Unlike most other arachnologists Jörg has never held any academic position and has worked as a private individual with no financial support for travel or equipment.
[1] Jörg Wunderlich grew up in the east of Berlin and moved to the western part of the city with his family in 1951.
He began studying mathematics at the Free University of Berlin to become a teacher, but soon switched to biology, geography, political science and philosophy.
Wunderlich became in personal contact with experts such as Hermann Wiehle, Wolfgang Crome, Herbert Levi, and Konrad Thaler, among others.
He began his career studying spiders particularly in Linyphiidae[3] and Theridiidae[4] and undertook collecting trips to various countries (Australia, China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Gambia, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Peru, Singapore, USA and almost all of Europe), however he became interested in the spiders of Macaronesia.