Who we are
Our life-long passion is travelling and studying amazing life of wild animals. The moments when we observe an animal in its natural habitat are one of the most beautiful in our lifes. We wanted to share these precious moments with others so in 2014 we started a project called Living Zoology. We wanted to make zoology more popular with usage of our wildlife photography and videos. Living Zoology slowly became a wildlife film studio with documentary films as our main activity. We focus mainly on venomous snakes which people often fear or even hate. We want to show that these animals are incredible and they deserve respect and protection. We visited 3 continents during our search for reptiles and other animals.
We met during our studies of Zoology at Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic) and we are a couple from 2013. We complement each other greatly and in 2017 we got married.
Zuzana Dolinay
Zoologist, photographer and teacher
From a very early childhood I was fascinated by nature. My adventures took place in the forests around Brno at the beginning, but thanks to my great parents I had a chance to visit places on the other continents already during primary school. The hobby started to be my main interest in life and I studied Zoology at Masaryk University. I was always interested in work with children and I started with many years of teaching environmental programs for Lipka (educational institution for environmental training). Later I finished Upper Secondary School Teacher Training in Biology at the Masaryk University. I combine my love for nature and children in my current job as a teacher in the forest kindergarten Medlánka in Brno.
Travelling is a must for me and I don’t care if I go for a short trip to the mountains or on a big expedition to the tropics. For me it is difficult to think that I don’t have a camera with me during travelling and I am photographing wildlife since 2008. I try to capture animals in unusual way and I am happy if I manage to get a photograph of natural behavior or a rare species.
Matej Dolinay
Herpetologist and wildlife filmmaker specialized in snakes
Since I was a child I was reading zoological encyclopedia and dreaming about expeditions to African wilderness. My love for animals and nature continued so I had no problem with moving to the Czech Republic with aim to study at the prestigious university. I studied at the Masaryk University in Brno and became a Doctor of Zoology in 2022. My work was focused on the evolutionary biology and ecology of herpetofauna in Central Africa.
In 2013 I participated in the field course of tropical ecology with Tropical Biology Association on Madagascar. I completely felt in love with the tropical ecosystems. Since then I tried to return to the tropics as a researcher or filmmaker. I also worked as a product manager and wildlife guide for Czech travel agency Grand Afrika.
Wildlife filmmaking is my full-time job since 2020 thanks to our Living Zoology YouTube channel. I see a big potential in projects focused on less popular animals, such as snakes, lizards, or frogs. Snakes are my biggest passion and I specialize in producing documentaries and educational videos about them. Venomous snakes are often feared by many people, but they have an important role in many ecosystems and they are fabulous!
