One day, however, reading freshwater fishing magazines at my uncle's house, I fell in love with the trout. It was literally love at first sight: I had never seen a fish as beautiful as this one! Soon, I became addicted to beautiful rivers with cristalline waters and even learned by myself how to build a fly and cast  using a fly-fishing rod. Trouts/Fly-fishing became my big passions.

It was also reading fishing magazines that I got enthralled by the beauty of otters... In these magazines they were depicted as the "ghosts" or the "queens" of italian rivers, and we had so much in common (they, like me, enjoyed very much fishing). They were so incredibly adapted to hunt in waters, so elegant while swimming, so intriguing and playful, and so rare in Italy! (but for once, rarer in Northern than in Southern Italy). Again, it was again love at first sight.

As an adult, I sought to become a researcher who studies animals in the field (a Wildlife Ecologist) and, being highly motivated, I even realized my dream: studying otters, becoming a worldwide recognized expert of my favorite animal since my 11 years of age. Indeed, my nick name Lontrenzo stems from "Lontr(a)" ("Otter" in Italian and Portuguese) + "(Lor)enzo" (my name) 🦦

I then had the privilege to study another amazing, anatomically peculiar, and globally threatened species, the Iberian desman, one of rarest and yet less-researched mammals in Europe, of which I'm currently one of the very few specialist in Portugal. I also worked with several other fascinating species, including fish, crayfish, and carnivores (mainly other mustelids and medium-sized ones).

Hiring me as Freshwater consultant on July 2021, WWF Portugal offered me to work on Dam Removal projects, i.e., projects aimed at removing obsolete river barriers. You can imagine my reaction, since it was another dream becoming true!!! In fact, I remember that I discovered about the Dam Removal movement when I was eleven, while reading fishing magazines. At that time, the movement was pioneering in the USA, and seemed pure utopia here in Southern Europe. Now, after 30 years, here I am, spearheading the movement in Portugal! 

Here, you may read more on what we do to remove mental and physical barriers to let the rivers free-flow again, helping the Portuguese government to overcome its delay in terms of river restoration and align to key European directives, such as the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (and the newly published Nature Restoration Law).

I am always enthralled by the beauty of the natural world every time that I am fortunate enough to be in the wild. Or even when I travel and am in cities - for example when I went to Singapore specifically to stalk its incredible population of diurnal, urban otters! (pics available at the end of the 'Travels' section).

I am happy to put on good use my varied set of skills and find ways to improve Biodiversity Conservation and People's life on the Planet. In particular, I am passionate about participatory projects that aims to protect/restore Biodiversity/Ecosystems while ensuring better and more sustainable life-styles to people.