ABOVE: UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST, AUSTRALIA
Growing up in the lush countryside of Geneva, Switzerland, Celine Frere spent the bulk of her childhood outside “with nature, in nature, observing nature, and admiring nature,” she says. Her parents were dealing with their own problems—her mother struggled with mental illness and her father wasn’t around much—so Frere sought solace in the animals that roamed the rolling hills around her. “I was always fascinated by this inability to communicate [with animals], yet we can have such great connections with them,” she tells The Scientist.
By the end of high school, Frere sought to escape Switzerland. Its cold climate didn’t suit her, and because she identified as a lesbian, neither did its socially conservative culture. She set her sights on Australia, where in 1999 she enrolled at the University of Queensland and turned her fascination with animals into a scientific pursuit. “You respect ...
