Jeffrey “Jeff” Corwin was born in the small town of Norwell, Massachusetts on July 11, 1967. He has been an animal lover since young and has set out a vision for himself – to travel and explore the world. His family has also played a role in cultivating his love for nature and wildlife by having a practice of catching tadpoles and then bringing them back home. They can hence witness the tadpoles’ growth to frogs, at the comfort of their home.

His special love for reptiles, and snakes in particular, came from a particular incident during a trip to Holbrook, Massachusetts when he was still very young. He managed to spot a snake under a pile of wood and reached for it but was unfortunately bitten. One would expect him to have a phobia of snakes since that incident, but it turned out that his love for snakes grew instead to a point that he was nicknamed “Snake Boy”.

He attended high school at Norwell High School and then proceeded to spend his freshman year of college at Eastern Nazarene College which is located in Quincy, Massachusetts. Afterwards, he moved on to study at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degrees in anthropology and biology. He then decided to further his studies by going through a graduate course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he obtained his master of science in wildlife and fisheries conservation. That was also the period of time where he decided to focus on analysing bats and snakes. He was awarded with an honorary doctorate in public education in 1999 by Bridgewater.

His love for nature and wildlife first started when he received his inspiration after stepping foot into the Belize rain forests in 1984. He discovered how people around him had viewed wildlife poorly and used them in an unsustainable manner and hence, decided to be a conservationist so as to educate the public regarding the importance of conserving nature and wildlife.