Born in Belém, Brazil, Peres was exposed to Amazonian natural history from age seven and his father's 5,000-ha landholding in eastern Pará, consisting largely of undisturbed primary forest, became a childhood playground. For the last 30 years he has been studying wildlife community ecology in Amazonian forests, the population ecology of key tropical forest resource populations, and the biological criteria for designing large nature reserves. He is currently a Professor in tropical conservation ecology and divides his time between Norwich and fieldwork at multiple field sites in neotropical forests.