Alan C Jardine

Born in 1957 in Johannesburg South Africa, Alan decided very early on in his life that conservation would be the direction that he would follow. He started working at the Johannesburg Zoological Gardens, moved on to the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria, World of Birds in Hout Bay, SANCCOB in Cape Town, Cango in Oudtshoorn and Shark Lab in Mossel Bay.

He is the author of two non-fiction books, Marine Aquarium Basics (Struik Publishers) and an autobiography I touched the Moon, as well as a fictional tale Alenquer and Amber.

Although he worked with large animals like gorilla and elephant, the Marine Aquarium hobby had always fascinated him - even though he grew up far from the ocean. He started in 1972 with anemone clown fish and went on to keep clown triggers as well as other kinds of trigger fish.

Alan has had an extensive career, from serving as an Executive Committee Member of the African Association of Zoos and Aquaria (PAAZAB) for six consecutive years (two terms), Chairman of the Welfare Working Group of PAAZAB and he was requested to chair PAAZAB's Ethics Committee.

He edited both the PAAZAB Manual of Environmental and Behavioural Enrichment - Primates and the PAAZAB Manual of Environmental and Behavioural Enrichment - Elephants and Marine Mammals. He has been the Regional African Studbook Keeper for the Southern African Rock Python and the Suni.

Alan was invited as a "Subject Matter Expert "(SME) to contribute toward building the R10 million Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) that will replace the dated International Species Information System (ISIS) - (Rotterdam, the Netherlands workshop - 14-18 March 2005 and Orlando USA workshop - 16-20 May 2005).

Alan served a combined period of 10 years in Executive Management positions (Director of World of Birds and Chief Executive Officer of the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds - SANCCOB, which is an affiliate member of PAAZAB and a further six years in Senior Management, when he served as Chief Nature Conservator at the National Zoological Gardens.

Going from his marine fish hobby to making it his career, Alan is currently the proprietor of the Shark Lab Aquarium in Mossel Bay on the South African coast. He spends his days between caring for his marine charges, walking his Macaw Alex in the park and contemplating his next book.

Alans website is https://alancjardine.wixsite.com/alanclivejardine