 In 1887, he emigrated to Paraguay along with his family.He first began studying zoology with his father, the naturalist Moisés Santiago Bertoni in the neighborhood of Guillermo Tell, now called Puerto Bertoni in the Alto Paraná Department of Paraguay, along the Paraná River.Between 1903 and 1906, he served as a professor of zootechnics and zoology at the School of Agriculture and Model Farm, which was opened in 1897 with his father as its director.