Iandara Gouvea Gonçalves, DVM

Veterinarian

Iandara is a Brazilian wild and exotic animals’ veterinarian. She graduated from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2017, has a sandwich graduation in Animal Behavior at Anglia Ruskin University (UK) in 2016, a lato sensu post graduation in wild and exotic animals’ medicine at Famesp (Brazil) in 2020 and a MSc degree in Animal Science at Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) in 2022. She had experiences both in Brazil and other countries in wildlife medicine, rescue and rehabilitation, exotic animal practice, and animal behavior and welfare, always looking for opportunities to learn more about the animals she loves. Although she works with a wide variety of species, snakes have become some of her favorite animals. Interestingly, she wasn’t always a reptile enthusiast, she developed a fascination for snakes during her Master’s degree while studying reptile welfare and behavior. Since then, she has enjoyed every chance she gets to work with and learn about these often misunderstood animals. Outside of veterinary medicine, Iandara enjoys rollerblading, traveling, cooking, and spending quiet time at home with her cat Olivia, whose calm and easygoing personality is very different from many of the animals Iandara works with on a daily basis. She is always happy to talk about wildlife, behavior, health, and, of course, snakes.