John Cooper has had a lifelong interest in natural history. He trained as a veterinary surgeon at Bristol University, undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh, gained his MRCPath while working and teaching at the The Royal College of Surgeons of England, and is now a specialist pathologist focussing on wildlife, tropical diseases and comparative forensic medicine. With his wife, a non-practising solicitor with interests in animal and conservation law, he has spent more than twenty years overseas, especially in Africa and the West Indies.