotes. I have photographs
taken with my phone where you only see their eyes
all shining around the car.
But the most striking experience happened in her last expedition
with a group of biologists and nature photographs
to the jungles of South and Central Americas.
One episode I'll never forget
was the fact we were persecuted
by a person who wanted to attack us
and that, eventually, was guarding an area in the jungle
where we were not supposed to enter.
The group was dismembered and we ended up lost in the jungle.
And we were lost until the night.
And I thought I would not get out of there.
The drawings and the memories of this trip are now contained in another book
and will be on display at the Aquarium Vasco da Gama
from November 20.
When I got back, on the plane, I thought I would never make any other expedition
but as soon as I landed I started thinking where would be the next.
And destiny is already chosen, the Arctic.
In my illustrative publications I've been following
a colourful biodiversity line.
Very colorful ecosystems.
Now I would like to move to a more extreme region
and with a major importance nowadays
in the context of climate change.
Especially for some species that are not as known to the public.
And I would love to portray and talk about them.
In Portugal, she gives classes in Lisbon and Castelo Branco
and whenever possible she dives in the country's natural landscapes.
I miss the silence and freedom.
Like any self-respecting naturalist;
is trough contact, observation and study of nature
that Luísa Ferreira Nunes finds her place.