Raised on a dairy farm near Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Stéphan Reebs spent his youth driving tractors and scratching cows behind the ears. Later he went on to earn degrees in biology and zoology from Laval University in Quebec, the University of Alberta, and the University of Toronto, before becoming professor of biology at the University of Moncton in New Brunswick, Canada.His main research interests are in the fields of fish behavior and animal welfare.He is the author of Fish Behavior in the Aquarium and in the Wild (Cornell University Press, 2001) and maintains a complementary web site on the subject at www.howfishbehave.ca. In 2006 he received the University of Moncton’s Teacher of the Year Award.He has been the main contributor to the Samplings column since its inception in 2002.