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Nigel Alan Marven (born 27 November 1960) is a British wildlife TV presenter, naturalist, conservationist, author, and television producer. He is best known as presenter of the BBC miniseries '' Chased by Dinosaurs'', its sequel, ''
Sea Monsters A sea monster is a mythical sea creature. Sea Monsters may refer to: Film * ''Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure'', a 2007 National Geographic 3D film Literature * ''Sea Monsters'', a 2019 novel by Chloe Aridjis Television Episodes * "Chapter ...
'', as well as the ITV miniseries ''
Prehistoric Park ''Prehistoric Park'' is a six-part nature docu-fiction television series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The programme was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created ''Walking with Dinosa ...
''. He is also known for his unorthodox, spontaneous, and daring style of presenting wildlife documentaries as well as for including factual knowledge in the proceedings.


Career


Early life

Marven was born in Barnet but grew up in
St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...
. As a child he loved animals. His first pet was a
hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian ...
called Hummy. He kept
stick insect The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida or Phasmatoptera) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick bugs, walkingsticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as Devil's da ...
s,
boa constrictor The boa constrictor (scientific name also ''Boa constrictor''), also known as the common boa, is a species of large, non-venomous, heavy-bodied snake that is frequently kept and bred in captivity. The boa constrictor is a member of the Family (b ...
s, and even an
eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
in a bath. When he was 15, he also owned young
spectacled caiman The spectacled caiman (''Caiman crocodilus''), also known as the white caiman, common caiman, and speckled caiman, is a crocodilian in the family Alligatoridae. It is brownish-, greenish-, or yellowish-gray colored and has a spectacle-like ridge ...
. He studied
botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
and
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
at the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
until the age of 22 when he left to begin his career at the
BBC Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' T ...
in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
.


Becoming producer and TV presenter (1982-1999)

From 1982 to the mid-1990s, Marven worked as a wildlife documentary researcher for such programmes as ''The First Eden'' and ''My Family and Other Animals''. He then went on to begin producing nature documentary series, one of the first being ''Realms of the Russian Bear'' in 1992. He enjoyed a 12-year professional collaboration with the
natural historian Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...
, whom he holds in high esteem. In 1998, he moved to ITV where he was asked to present wildlife documentaries as well as produce them. In his first television series for ITV, ''Giants'', he swam with a
great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...
without the protection of a
cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...
. Other scenes included a
goliath birdeater The Goliath birdeater (''Theraphosa blondi'') belongs to the tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,100 species have been identified, with 166 genera. The term "tarantula" ...
spider, arguably the largest
spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...
in the world, walking over his face, and Marven grappling a African rock python deep in its underground lair. This style of presenting has won him many viewers and to date he has presented more than 50 wildlife programs and series for television.


Shark Week and prehistory programmes (2000–2009)

In 2000, Marven became the host of the hit annual
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...
event
Shark Week Shark Week is an annual week-long programming block on the Discovery Channel focusing on shark-themed programming. It originally premiered on July 17, 1988. The block is featured annually in the summer, and was originally devoted to conservati ...
, and held this role for three years. In 2002, the Impossible Pictures production company asked Marven to present the ''
Walking with Dinosaurs ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. ...
Special'' episodes "The Giant Claw" and "Land of Giants", which premiered on BBC One to nearly seven million viewers in late 2002. In 2003, Marven also hosted a sequel miniseries, '' Sea Monsters – A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy'', which was an even bigger success. He then continued his partnership with Impossible Pictures as the studio moved on to ITV, beginning with ''
Prehistoric Park ''Prehistoric Park'' is a six-part nature docu-fiction television series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The programme was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created ''Walking with Dinosa ...
'' in 2006, a fictional series about travelling back in time to rescue examples of extinct creatures such as ''
Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It lived througho ...
'', the
woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African ...
, ''
Arthropleura ''Arthropleura'', from Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (''árthron''), meaning "joint", and πλευρά (''pleurá''), meaning "rib", is an extinct genus of massive myriapoda, myriapod that lived in what is now Europe and North America around 344 t ...
'', and others. In his final appearance for Impossible Pictures, Marven was featured as himself in season 3, episode 4 of the ITV action drama series '' Primeval'', which aired in 2009. He is seen playing with a baby ''
Velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in th ...
'', before encountering a ''
Giganotosaurus ''Giganotosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period (geology), period, approximately 99.6 to 95 million years ago. The holotype specim ...
'', which, it is implied, eats him off-screen. In addition to being presenter for Impossible Pictures's time-travelling programmes, Marven also founded his own independent company Image Impact in 2003, and started producing his own wildlife films, including a few one-hour specials and then miniseries, such as ''Penguin Safari'' and ''Panda Adventure'', both which aired on Channel 5 and Animal Planet. In 2007, he also worked with Tigress Productions which resulted in his shows ''Shark Island'' and ''Jaguar Adventure''.


''Ten Deadliest Snakes'' and other nature programmes (2010–2020)

In the first half of the 2010s, Nigel produced nature documentaries such as '' Untamed China'', '' Wild Colombia'', '' Whale Adventure'' and ''Nigel Marven's Cruise Ship Adventures'', the latter which was broadcast in May and June 2015 on
Watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...
. During the summer of 2014, Eden Channel in the UK started a new competition for aspiring wildlife filmmakers called ''Eden Shorts''. The task was to make one-minute videos with animals, with the best ones to be shown on TV. Nigel Marven, along with
Michaela Strachan Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan (, born 7 April 1966) is an English television presenter and singer. After beginning her career in theatre, she ventured into presenting and fronted the children's television shows '' Wide Awake Club'' (1986–1989 ...
, were judges. Nigel has also made some short how-to-guides, available through Eden Channel's website. In May 2015, Eden premiered a film called ''Eden Shorts: From Lens to Screen'' presented by Marven. In the show, he meets competition finalists and reveals techniques used to shoot their videos. One of his more recent successes, '' Ten Deadliest Snakes'', was first broadcast on
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
in the United States in spring 2014, and on Eden in the UK in June of the same year. Season 2 of ''Ten Deadliest Snakes'' premiered in autumn 2015 on Eden, while season 3 began airing on 5 January 2017 on
Nat Geo Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27% ...
in the UK. Highlights of ''Ten Deadliest Snakes'' included, among others, visiting sea krait caves in
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...
, handling
black mamba The black mamba (''Dendroaspis polylepis'') is a species of highly venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. It is native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. First formally species description, described by Albert Günther in 1864, it is ...
in South Africa, snake-hunting with Steve Irwin's son
Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...
in the
billabong In Australian English, a billabong ( ) is a small body of water, usually permanent. It is usually an oxbow lake caused by a change in course of a river or creek, but other types of small lakes, ponds or waterholes are also called billabongs ...
s of Australia Zoo and visiting the Brazilian island of
Queimada Grande Ilha da Queimada Grande, more commonly referred to as Snake Island, is an island off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean. The island became famous for its abundant snakes, hence the name "Snake Island." It is administered as part of the mu ...
, home of the
golden lancehead The golden lancehead (''Bothrops insularis'')Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. . is an extremely venomous pit viper species in the subfamily Cro ...
, with a scientific expedition. In January 2018, Nigel's ''Untamed Philippines'' was screened on Nat Geo Wild in the United States. The presenter-led version of this documentary called ''Wild Philippines with Nigel Marven'' aired on
Viasat Nature Viasat Nature is a television channel owned by international media company, Viasat World LTD. The channel has a focus on animals and their owners, blue-chip, classic wildlife, ER and animal rescue, the natural world, and parks and sanctuaries. V ...
in Europe in March and April 2018 and on Animal Planet India in June 2018, with the American TV channel
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
airing the series in late summer 2019. As of November 2022, Nigel Marven's newest nature series is ''Wild Central America'', a documentary miniseries consisting of four episodes, each looking at wildlife of a different Central American country, with focus on Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama. While ''Wild Honduras'' premiered on Viasat Nature in central and eastern Europe in summer 2019, the rest of the series was first broadcast on the same channel in late spring and summer 2020. The presenter-less version of ''Wild Costa Rica'' and ''Wild Guatemala'' premiered on Nat Geo Wild in February 2020.


Return to prehistoric media and other wildlife documentaries (2020–present)

In September 2020, Blue Meridian and Crytivo released the official trailer for the video game '' Prehistoric Kingdom'', featuring Marven as narrator. On 30 September, the day after the trailer's release, the creative team behind the game confirmed in a live stream that they had approached Marven to narrate the trailer after they saw that he followed the game's official page on Twitter. In May 2021, he confirmed on his Twitter account that he was recording voice-over for the game. Marven also voiced the Early Access Trailer for the game, which was released on 21 April 2022. The game, featuring Marven's voiceover commentary, was released on 27 April 2022. In July 2021, Minecraft addon creator CompyCraft released a trailer for a
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
dinosaur expansion pack, which featured Marven's voiceover. The project was named '' The Giant Dinosaur Adventure'', and was confirmed to be featuring Marven's character inside the game itself. ''The Giant Dinosaur Adventure'' later released on 27 September 2022 on the in-game Minecraft store. Marven narrated the upcoming independent documentary project '' Forgotten Bloodlines: Agate'', which will take place during the Miocene epoch. It was originally slated for release in 2022 but was later pushed to a yet-to-be-announced date. In 2022, Marven partnered with MagellanTV to produce a one-hour documentary titled ''Wild El Salvador — In the Shadow of the Volcanoes with Nigel Marven''. The film was released on 2 March 2023 as part of MagellanTV's celebration of World Wildlife Day. Marven's most recent project is a one-hour documentary film titled ''Wild Slovakia with Nigel Marven'', set to premiere on 1 January 2024 on the Slovak RSTV channel Dvojka. It was filmed throughout 2022 and 2023 by a British-Slovak filmmaking team.


Close encounters

Marven was bitten by a venomous green pit viper in the
East Malaysia East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. East Malaysia comprises the states of Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federal Territory ...
n state of
Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...
in the summer of 2014 during filming of the first episode of the show ''Eating Wild''. The snake bit him on the thumb but did not inject much
venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
, so Marven spent only six hours in the hospital until he had recovered. He has also had a few other very dangerous encounters with venomous
snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
s. While he was producing the BBC film ''The Serpent's Embrace'' in the 1980s, a
spitting cobra A "spitting" cobra is any of several species of cobra that can intentionally, defensively shoot their snake venom, venom directly from their fangs. This substance has two functions, with the first being as venom that can be absorbed via the vict ...
sprayed its venom into his eyes. He spent two to three days in hospital, though luckily the venom did not enter his blood. A similar encounter happened in December 2008 while Marven was making a short film about black-necked spitting cobras for Webosaurs. Though he wore a mask, the cobra venom landed in his hair, then mixed with sweat and ran into his eyes, so he stopped the filming until next morning. In his 2008 series ''Jaguar Adventure'' he was bitten by a mildly toxic venomous false water cobra. His hand swelled up within ten minutes, but there were no other harmful effects. In his 2004
nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or television documentary, series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's nat ...
''Bull Shark: World's Deadliest Shark'', Marven was in the
Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
and stood with shark expert Erich Ritter in the water surrounded by
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...
s. During the filming, a
bull shark The bull shark (''Carcharhinus leucas''), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in riv ...
attacked Ritter's leg and gave him a bite to his calf. Marven still recalls it as one of the most dangerous moments in his career. In 2005, while filming the
Indian rhinoceros The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, great Indian rhinoceros or Indian rhino, is a species of rhinoceros found in the Indian subcontinent. It is the second largest living rhinocer ...
in
Kaziranga National Park Kaziranga National Park is a List of national parks of India, national park in the Golaghat district, Golaghat, Sonitpur district, Sonitpur, Biswanath district, Biswanath and Nagaon district, Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, Assam, India. ...
, Marven and his crew unknowingly got too close to a female rhinoceros with a small calf; the mother rhinoceros charged them, but since they were riding in a truck, they were able to outdistance her. Marven later said that this experience was the most exciting moment in his entire film-making career. In the third episode of his 2012 series ''Wild Colombia'', Marven was bitten on his nose by a non-venomous Central American tree boa, causing blood to cover his face. A similar encounter happened in his 2013 show ''Ten Deadliest Snakes: China'' with a king ratsnake. Likewise, in ''Ten Deadliest Snakes: Brazil'' from 2017, he got bitten on the nose by a non-venomous green vine snake.


Conservation

Marven ran the 2008
London marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...
in 4 hours and 4 minutes to try to raise £20,000 for the
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), formerly Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the UK, is a wildlife charity that is dedicated solely to the worldwide conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans). It ha ...
UK. He is a Panda Ambassador for Chengdu Panda Base in
Sichuan Province Sichuan is a Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capita ...
, China. He is also a patron of The Great Fen Project for restoring vital wildlife habitat, Healthy Planet through which he adopted a plot of land for helping to create new wildlife habitats, and Vale Wildlife Hospital, company that treats injured wildlife in
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
, England. He is also a patron of the ORCA organization, which protects whales and dolphins in European waters. Many of his TV wildlife programmes also seek to highlight the conservation of nature and endangered species. For example, his series ''Panda Adventure'' provides a look at the
giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...
breeding programs at the Chengdu Panda Base and at the
San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in San Diego, California, United States, located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park. It began with a collection of animals left over from the 1915 Panama–California Exposition that were brought together by its ...
in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, in the United States. In the third episode of Season 3 of ''Ten Deadliest Snakes'', he covered the
Kemp's ridley sea turtle Kemp's ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys kempii)'', also called commonly the Atlantic ridley sea turtle, Kemp's ridley turtle, and Kemp's ridley, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. ''L. kempii'' is the rarest species of sea tur ...
conservation project in
Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. In 2016, Marven produced and narrated a short film featuring the work of the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit, which is fighting against rhinoceros
poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...
in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The film is available to watch via the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
and is presented by animal campaigner Anneka Svenska.


Awards and honours

Marven was nominated for a
BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in ...
in 2000 for Best Features for his first presenter-led series, ''Giants''. In 2015, he was nominated for the Donald Gosling Award by Maritime Media Awards for his series ''Nigel Marven's Cruise Ship Adventures''. In 2016, he received an award from the
Cruise Lines International Association Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is a cruise line trade association. It merged with International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) in 2006, forming an expanded organization incorporating the existing functions of both organizations. The ...
. In 2022, a species of
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
spathiopterygid
wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...
described by Maxime Santer and his colleagues was named '' Diameneura marveni'' in honor of Marven "for his appearances in several
palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ...
documentaries". In 2024, an
Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...
-aged
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...
relative, '' Ngamalacinus nigelmarveni'', was named after Marven "for his lifetime dedication to inspiring young paleontologists through his unique and daring style of presenting documentaries on ancient life."


Personal life

Marven married Jenny Hull in September 1996, but they separated four years later. Marven fathered Jane Braham's son Theo, but went on to marry Gillian Impey on 1 May 2004. They also have a child. During filming of ''The Wright Stuff'' on 14 July 2017 Marven announced that he was going through his second divorce. His children are one son Theo and daughter Eleonora. During a simulated
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...
encounter in the third episode of ''Prehistoric Park'', Marven states that like
Incisivosaurus ''Incisivosaurus'' ("incisor lizard") is a genus of small, probably herbivorous theropod dinosaurs from the early Cretaceous Period of what is now the People's Republic of China. The first specimen to be described (by Xu ''et al.'' in 2002), IVPP ...
, he is a
vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
. Throughout the series he applies the same term to naturally
herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...
animals. In the second episode of the ''Untamed China'' series, he says the team cooked vegetarian food especially for him. Marven confirms he is a vegetarian on his official website by stating that the
peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...
is his favourite animal and that he would love to be such a
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
, but because he is a vegetarian eating raw
pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...
would make that hard. In ''Panda Adventure'', Marven states that he is "usually
teetotal Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to be ...
" when having a celebratory drink with a team of Chinese trackers who led him to see giant pandas close-up in the wild.


Filmography

*''Realms of the Russian Bear'' (1992) *''Incredible Journeys'' (1997) *''Wildlife of Iran: Secrets of the North'' (1998) *''Giants'' (1999) *''
Shark Week Shark Week is an annual week-long programming block on the Discovery Channel focusing on shark-themed programming. It originally premiered on July 17, 1988. The block is featured annually in the summer, and was originally devoted to conservati ...
'' (2000–02) *''Bloodsuckers'' (2000) *''Giant Creepy Crawlies'' (2001) *''
Big Cats The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. All cats descend from the ''Felidae'' family, sharing similar musculature, c ...
'' (2001) *'' Nigel's Wild Wild World'' (2001–02) *''Rats'' (2002) *''Alligators'' (2002) * '' Chased by Dinosaurs'' (2002) ** ''A Walking with Dinosaurs' Special: The Giant Claw'' (2002) ** ''A Walking with Dinosaurs' Special: Land of Giants'' (2002) * '' Sea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy'' or ''Chased by Sea Monsters'' (2003) * '' Nigel Marven Nature Specials'' (2003–04) ** ''Anacondas'' (2003) ** ''Piranhas'' (2003) **''Bull Sharks'' (2004) *''Meerkats'' (2003) *'' The Human Senses'' (2003) *'' King of the Jungle'' (2003) *''Extreme Animal Attacks'' (2003) *'' Scream! If You Want to Get Off'' (2004) *'' Nigel Marven's Animal Detectives'' (2005) *'' Nigel Marven's Venom Hunters'' (2005) *'' Britain's Finest: Natural Wonders'' (2005) *''Rhinos'' (2006) *''Ugly Animals'' (2006) *''
Prehistoric Park ''Prehistoric Park'' is a six-part nature docu-fiction television series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The programme was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created ''Walking with Dinosa ...
'' (2006) *''Penguin Week with Nigel Marven'' (2006) *''The Crocodile Hunter: A Tribute to Steve Irwin'' (2006) *''Micro Safari: Journey to the Bugs'' (2007) *'' Killer Whale Islands'' (2007) *'' Hider in the House'' (2007 - on Week 20) *'' Arctic Exposure'' (2007) USA *''Polar Bear Week with Nigel Marven'' (2007) *''Shark Island with Nigel Marven'' (2007) *''Jaguar Adventure with Nigel Marven'' (2008) *''Help! I'm No Bigger Than a Bug'' (2008) *'' Weird, True & Freaky'' Shark Attacks (2008) *'' Primeval'' - Episode 3.4 (2009) UK *'' Invasion of the Giant Pythons: Florida with Nigel Marven'' (2009) UK *''Panda Week with Nigel Marven'' (2010) UK *'' Untamed China with Nigel Marven'' (2011) UK *'' Yunnan Adventure with Nigel Marven'' (2012) (
UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...
Eden) *'' Hainan Adventure with Nigel Marven'' (2012) (
UKTV UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a join ...
Eden) *''Great Animal Escapes'' (2012) *'' Wild Colombia with Nigel Marven'' (2012) UK *'' Whale Adventure with Nigel Marven'' (2013) UK *'' Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven: China'' (2013) *''My Family & Other Turkeys with Nigel Marven'' (2013) UK *'' Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven'' (2014) *''Eating Wild'' (2014) ( AFC) *''Nigel Marven's Cruise Ship Adventures'' (2015) *''Eden Shorts: From Lens to Screen'' (2015) *'' Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven: Series 2'' (2015) *'' Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven: Series 3'' (2016) *''Wild Philippines with Nigel Marven'' (2017) *''Wild Central America'' (2019-2020) **''Wild Honduras'' (2019) **''Wild Costa Rica'' (2020) **''Wild Guatemala'' (2020) **''Wild Panama'' (2020) *''
University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...
'' Christmas 2022 Episode 7 (2022) *''Wild El Salvador — In the Shadow of the Volcanoes with Nigel Marven'' (2023) *''Wild Slovakia with Nigel Marven'' (2024) *''My Best Friend's an Animal'' Episode 3: Spud, Digger and Tommy (2024) *''South Africa: A Wildlife Adventure'' (2024) *''Wild Arabia'' (2024) *''Forgotten Bloodlines: Agate'' (upcoming — 2025)


Video games

* '' Webosaurs'' (2009) * '' Prehistoric Kingdom'' (2022) * ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
: The Giant Dinosaur Adventure with Nigel Marven'' (2022) * ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
: Claws – A Dinosaur Adventure with Nigel Marven'' (2024)


Bibliography

* ''Identifying snakes: the new compact study guide and identifier'' - by Ken Preston-Mafham, Nigel Marven and Rob Harvey, Chartwell Books, 1996, * ''Incredible Journeys'' - BBC Books, 1997, * ''Giants'' - Collins, 1999, * ''Around the World Making Wildlife Films'' - Oxford University Press, 2000, * ''Nigel Marven’s Animal Vampires'' - Scholastic, 2000, * ''Nigel Marven’s Giant Creepy Crawlies'' - Scholastic, 2000, * ''Sea Monsters'' by Nigel Marven and Jasper James - BBC Books, 2003, , 167 pages, hardback * ''Walking with Cavemen'' by John Lynch and Louise Barrett, with foreword written by Nigel Marven - DK Adult, , 224 pages, 2003, hardback * ''Bugs, Beetles, Spiders Snakes Complete Identifier'' - by Ken Preston-Mafham, Nigel Marven and Rob Harvey, Brockhampton Press Inc., 2004, * ''Chased By Sea Monsters'' by Nigel Marven and Jasper James, DK ADULT, 2004, * ''Dinosaurs'' - Kingfisher publications 2007, , 63 pages, hardback * ''Prehistoric Park with Poster'' - adapted by Susan Evento, created by Jasper James, Meredith Books, 2007, , 48 pages * ''Field Guide to the Birds of Chile'' by Daniel E. Martínez Piña and Gonzalo E. González Cifuentes, with foreword written by Nigel Marven - Helm, 2021, , 224 pages, paperback * ''Return to the Wild'' by Danelle Murray and Brendan Murray, with foreword written by Nigel Marven - Independently published, 2022, , 248 pages, paperback.


References


External links


Official website


*
UKTV Eden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marven, Nigel 1960 births English conservationists English naturalists English television presenters Living people