Adrian grew up on a farm in Free State Province of South Africa where he developed his love for African wildlife. He graduated with a veterinary degree from the University of Pretoria in 1997 and then spent the next 8 years in small animal private practice in the United Kingdom. In 2005 he returned to South Africa with his wife Ashleigh and three (now four) children, to persue his real passion, namely African wildlife research.

In 2006 he completed a Masters degree in African Mammalogy at the Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria, which he obtained cum laude. He started working at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG)in 2007 as a clinical veterinarian, but his focus soon changed in line with his research interests. Dr Adrian Tordiffe currently holds a full-time research position at the NZG and is enrolled for a PhD in Biochemistry at the North West University in Potchefstroom. His aim is to establish baseline metabolic profiles for captive and free-ranging cheetahs in order to investigate the unusual medical conditions that these animals develop in captivity. He currently also has a dual appointment as an extra-ordinary lecturer at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Onderstepoort. His broader research interests are on the non-infectious and nutritional diseases of wildlife, particularly those caused by anthropogenic habitat transformation.

Dr Tordiffe also has a keen interest in wildife anaesthesia and physiology and has been called apon to assist with the anaesthesia of a wide range of mammals, large and small. Adrian has been involved with the AfriCat Foundation for the last two years where he has been maily responsible for the anaesthesia and medical management of the animals undergoing various dental treatments.