Jonathan Balcombe was born in England, raised in New Zealand and Canada, and has lived in the United States since 1987.

He is a biologist with a PhD in ethology, the study of animal behavior. He is the author of four popular science books on the inner lives of animals, including Pleasurable Kingdom, Second Nature, and What a Fish Knows, a New York Times best-seller, and well as Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects is forthcoming in May 2021 from Penguin Books. He has published over 60 scientific papers and book chapters on animal behavior and animal protection.

Formerly Department Chair for Animal Studies with the Humane Society University, and Director of Animal Sentience with The Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, Jonathan works as an independent author, and performs editing services for aspiring and established authors. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Animal Sentience, and he teaches a course in animal sentience for the Viridis Graduate Institute.

A popular speaker, Jonathan has lectured on six continents (the penguins eagerly anticipate his arrival in Antarctica).

Jonathan currently lives in southern Ontario, where in his spare time he enjoys biking, baking, birding, Bach, and trying to understand the squirrels in his neighborhood.