Vladimir Ovtsharenko

Since he was a boy, Vladimir Ovtsharenko has been fascinated by nature. Growing up, he loved collecting spiders, beetles, and butterflies for fun. Vladimir began studying spiders while in high school. As an arachnologist at the American Museum of Natural History, this curious "spider man" identifies new species and figures out how different spiders are related to each other.

Image credits: main image, courtesy of AMNH; Vladimir Ovtsharenko: courtesy of AMNH.