Bernd Heinrich (born April 19, 1940 in Bad Polzin, Germany), is a professor emeritus in the biology department at the University of Vermont and is the author of a number of books about nature writing and biology. Heinrich has made major contributions to the study of insect physiology and behavior, as well as bird behavior. In addition to many scientific publications, Heinrich has written over a dozen highly praised books, mostly related to his research examining the physiological, ecological and behavioral adaptations of animals and plants to their physical environments. He has also written books that include more of his personal reflections on nature. He is the son of Ichneumon expert Gerd Heinrich. Education Heinrich attended Grundschule Trittau (1946–1950) and college at the University of Maine. He then earned his Ph.D in 1970 from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1971, he accepted a position at the University of California, Berkeley where he became a professor of entomology. Between 1976 and 1977 he was a Guggenheim and Harvard Fellow. In 1980 Heinrich accepted a position as a professor of zoology/biology at the University of Vermont. From 1988 to 1989 he was a von Humboldt Fellow. Scientific career Heinrich is distinguished by his research work in the comparative physiology and behavior of insects. His work has elucidated new physiological mechanisms of temperature regulation of tropical versus temperate moths, bumblebees versus honeybees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, and butterflies, all done while at UCLA and Berkeley. After he moved back to Maine and started teaching at the University of Vermont, his comparative work on insect physiology led to behavioral and ecological studies from the perspective of all animals (e.g., comparisons of food sharing between social bumblebees and territorial ravens). His many years of research on ravens has culminated in numerous scientific papers on raven behavior and two books that put the research into a broad context. Heinrich's often popular books range from biologic detective stories (Ravens in Winter) to scientific specialties of field (The Hot-blooded Insects) to adventure and biography (The Snoring Bird) to human evolution (Why We Run). Many of these books are based on his original research documented in his more than 100 articles in refereed scientific journals. Running career Heinrich has won numerous long-distance running events and set a number of open U.S. ultramarathon and masters (age 40 and over) records throughout the 1980s. At the age of 39, Heinrich