Journal
As one of the hosts of Expedition X, Phil has spent much of the year filming in some of the wildest, most historical, and bizarrest places in the US as he and Jessica Chobot take on America’s greatest mysteries. With Josh Gates at the helm, this season has more science, more surprises, and more all out good times than ever.
As part of their Intel Evo platform, Intel filmed these commercials to highlight the capabilities and performance of their new line of laptops for creativity and productivity in nature.
It’s been a year with the environment at the forefront, and two brands reached out to Phil to feature him to tell the story of sustainability, conservation, storytelling, and action for their campaigns.
Photographed by Dan Martensen for Tommy Hilfiger and the Cycle Sanders/Nicola Formichetti team for Uniqlo.
Phil was recently written up in Vice, you can read the article here.
“For most people, a larva burrowing ever deeper into your back would not be a cause for celebration.
But most people aren’t entomologists (people who study bugs), and apparently, some entomologists live for this shit. According to Phil Torres, a tropical biologist and entomologist, it’s a rite of passage for some of those who study bugs.
We’ll have to take his word for it—he’s the one letting a botfly (a parasitic fly that plants it’s young in the sweet, sweet meat of humans) slowly eat the inside of this back.”
Phil was recently featured on ABC Nightline with Juju Chang as part of his work as the in-the-field correspondent for PBS Nature’s three night event “American Spring Live.”
BUTTERFLIES: Entomologist @phil_torres examines the way climate change affects the timing of spring and the way humans impact the ecosystem. @JujuChangABC reports. https://t.co/ke0txKFppJ pic.twitter.com/oBWKHsQCU8
— Nightline (@Nightline) May 1, 2019
I joined the California Academy of Science expedition to Penang Hill, Malaysia, to document their canopy-to-understory bioblitz. This resulted in documenting over 1500 species in 2 weeks and a new species of scorpion (below).
The following are some of my images, you can find the full photo essay here on BioGraphic and my video of the experience below.
If you pay attention to nature photography, especially macrophotography, you've likely seen the trend of using white backgrounds for portraits of insects, frogs, even birds. This technique is not only visually alluring, but it also serves as a great method of documenting a species' morphology for guidebooks and publications.
Here are some examples from my photography, and tutorial video above.
Starting last year, I have teamed up with wildlife reporter Jason Goldman and the team at Atlas Obscura to lead trips to some of the wildest places in the world. These aren't just trips to have an adventure, these are a science-themed boot camp where you'll get hands on with ongoing field work and new discoveries all while staying at sustainable ecolodges and field stations in some of the most incredible places on Earth.
We've carefully curated our itineraries to make these some of the most unique visits to a country you can possibly have, starting from airport pickup and ending up in the rainforest staring a howler monkey, or on an island swimming with sea turtles. We also team up with local partners to ensure that we are supporting local conservation and research initiatives and to give you the best on-the-ground knowledge possible.
Our days will be spent hiking, swimming, learning and our nights will be spent having conversations about what conservation really looks like (hint: it's complicated) or staring at the Milky Way. We also provide professional photography assistance and training along the way.
Join us!
Announced:
Soon to be announced:
When I was a kid, I raised beetles and butterflies, had four newts, two frogs, two snakes, a lizard named Bubba, and, of course, a dog. I loved having all these pets and still would like to, but my tastes have changed. It's hard to have a modern/minimal decor apartment in NYC with a big boxy terrarium in there, so I searched around for something different. I wanted to raise praying mantises in style, so I tried out something new.
Here's what I came up with. It's green, it's alive, and I think it's kinda rad.
Here's how it's done:
I bought this hinged roof terrarium on Amazon for $20. Then did some layering- a few stones at the bottom for drainage, 2-3 inches of organic potting soil, then 2 inches of moss for decor. I used reindeer moss like this, but I'm sure other mood mosses would work as well.
The green plant growing in there? That's my favorite part. Do you ever buy potatoes, not use them all, and come back from a trip only to find your potatoes have sprouted and started growing? Yeah, it's time to take advantage of that. I buried the potato in there, and with water and a few days of light I had a full leafy stem perfect for mantises to climb on and molt on.
For maintenance, I have a spray bottle which I use every 3 days to spray the leaves, glass, and soil so that the plant grows and the mantises have droplets to drink. The potato plant also grows even faster than the mantises- I've had to trim a few branches as they grow to keep enough space in there.
Some lessons learned- if I had to do it again, I would have used more of a live moss to handle the moisture better without mold. Also, an acrylic or silicon sealant on the main joints and the very top would have made this terrarium a bit sturdier, more water tight, and sealed enough to better keep in the wingless fruit flies I feed the baby mantises.
When it comes to praying mantis husbandry (the actual care and feeding of them), I'll leave that to other resources on the internet. Just know a few essentials from the beginning- A LOT will hatch out of a single egg case, far more than you'll want in a single terrarium so hatch them in a separate container. Also, the mantises will become cannibals after their second or third molt (within a few weeks), so separate them as they grow and focus on a few healthy individuals. If it's a native species, the rest can hang around your back yard. And lastly, a single tub of live wingless fruit flies is enough to feed all of the mantises for the first several weeks of their life, making it relatively easy to care for them at first.
Nicaragua was the first rainforest I ever explored. I was 15, brought my family into the remote Bartola Reserve down the Rio San Juan, and found the butterflies and monkeys and spiders that made my dream of being a rainforest-immersed entomologist seem not only closer than ever, but more essential than ever.
I've since been back to Nicaragua several times- documenting sea turtle research conducted by Paso Pacifico, or taking my family along to see this gorgeous country. The people, the rainforest, the surf, the food- this is a country that should be at the top of your list for you next trip. Here are a few videos I've put together from my time there:
Some insects are more shiny than others. This weevil takes the prize for glittery, sparkly, and all around amazing.
