Hansel Herrera is a wildlife biologist from northwestern Costa Rica. He first arrived in the Osa Peninsula in 2012 to work at the Piro Biological Station, where he served as the Conservation and Volunteer Program manager. He has worked as a researcher for the University of Costa Rica and the National University (Costa Rica) where he carried out studies on sea turtles, jaguars, crocodiles and small mammals.

Hansel holds a bachelor's degree from Berry College, USA, where he majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry and Business Administration. He earned his master's degree in Wildlife Management and Conservation from the National University (Costa Rica) in 2016. For his thesis research, Hansel studied the predator-prey relationship of jaguars and sea turtles in the tropical dry forest of the Guanacaste Conservation Area. He's currently working at the Experimental Sustainable Palm Laboratory led by Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo.