Christopher O'Toole works in the Hope Entomological Collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History where he runs the Bee Systematics and Biology Unit. His research has taken him to the deserts of the Middle East and North America and the savannahs of South America and Africa. He has collaborated on natural history films about insects, most recently the six-part BBC TV series Alien Empire, for which he wrote the accompanying book, and has written 14 additional books on insect behavior and natural history, including Bees of the World (with Anthony Raw) and Bumblebees.