Madi Ort
Wildlife Biologist | Conservationist | Environmental Storyteller
Personal Mission
To understand the human story behind conservation and make meaningful action accessible to more people.
I believe people want to be involved. They want to learn, contribute, and create change. Often, they just need the right tools, knowledge, and opportunities to know where to start.
My mission is to help provide those tools, connect people to meaningful opportunities, and make conservation something more people can understand, participate in, and help shape.
Participating in Elephant Collaring for conservation with the Tanzania Elephant Foundation
Professional Summary
I’m a conservation professional and science communicator with a B.S. in Biological Sciences. As a former animal keeper at an AZA-accredited zoo and a National Geographic Certified Educator, I bring expertise in exotic animal care, wildlife education, and community-driven conservation.
With international field experience across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, I’ve supported wildlife research, human-wildlife coexistence, and conservation projects alongside nonprofits, local communities, and field teams. I combine scientific knowledge, hands-on experience, and storytelling to make conservation more accessible, inclusive, and actionable.
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My Story
If you had told five-year-old me that catching frogs at the local pond would eventually lead to collaring elephants in Tanzania, I probably would’ve dropped my butterfly net. But in a strange, fantastic way, that’s basically how it all unfolded.
My love for the natural world started with a childhood obsession with amphibians and reptiles — spending hours in the marsh catching frogs and salamanders (something I now know is terrible for their conservation; shoutout to chytrid fungus).
That obsession took an unexpected turn when I contracted Lyme disease as a toddler in upstate New York, beginning a long stretch of chronic health complications that led to being homeschooled through high school. It wasn't what I wanted. I had to quit soccer and relearn how to approach education entirely. But it also pushed me outdoors, into books about my favorite species, and into a slower, more deliberate relationship with my own health that still shapes how I live today (a story for another time).
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Baby Madi Rescuing a Turtle
What felt like a setback became the space where my curiosity for wildlife deepened, and my career quietly took shape.
Childhood Lyme Disease arc. The frogs offered zero medical support.
At 13, I became a teen intern at an accredited zoo, caring for everything from elephants to the smallest reptiles, eventually trading early veterinary dreams for a conservation-focused path in animal care.
Through Colorado Parks and Wildlife volunteering, youth leadership conservation work, and my own wildlife education business, I found every way I could to stay surrounded by animals and nature.
Interactions with our elephant herd and Okapi at the zoo as a teen!
When Conservation Became My Entire Personality
As a teen in the zookeeping space, I connected with Dave from the Katie Adamson Conservation Fund and immediately knew that conservation-focused travel would become my greatest passion. Hearing him speak about community-driven conservation and how to get involved opened a door I didn’t know existed. At 15, everything finally clicked during my first international trip to Costa Rica. Immersed in sea turtle and jaguar conservation, I saw what it truly means to protect vulnerable species where they actually live. The dense rainforests, the pace of the work, and the urgency behind it all made me feel connected to something far bigger than myself. And I’ve been semi-broke from booking flights ever since…
Building a sea turtle hatchery and regernative agriculture at Osa Conservation
My first trips abroad completely changed how I saw the world. Returning a year later, I felt my perspective expand beyond my own little bubble, and I became more aware of the complexity of other people’s lives (sonder). That shift taught me the value of stepping outside my comfort zone, and I hope my stories inspire you to experience that perspective shift for yourself.
Since then, that path has taken me from community conservation in Nepal and project collaborations in Costa Rica to jaguar tracking in Brazil’s Pantanal and fieldwork across Africa and Central America. Along the way, I earned my degree in Biological Sciences between flights and zoo shifts, working as a primate keeper while continuing field collaborations around the world. To me, the zoo and the field have always been two halves of the same mission.
So, What’s Next?
I’ve spent years learning conservation from two perspectives: working hands-on with wildlife and collaborating with the people and organizations protecting it. Now, I’m bringing those experiences together to build the skills, relationships, and opportunities to make a broader impact.
I’ve been fortunate to be welcomed into places I never imagined visiting by people who have invited me into their work, homes, and missions. I’ve listened to families navigating human-wildlife conflict and witnessed their willingness to explore new approaches to coexistence. Those experiences have shaped not only the work I want to do, but how I want to do it: collaboratively, thoughtfully, and with the people closest to the challenges at the center.
Where I’m growing
I’m building on the expertise I’ve already developed while intentionally expanding into the skills that make lasting conservation work possible.
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Building on my experience: Primate and callitrichid conservation, zoo-based conservation, fieldwork, herpetofauna conservation, expedition leadership, and science communication.
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Expanding my toolkit: Grant writing, nonprofit management, project development, additional education, and learning alongside people doing this work in different ways.
I’m excited to share both sides of this next chapter: the work I already know and love, and the learning, uncertainty, and new opportunities that come with figuring out where I can contribute most.
I don’t have every step mapped out, and that’s part of the point. I want to keep asking questions, showing up, building relationships, and finding ways to connect people with the work that matters. If you’re curious about conservation, working in the field, building something meaningful, or figuring out your own place in this world, I hope you’ll come along. There’s room for all of us in this work, and I think we can do a lot more when we find each other.
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