Nichols was born in 1952 in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After studying at the
University of North Alabama, and the same year was in collaboration with
Jane Goodall to publish a book called
Brutal Kinship. During Nichols' time with
National Geographic, his stories have covered subjects including old growth Redwoods, the world's remaining tigers and the emotional relationship of the elephant family. Later on, he traveled to
Central Africa where he met with biologist
J. Michael Fay and then went to
Gabon where he visited 13 national parks, including the
Ndoki forest which was featured in one of the NatGeo articles and in his
The Last Place on Earth book. Having been a staff photographer there since 1996 and
editor-at-large since 2008, Nichols explained in an interview that he was preparing to
retire at the start of 2016, but expressed regret for other colleagues losing their jobs and that he did not understand why the staff cuts were deemed necessary. ==Publications==