Clay Bolt

Clay Bolt is a Natural History and Conservation Photographer specializing in the world's smaller creatures who regularly partners with organizations such as the National Geographic Society and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. His current major focus is on North American bumble bees. He was a leading voice in the fight to protect the rusty-patched bumble bee under the Endangered Species Act, which became North America's first federally protected native bee in 2017. In 2019, Bolt became the first photographer to document a living Wallace's Giant Bee"”the world's largest bee"”as a part of a four person exploration team to rediscover the species in the Indonesian islands of North Maluku. After the rediscovery he worked closely with Indonesian authorities and TRAFFIC to prohibit online sales of the insect across all major online sales and social media sites, as well as measures to prohibit non-scientific collection of the species across Indonesia.

In his current role as Communications Lead for World Wildlife Fund's Northern Great Plains Program he develops comms strategies to fight insect and grasslands biodiversity loss. Clay is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, Associate Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), and past president of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA). Learn more at www.claybolt.com.