Chadden was born in the Australian desert and grew up traveling the world. He went to school in the USA and Iran before returning to Australia and falling in love with the rainforests and Great Barrier Reef of Northern Queensland. After a Bachelor of Science in Zoology at the University of Queensland, he worked as a research scuba diver, then studied rainforest bowerbirds to gain a First Class honors degree in Behavioral Ecology. A keen interest in the social behavior of mammals lead him into the African wilderness looking for beasts with bigger brains.Primates became the new passion as Chadden began his PhD based at the University of Liverpool in the UK. His subject was the gelada baboon and a long term field study lead to 3 years living with gelada in the remote Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia. He survived a major war, armed bandits and brain parasites before Sir David Attenborough visited with a film crew. Since completing his PhD, Chadden has been a Scientific Consultant, Presenter and Producer on a number of major natural history films.
Chadden now focuses on media and conservation and maintains his passion for both Ethiopia and his beloved gelada. Recent projects include the National Geographic series Cliffhangers, about Chadden and his life with the monkeys, and work on the epic BBC series Planet Earth.
