Background
Heflick was born in Akron, Ohio. He grew up on a farm outside of Marion, Ohio living the life most farm boys did, which was running the woods and fields with his dogs.
Heflick was born in Akron, Ohio. He grew up on a farm outside of Marion, Ohio living the life most farm boys did, which was running the woods and fields with his dogs.
He attended Pleasant High School, after moving into a more residential farming community. He graduated in 1987.
At age 7, he knew he wanted to be a biologist and to work with animals. Wanting to go to college to earn his biology degree, but not having the money for it, Heflick joined military service and volunteered to go to Central America. He was not disappointed with what he found and his love for exotic exploration and adventure was born.
During these college years, he worked multiple jobs to make it through.
Heflick worked at a vet clinic, a physiology lab and was security at a bar to name a few. Heflick had always been mesmerized by the ocean since gaining his Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array certification when he was 16, so attending a graduate school close to the ocean was no accident.
Heflick left graduate school and took a job at Brevard Zoo as curator, where he excelled at his duties and both taught, as well as, learned from his keepers in the husbandry and care of exotic animals until 1998. Heflick left the zoo to once again pursue his graduate degree, which he earned in 2001.
Since receiving it, he has worked as a teacher, director of conservation, field biologist, director of education and president for several not-for-profit conservation Non-governmental organizations.
Heflick is currently the host for National Geographic Wild"s Python Hunters and has appeared on or in National Geographic, Public Broadcasting Service Nature, Smithsonian Channel, Travel Channel, Time Magazine, Time Magazine for Kids, Dateline, Nightline, British Broadcasting Corporation, Cable News Network, American Broadcasting Company, Columbia Broadcasting System, National Broadcasting Company, as well as, countless newspapers across the United States and abroad. Heflick also runs several small businesses including Wildland Tours, Art By Evolution, White Gator Productions and Shawn Heflick Enterprises. Occasionally Heflick also contributes commentary as an animal expert on various local and national news programs.
Heflick and his family live in Florida and have a home in the Amazon Basin of Peru where they love to vacation and get back into the wild.