George Beals Schaller is one of the most respected field biologists in history, credited with helping establish more than 20 wildlife sanctuaries and rewriting how we understand apex predators. Yet the same rigorous scientist argued that reported sightings of Bigfoot deserved serious investigation, a contradiction that reveals his uncompromising open-mindedness.

Born in Berlin in 1933, Schaller pioneered peaceful habituation while studying mountain gorillas in 1959, dissolving the savage-beast myth. This episode follows his work across snow leopards in the Himalayas, giant pandas in China, and rediscovered species in Southeast Asia, showing how patient, unsentimental observation can pull animals back from the brink.

• Habituating gorillas by chewing celery and averting his eyes to signal submission
• The 1973 Himalayan snow l ...