About Abel
The one who names the invisible.
Field herpetologist, researcher and communicator. This is his story, in his own words.
Dr. Abel Antonio Batista Rodríguez is a Panamanian herpetologist from Chiriquí. He earned his BSc in Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI), a Master’s in Biological Sciences at the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), and a doctorate in Natural Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt, in association with the Senckenberg Research Institute, in Germany.
He is a researcher at UNACHI and one of the founders of its Interdisciplinary Institute of Research and Innovation (i4). He is a member of SENACYT’s National Research System (SNI), category II, and was named “Researcher of the Year” by UNACHI for his search for endemic amphibian and reptile species.
Across more than twenty years of fieldwork he has described or co-described around 35 amphibian and reptile species new to science —and two new genera— the vast majority from Panama. His work combines classical taxonomy with modern tools: genetics, bioacoustics and biogeography.
Beyond the lab, Abel brings science to people. He is president of Fundación Los Naturalistas and promotes scientific tourism through Konsenda. He is co-author of the free outreach book “The Snakes of Panama”.
“We don’t know our biodiversity in depth, and we are losing it.”
TVN
Formation
From Chiriquí to Frankfurt.
BSc in Biology
Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI), Panama.
MSc in Biological Sciences
Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
PhD in Natural Sciences
Goethe University / Senckenberg Institute, Frankfurt, Germany.
Co-founds Institute i4
Interdisciplinary Institute of Research and Innovation, UNACHI.