Where there's smoke, there's fire. But when that fire tears through a landscape, what happens next? Today, we dive into the world of pyrophytic ecosystems—those that not only survive but thrive on fire. Our guide on today's journey is Ross Barreto, a master's student studying native plant population dynamics and spatial ecology. He's also an Urban Forester and likes to experiment with native plant propagation, seed production, and outplanting for restoration and horticulture purposes. We explore the role of fire in Florida's ecosystems, native plants, and the resilience of nature.

Follow Ross on Instagram @barross0505

Have questions, topic suggestions, or want to be on the show? Email me at devonlbowker@gmail.com or dm me on Instagram or TikTok @devonthenatureguy

Support The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Welcome to The Wild Life! On today's episode, we have a fascinating guest: wildlife cinematographer Jake Davis.

Jake’s career began by focusing on the wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Growing up, he spent his summers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the Teton Range's jagged peaks and abundant wildlife fostered a deep love for nature and a desire to share and preserve it. Today, while Jake travels the globe to film the stories of vulnerable wildlife, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem remains his home.

As a cinematographer, Jake works on natural history productions for renowned platforms like BBC, National Geographic, Disney, Netflix, and Apple. Most recently, he spent five months filming snow leopards in Mongolia for the third installment of BBC's famous series "Planet Earth.” His recent work has been part of a series nominated for a 2023 Emmy and for Best Cinematography at the prestigious Jackson Wild Film Festival.

Jake’s work incorporates diverse filming techniques, including long lens, drone, and gimbals, but he is best known for his novel approach to filming wildlife with high-tech camera traps. He also created the world’s first collection of wildlife Ambrotypes, featuring images on glass plates. Among his accolades, Jake was a 2019 finalist in the renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition held by the London Natural History Museum, and his work has been displayed at the Smithsonian in the Exhibition of Nature's Best Photography. His nature greeting card line is sold in stores across the western United States, including REIs and the Yellowstone stores.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of understanding animal behavior and ecology to capture the perfect shot and effectively tell their stories. We explore the future and potential of artificial intelligence in wildlife filmmaking, the "chicken or the egg" question of wildlife cinematography, and the challenges of working off-grid. Jake shares his experiences with camera traps, the heart-wrenching decisions of the footage chopping block, and how to craft compelling narratives without words.

Join us for an in-depth conversation that highlights the blend of artistry and science required to bring the wild to our screens.

Check out his website and order some prints

Check out his gallery

Follow Jake on Instagram

Have questions, topic suggestions, or want to be on the show? Email me at devonlbowker@gmail.com or dm me on Instagram or TikTok @devonthenatureguy

Support The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

This episode, which originally aired on March 24 2018, takes us all the way from Copenhagen to the rainforest of South America, from the belly of the beast to its excrement, as we explore nature’s Vampires.

Our guest is Dr Marie Lisandra Zepeda Mendoza, who had recently finished her postdoc in Copenhagen, Denmark and whose recently published research on vampire bats and how they survive on such a peculiar diet is at the center of this story.

If you'd like to support the creation of this show, the blog, and my science communication efforts on social media, you can do so for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Follow all of the podcasts featured in this episode!

The Root of the Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RootofSciPod

Website/Podcast: https://rootofthesciencepodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Earth Ideas

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ideas_earth

Website/Podcast: https://lnk.bio/SnYr

Curiosity Cake

Twitter: https://twitter.com/curiosity_cake

Website/Podcast: https://curiositycake.co.uk/

Papa PhD

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PapaPhDPodcast

Website/Podcast: https://papaphd.com/

Mad Scientist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MadScientistPod

Website/Podcast: https://www.themadscientistpodcast.com/

Breaking Math

Twitter: https://twitter.com/breakingmathpod

Website/Podcast: https://breakingmathpodcast.app/

The Nagging Naturalist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nag_naturalist

Website/Podcast: http://www.thenaggingnaturalist.com/

That's What I Call Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatsScienceTAS

Website/Podcast: https://thatsscience.org/

mAcademia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mAcademiaP

Website/Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mAcademia

The Wild Life

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheWildLifepod

Website/Podcast: https://thewildlife.blog/

What Are YOU Going to Do with THAT?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/What2doWithTHAT

Website/Podcast: https://linktr.ee/what2dowiththat

My 4 year old brought me my mic and asked if we could make a podcast episode. This is that episode!

Also know as the cigar shark for that one time a sailor mistook it for a cigar and only realized their mistake after trying to light it up—kidding of course— Isistius brasiliensis is shark of the family Dalatiidae. The genus name, Isistius, is based on Isis. No, not the terrorist group, but after Isis, the Egyptian goddess of light.

https://thewildlife.blog/2019/08/05/sunday-fish-sketch-the-cookiecutter-shark/

Support at patreon.com/thewildlife

Support our work at patreon.com/thewildlife

This past August as I sat below an old oak tree while drinking my morning cup of coffee and looking out on a glassy Lake Darling in Alexandria, Minnesota, something fell from the sky and landed at my feet. Small and curled up like a slightly puff green and yellow sour gummy worm. It’s face made it look like a Pokémon, or like one of those smiley face antenna toppers. Two hours later, another fell in the same exact spot. If I didn’t already know what it was, I would think it was a caterpillar of some sort.

Read more and see bonus visuals here: https://thewildlife.blog/2019/08/14/is-it-a-worm-is-it-a-wasp-no-its-the-elm-sawfly/

In the skies across Minnesota (and much of the eastern US and southeastern Canada, for that matter), roams a fierce and agile predator, capable of taking down prey you would never imagine—and some many wouldn’t dare to try at themselves.

Support us at patreon.com/thewildlife

Read the transcript of this episode, see some art, and awesome videos at https://thewildlife.blog/2019/07/11/the-dragonhunter/

This is circle of life—or at least an ugly, albeit necessary, curve of it. This is the life of the American Carrion Beetle.

Support our show at patreon.com/thewildlife

Follow us on Twitter @thewildlifepod

Read the transcript of this episode at https://thewildlife.blog/2018/08/03/carrion-my-wayward-beetle/

In this episode, Devon and Richard talk snow, Frozen 2, whether or not water has memory (and if it's good or bad), the Big Bang, the formation of planets, the secret role of bacteria, why snowflakes are intricately symmetrical, and more!

Become a patron (and our best friend), and get tons of cool perks at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife and help us to keep doing what we are doing and getting better! Also, check out our latest merch at www.thewildlife.blog/shop

If you are interested in learning more about our upcoming hikes, visit

https://thewildlife.blog/hike/

Follow Devon on Instagram @devonthenatureguy or on Twitter @devthenatureguy

Follow the official blog and podcast pages on Instagram @thewildlife.blog and on FB.

Join our official FB group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheWildLife.Blog/

Music heard on this episode:

Deliberate Thought by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=deliberate+thought

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

We Always Thought the Future Would Be Kind of Fun by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/darkglow/

Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

We’ve all heard of snakes on a plane, but this time of year, snakes are slipping their way into all sorts of unexpected places—like basements of the unsuspecting.

Read the blog version and find the links mentioned in the episode here: https://thewildlife.blog/2019/11/30/snakes-in-the-basement/

Sharks are in the water. But is the ocean shark-infested, or shark-depleted? I sat down to talk with Dr Alexandra McInturf to find out.

Learn more about Alexandra and her work

Papers Referenced:

Half a Century of Global Decline in Sharks and Rays

Half a century of rising extinction risk of coral reef sharks and rays

Global catches, exploitation rates, and rebuilding options for sharks

Bycatch Solutions

NOAA Link

Don’t let their cute little face fool you. The carnivorous Least Weasel is fierce, eating up to 60% of its body weight in food per day.

Weasel vs Seagull

Weasel War Dance

Check out this and other shorts over on our other listing, too| The Wild Life: SHORTS!

Support the show on patreon.com/thewildlife

https://thewildlife.blog/2018/02/24/the-least-weasel-is-the-most-extra/

In our first episode back in over a month, we are revamping our Phylum series by focusing in on another tier of classification: Class.

Welcome to our new miniseries.

Chitons belong to the Phylum Mollusca, along with bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods.

They may seem simple, but there is a beautiful complexity in their story and existence if you know where to look.

Welcome to Class.

Happy Halloween! In this super special, unexpected, and therefore super last minute holiday treat (and trick), Devon reads a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story, A Tell Tale Heart, that you undoubtedly were coerced into reading in high school. In our somewhat modernized version, we get a different, more wildlife oriented ending that turns out to be the most opposite from horror as you can get.

Become a patron (and our best friend), and get tons of cool perks at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife and help us to keep doing what we are doing and getting better!

Follow Devon on Instagram @devonthenatureguy or on Twitter @devthenatureguy

Follow the official blog and podcast pages on Instagram @thewildlife.blog and on FB.

Join our official FB group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheWildLife.Blog/

While we're on a brief hiatus, we wanted to take a trip back in time to revisit our Season 2 premier from February 2019.

In this episode, Devon and Richard attempt to settle an age old argument between them by enlisting the help of renowned biochemist, professor, and author, Dr Nick Lane of the University College of London.

The debate: is there complex alien life somewhere out there, or is it improbable that there is anything more than cellular life. We look to the improbable origins of complex life on earth in search of answers.

Swishy dainty areas, droppable penises (well, just the tip), butt-breathing, smelling things with horns, the tenacity of nudi niche filling, over-generalizations, taxonomy, blind dates, and how nudies came to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and they’re all out of bubblegum!

We sit down this week with the Nagging Naturalist herself, Kristen Mankowski to talk nudibranchs in all their glory.

So, hold onto your butts, wherever they may be, as we dive deep into the world of nudies!

Follow her on Twitter at @nag_naturalist and @junglegymqueen

Support our show and nonprofit at patreon.com/thewildlife

Tomorrow, we have an episode coming out in which The Nagging Naturalist herself, Kristen Mankowski, drops some major Nudibranch Knowledge on us.

BUT as two naturalist, we had a very hard time staying on topic. This...this is our ramblings. Think of it as an opportunity to get acquainted with Kristen before tomorrows episode! We talk the horribleness of naturalist uniforms at Target, Noodle Knockers, True Facts videos, Biomechanics, what makes good SciComm, and a bunch of other random stuff!

Check out her website and show! http://www.thenaggingnaturalist.com/about.html

Follow her on Twitter at both @nag_naturalist and @junglegymqueen

and tune in tomorrow to learn all about Nudibranchs!!!!

In this episode from 2018, Devon and Richard look into the void to unveil the cause of the once mysterious Deep Scattering Layer, taking you on a journey involving covert military research in World War 2, the largest migration on earth, shimmering creatures of the deep (and their food), and an organic machine responsible for capturing carbon and sinking it into the depths of the ocean.

Behind the SCiENcES with Dr Diva Amon

Let's get to know deep sea biologist, Dr Diva Amon

How long has she been interested in science?

What was her first real connection with nature?

Why the deep sea?

What advice would she give a younger version of herself?

No intros, outros, ads, or credits. Just 100% science!

Support us at patreon.com/TheWildLife

We're back with another carefully, specially curated segment from our last full episode with Dr Diva Amon. In this SHORT, you'll get to here about underwater lakes (like the Goo Lagoon), hydrothermal vents, and life in the dark.

No intros, outros, ads, or credits. Just 100% science!

Support us at patreon.com/TheWildLife

In need of some science in your soul but a full episode is too long at the moment? We're selecting specially curated segments just for you! No intros, outros, ads, or credits. Just straight up science facts!

Support us at patreon.com/thewildlife

Another stroll down memory lane as I revisit the second-ever guest episode of The Wild Life, Myth-Understood: Busting Bat Myths and Mistruths with Liz Dengate from March 6th of 2018.

If you'd like to support the creation of this show, the blog, and my science communication efforts on social media, you can do so for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

This week we focus on an animal that has been the victim of superstition and fear for thousands of years. Despite what many believe, these creatures are extremely important to our everyday lives.

I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to share this episode with you. By far one of my favorite interviews I’ve done!

It’s sea-ptember, and today we are diving deep

A month or so back, I had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with today’s guest that left me wonderstruck. As I mentioned at the top, this started as an attempt to follow the journey of the body of one of the oceans most fascinating creatures after their lives have ended, but it became an expedition to the deep sea.

We talk hydrothermal vents, shag 

carpet, whale falls, blobfish, zombie worms, fish on stilts, see through skulls, scientific colonialism, exploding whales, and...honestly there is so much in this episode I can barely come up with a comprehensive teaser.

Today’s guest is a Trinidadian-British deep-sea biologist working at the nexus of science, policy, and communication.

She studies the weird and wonderful animals living in a range of deep-sea habitats and how our actions are impacting them.

She participates in expeditions around the world and has an extensive science communication and outreach record.

She’s also a Pew-Bertarelli Ocean Ambassador, a Co-Lead of the DOSI Minerals Working Group, a Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum in London, and a Director and Founder of SpeSeas.

She has honestly done so much amazing work that I don’t feel I could come up with any intro to do her justice.

So, get ready for a deep dive, to a dark and mysterious place. Take a break from the rippling pressures and darkness of life during COVID (depressing enough?) for a different kind of pressure—-3k to 9k pounds per square inch!

Support our show as a member at patreon.com/thewildlife or donate at paypal.me/thewildlife

Follow us on Twitter @devthenatureguy and @thewildlifepod

Follow us on Instagram @devonthenatureguy and @thewildlife.blog

Check out Diva’s website at divaamon.com and follow her on Twitter @divaamon

It's Sea-ptember, and it's about time we revisit this old favorite of ours in which we explore the true source of the Air We Breathe.

In this episode that originally aired May 30th, 2018, Devon and Richard talk to Dr Julie Koester of UNC-Wilmington and Dr Orly Levithan of Rutgers about the truth behind where our oxygen comes from, and the tiny organisms we have to thank for our very existence.

Support The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildlife

In the second part of our Phylum miniseries, we're talking Ctenophores (box jellies) and Cnidaria (jellyfish, anemones, hydra, and coral!)

Unlike our episode on sponges, we had done a lengthy episode two years ago on Jellyfish with Lucas Brotz, research associate at the Marine Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia and a Cnidaria Scientist for Quantitative Aquatics.

That being said, we felt it would be a shame to not use the wealth of information from that episode, so most of this episode is a replay of that.

Sometime this week, we will be posting accompanying educational resources and imagery with more detail on the other Classes within Cnidaria, such as anemones and coral!

Follow The Wild Life on Twitter @thewildlifepod and Instagram @thewildlife.blog

Support us at patreon.com/thewildlife and paypal.me/thewildlife

How do plants make more plants? Better yet, how can one plant reproduce with itself?

That was the question Devon's wife asked when an accidental pumpkin plant sprouted and eventually conquered their backyard. Who better to answer that than Vikram Baliga!

Vikram is a research associate and greenhouse manager at Texas Tech University, a horticulture expert, host of the amazing podcast Planthropology, and an all around fantastic dude. If you don’t listen to his show, you need to.

Our conversation spans the birds and the bees, urban agriculture, water conservation, parking lots, forest cities, rooftop gardens, sustainability, and so much more!

So, go outside, nestle down in some leaves, get in touch with your roots, and do some human photosynthesis while you listen to our conversations with the one and only Vikram Baliga.

Listen to Planthropology on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, or wherever else you like to get your podcasts.

• Website: www.planthropologypod.com
• Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/Planthropology
• Facebook: Planthropology
• Facebook group: Planthropology's Cool Plant People
• Instagram: @PlanthropologyPod
• Twitter: @Planthropology_
• e-mail: Planthropologypod@gmail.com 

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/planthropology)

Follow The Wild Life on Twitter @thewildlifepod and Instagram @thewildlife.blog

Support us at patreon.com/thewildlife and paypal.me/thewildlife

Everybody knows their sound. It's haunting, but it also holds fascinating secrets.

Hyena’s have been painted as villains, demons ridden by witches, grave robbing ghouls, and the embodiment of all things vile by people for thousands of years. Nature documentaries and Disney films alike play no small role.

That’s what we’re exploring today. Much like in our episode on sharks, what is at the root of such a divide in how culture and science view these animals?

Our guide today is none other than the Jane Goodall of Hyena’s, Michigan State University’s Dr. Kay Holekamp!

We talk Lion King, arch nemesis, puzzle boxes, intelligence, teamwork, why it sucks to be a male hyena, how females have overthrown the patriarchy, aggression, laughs, and oddly a lot about something called a pseudopenis.

So, grab a cup of coffee and join your family in violently tearing a part a gazelle carcass as we explore the truth about hyena’s.

Support our show as a member at patreon.com/thewildlife or donate at paypal.me/thewildlife

Follow us on Twitter @devthenatureguy and @thewildlifepod

Follow us on Instagram @devonthenatureguy and @thewildlife.blog

It's #SharkWeek2020...and it is easily one of the best examples of a massive divide in how the general public sees an animal compared to how experts see and talk about them. Science Twitter is a buzz with fact checking, jokes, and outright facepalming while Mike Tyson rumbles on the reef with Jaws and entertainment programs portray sharks as serial killers of the deep. That isn't the only dark side of all of this either. We talk about some of those things throughout this episode, but mostly we dispell some myths and mistruths while learning about what makes sharks so amazing!

We talk shark diversity, finning, bad movies, mermaid purses, why not to chase sharks, and so much more!

Learn more about today's guest at https://www.drcatherinemacdonald.com/

Follow her on Twitter @dr_catmac

Read her Op-Ed in Scientific American at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-dark-side-of-being-a-female-shark-researcher/

Read the mentioned Forbes article by Melissa Cristina Marquez, based on research by herself, Dr David Shiffman, and Dr Catherine MacDonald at https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/2020/08/12/inaccurate-and-biased-global-media-coverage-is-a-threat-to-sustainable-shark-conservation/#7c4a19193fc1

Follow us on Twitter @thewildlifepod and Instagram @thewildlife.blog and @devonthenatureguy

Support us at paypal.me/thewildlife or become a member at patreon.com/thewildlife

Check out our merch at thewildlife.blog/shop

When we hit 800 twitter followers, we said we'd do a bonus episode and an AMA. So, we did them both together! This is 40 solid minutes of us eating candy corn, playing Halo, and answering yalls questions!

The first installment of our first ever miniseries is here--Phylum: Porifera!

Sponges are often overlooked aside from Spongebob Squarepants and cleaning. It's time that changed. Dive into the amazing life history of sponges!

Throughout this series, we will be covering 9 of the main phyla in the animal kingdom. Next up on our list? Cnidaria (jellies)!

On our website, https://thewildlife.blog/2020/08/08/phylum-porifera/, you will be able to find educational materials that coincide with the episode as well as a coloring sheet, worksheet, key, and two sponge anatomy posters. This will be the case with every episode in the series, so stay tuned!

Support us at patreon.com/thewildlife or make a one-time donation at paypal.me/thewildlife

Follow us on Twitter @thewildlifepod and Instagram @thewildlife.blog

On July 18th, Just the Zoo of Us posted a harmless tweet asking "what is the most overhyped animal?"

It started an all out war: #WormGate2020

This is our attempt, along with Ellen Weatherford's, at a tracing explanation of what exactly went down.

To see the original tweet and follow the breadcrumbs yourself, go here: https://twitter.com/JusttheZooofUs/status/1284598945377812481?s=20

Support The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildlife and paypal.me/thewildlife

Hey everyone, a bit of a different approach with this episode. Last week, we left off talking SciComm and just about to talk about @BlackAFinStem and #BlackBirdersWeek. That's where we pick up this time in a conversation that spans immigration, COVID 19, the problem with SciComm, being a person of color in a scientific field, learning, antiracism, and so much more.

A sizeable portion of what we discuss revolves around the earlier Florida Man administration announcement that international students on M-1 and F-1 Visas wouldn't be allowed to stay in the country if their fall course load was all online, despite there being a global pandemic. Since the, some of that has changed, but nothing is for certain.

The only edits are the intro and outro. Everything else is the original raw conversation. Why? We didn't want to diminish the meaning. We didn't want to chime in and speak for Chelsea's truth. This is her story to tell, and our story to hear.

Chelsea is not a spokesperson for people of color or international students, but her story and the uncertain reality that she finds herself in are ones shared by so many. We hope you listen, take note to heart, and take the words you hear as a call to action.

Get her stickers here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/chelseaherps/shop?asc=u

Support Chelsea on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/ChelseaArts/posts

Support The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildlife and paypal.me/thewildlife

This was the first ever episode of The Wild Life back in 2017, and it was never supposed to happen. That's right, The Wild Life, as a podcast, was an accident. The result of a series of unfortunate events. But that's life, isn't it? It happens in the most unexpected of ways. I never imagined that this is where I would be today, and I'm so incredibly grateful for the experience and all those who have been a part of it, as guests, as listeners, and as people who believed in the work I was doing and helped me to succeed.

The mystery of zebra stripes has long been a subject of debate, at least since the days of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace. Now, thanks to Dr. Tim Caro, a professor of wildlife biology at the University of California-Davis, we finally have our answer.

Next week, we're exploring Shark Conservation with Alexandra McInturf!

If you'd like to support the creation of this show, the blog, and my science communication efforts on social media, you can do so for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Peace out, rainbow trouts!

Color changing, mini lassos, islands, superpowers, vivid blues, falling of limbs, and so much more!

This first half is largely focused on the anoles, but part 2, see, Chelsea is one of the cofounders of #BlackBirdersWeek and @BlackAFinSTEM, and so our conversation in the second half largely revolves around that, SciComm, art, and at the time, the news that the nearly 1 million international students in the US would have to return home if they did not have in person classes due to COVID...a decision that might be being walked back in but things are still unclear and the conversation is important important and needed nevertheless. You’ll hear part two next week, but for now, drop and give us 50 to assert your dominance while you listen to our conversation with the wonderful...Chelsea Connor, anole expert, genius behind #DidYouAnole, contributor on anoleannals.com, and artist behind the adorable and creative anole/popsicle stickers that need to be smacked on the back of your laptop immediately!

Get her stickers here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/chelseaherps/shop?asc=u

Support Chelsea on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/ChelseaArts/posts

Support The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildlife and paypal.me/thewildlife

Further Reading:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carib_Territory

http://kalinagoterritory.com/

Our guest for the day has one of the coolest jobs on earth, studying in what is perhaps the coolest place on earth. He is full of stories, and knowledge, and passion for little creatures that so many would overlook. He will have you wood by the end of the episode as a lifelong ardent snail enthusiast, nay, lover.

Richard and I spoke to him back in late May, and it was so much more than we bargained for. Now, you might be wondering, what are we talking about today? Well, mostly islands!

Today’s guest is an adjunct assistant professor at Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska, received his B.A. at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN and his PhD at Iowa State University.

We talk islands, upside down tortoises, rafting, Judas goats, a morphological menagerie of snails, cities, clever birds, the Galapagos, and so much more. So, grab some dessert and get isolated for our interview with Dr Andrew Kraemer!

Follow him on Twitter @andykraemer

Check out his website: https://andrewckraemer.wordpress.com/

Follow us on Twitter @thewildlifepod and @devthenatureguy

Follow us on Instagram @thewildlife.blog and @devonthenatureguy

Contact us at hello@thewildlife.blog

Get Merched Up at thewildlife.blog/shop

Support our nonprofit aiming to interrupt systemic barriers of exclusion in science and the outdoors that work against BIPOC, and our show, at patreon.com/thewildlife and paypal.me/thewildlife

Dark Walk by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100468

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

This episode starts with a major announcement, but then...

Tattoos, superheroes, opportunities, regeneration, Men in Black, phallic fencing, 1st brains, discoveries, cocaine, addiction, belly button mouths, and so much more. So, wherever you are, maybe a floaty in a pool gliding around like a flatworm in a petri dish, get ready for our conversation with Dr. Oné R. Pagán ! His enthusiasm will have you hooked. By the end, you'll never want to stop talking about flatworms in any and all social settings, no matter how appropriate or inappropriate.

Follow Dr. Oné R. Pagán on Twitter @BaldScientist

Read his blog at baldscientist.wordpress.com

Purchase his books at https://www.amazon.com/One-R.-Pagan/e/B00J6J1FCI%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Follow us on Twitter @TheWildLifepod and @Devthenatureguy

Follow us on Instagram @TheWildLife.blog and @Devonthenatureguy

Check out our website at thewildlife.blog and purchase merch at thewildlife.blog/merch

Join Our Book Club at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2678194339079182

Support our organization at patreon.com/thewildlife

Acoustic Meditation 2 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Dog person? Cat person? No, no, no. We’re all Snow Leopard people.

AI, the difficulty of finding snow leopards, a strange form of social networking, tricky trail cam footage, using their floofness as a conservation tool, what to call a group of snow leopards, how snow leopards are world-class experts at social distancing, and so much more, with Dr Koustubh Sharma, Senior Regional Ecologist and the International Coordinator of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection program for Snow Leopard Trust!

Learn more about Snow Leopard Trust at www.snowleopard.org

Follow: @koustubh_sharma and @snowleopard

Become a Patron of The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at patreon.com/TheWildLife

https://thewildlife.blog/shop/ for shirts, mugs, stickers, phone cases. and more!

Follow on Twitter @thewildlifepod and @devthenatureguy

Follow on Instagram @thewildlife.blog and @devonthenatureguy

Today, May 21, is the 221st anniversary of Mary Anning’s birth. She is not a household name, by any means—though she is believed to be the inspiration behind the well-known tongue-twister “she sells sea shells by the sea shore”.

However, it wasn’t shells she was selling, but fossils of long extinct creatures of a bygone era. She was ‘the greatest fossilist the world ever knew’. Though, the sad truth is much of the world never knew, and still does not.

221 years after Mary Anning's birth, a young girl from the very town where Mary lived her entire life is fighting to rectify a historical injustice in recognizing Anning in bronze—a fitting honor for a woman who spent her life uncovering creatures lost to time.

Towards the end, I butcher the pronunciation of Saiorse Ronan. We’re all human, right? Don’t make my mistake and learn how to say her name the right way in this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kbv6_rpC7jw

If you would like to support Mary Anning Rocks, you can do so by visiting http://www.maryanningrocks.co.uk. I strongly encourage you to pledge your support and purchase one of their stellar t-shirts. Friends, family, and strangers alike will want to know just who this Mary Anning is, and now you can tell them.

Become a Patron of The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at patreon.com/TheWildLife

Read this at https://thewildlife.blog/2019/05/22/women-in-science-meet-mary-anning-fossil-hunter-and-the-11-year-old-fighting-for-her-recognition/

https://thewildlife.blog/shop/ for shirts, mugs, stickers, phone cases. and more!

Follow on Twitter @thewildlifepod and @devthenatureguy

Follow on Instagram @thewildlife.blog and @devonthenatureguy

Elaphrosaur paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1342937X20301234

A rare blue bee has been spotted in Florida for the first time in 4 years according to a news release from the Florida Museum of Natural History!

This isn't the only winged critter there has been a lot of buzz about. By now, you've all hear of the 'Murder' Hornet. We'll tell you why you need to chill out.

We have one more bonus episode coming this week to celebrate the birthday of fossil hunter Mary Anning, and then a new full-length episode on Friday! It's a busy week.

Support The Wild Life by becoming a member at patreon.com/TheWildLife or by purchasing official merch at thewildlife.blog/shop

Follow us on instagram @devonthenatureguy and @thewildlife.blog

or on Twitter @thewildlifepod or @devthenatureguy

Wherever you are listening, be sure to leave us a rating and review. It's not just a review, it's a very real source of serotonin! Also, leave us a review on Podchaser, the IMDB of podcasts, at https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-wild-life-1023165

Everybody loves Orangutans, but how much do we really know about them? We are currently living in a world where we may lose all wild orangutans within the next decade as a result of human activity, but many of us are live our day to day lives unaware of that tragic fact. In this episode, we sit down with Leif Cocks, World-Renowned Orangutan Expert, whose worked in the field for nearly 30 years.

He's the author of “Orangutans and their Battle for Survival”, “Orangutans: My Cousins, My Friends” and “Finding our Humanity: An Inner Journey Towards Understanding Ourselves and Our Way Forward”. Leif has leadership roles in 10 organizations, including The Orangutan Project which he founded in 1998, and was responsible for the first ever reintroduction of a zoo born orangutan!

Find out more about the Orangutan Project at www.theorangutanproject.org

Support The Wild Life by becoming a member at patreon.com/TheWildLife or by purchasing official merch at thewildlife.blog/shop

Follow us on instagram @devonthenatureguy and @thewildlife.blog

or on Twitter @thewildlifepod or @devthenatureguy

Wherever you are listening, be sure to leave us a rating and review. It's not just a review, it's a very real source of serotonin! Also, leave us a review on Podchaser, the IMDB of podcasts, at https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-wild-life-1023165

It's Mother's Day, and we kind of owe her a major Thank You for (along with Dad) shaping the people we became and The Wild Life as a whole.

Life is a lot of things, but one thing it can be is unexpectedly big. Like, really, really big. What started as a random question from a high schooler ("what's the biggest living thing?") with a seemingly straight forward answer, evolved into a search that lead to some very unexpected places. Such a big journey called for the crossover of the century! We joined forces with Ellen Weatherford of Just the Zoo of Us (an animal review podcast) to explore the world's oceans, the African Savanna, a plateau in Utah, and the forest of eastern Oregon in our search for the Biggest of the BIG.

Follow Just the Zoo of Us on Twitter @justthezooofus or on Instagram @thezooofus and www.justthezooofus.com/

Be sure to leave us both a rating wherever you are listening or on Podchaser, the IMDB of podcasts!

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-wild-life-1023165

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/just-the-zoo-of-us-855900

Become a Member Supporter for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife

Learn more about our showcased organisms at the links below

https://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/oregon-humongous-fungus/

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/blue-whale/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_%28tree%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_elephant

When we started The Wild Life, the original idea was to answer listener submitted questions and have every day people on the show to interview guests with us or talk about their interests and passion. Well, when you first start a podcast, you have no listeners, so we had to re-evaluate. In the last year, we've grown quite a bit and now have that listener base which enables us to do that which we originally set out to do, so today, we're bringing you the first of many to come: a conversation with artist and outdoors/nature enthusiast, Maria Hancox.

She has amazing artwork, and an amazing eye for the little things in nature, and you should absolutely be following her on any of her 3 instagram accounts, @muhreeugh, @mhancoxart, and @mariaoutside

In this episode, we talk about butterflies, ant symbiosis, Ologies, chasing curiosity, iNaturalist, and following your passion. We also have a lot of callbacks to past episode topics like The Metamorphosis Metaphor, #CitSciFri with Carrie Seltzer of iNaturalist, Ant Farm, and The Dirty Truth About Butterflies

If you would like to RSVP for the 50th Episode Celebration Trivia Night on May 1st at 7 pm CT, please use this link. Spots are limited! https://forms.gle/um37DZxe9QxuMtpy6

It's been awhile. I think it's time for some reintroductions.

I've spent a lot of time over the past year, 6 years really, reflecting on the journey so far, the ups and downs, the struggles, the wins, the change (oh, so much change), and I think I've finally landed comfortably with where I am and what I want this to be. I look forward to sharing my work and the perspectives of scientists from around the world with you every Wednesday as we explore the natural world, the dizzying amount of connections we share to it and each other, and find the courage to protect this planet we call home.

If you managed to get through all 25-ish minutes, thank you so much for your time.

The release schedule for the remainder of the year is as follows:

1. REVISITED: The Mystery of Zebra Stripes
2. Shark Conservation with Alexandra McInturf
3. REVISITED: Bat Myths and Mistruths
4. Wasps with Eric Eaton
5. REVISITED: Nature's Vampires
6. Cephalopodcast with Meg Mindlin
7. REVISITED: Canary in the Coal Mine
8. Conversation with Lauren Queen of the Wild
9. REVISITED: The Air We Breathe
10. Carnivores with Aiden Branney
11. REVISITED: Metamorphosis Metaphor
12. Conversation with Dr Carly Anne York
13. REVISITED: Is Anybody Out There?
14. Animal Ethics with Mad About Animals Mags
15. REVISITED: Ant Farm

If you are able and would like to help sustain and support The Wild Life, you can do so at www.patreon.com/thewildlife for as little as $1 per month

Follow me on social media @devonthenatureguy

If you live in the north, you almost definitely know we have frogs, but how do they survive the winter? That's what we explore today as we revisit one of our SHORT series episodes from July 2019!

Read the associated blog post and check out some pictures!

Rate and review us wherever you listen, or on Podchaser

Want to be on the show? You don't have to be an expert! Contact us, here!

Follow us on Instagram @devonthenatureguy or @thewildlife.blog

Follow us on Twitter @devthenatureguy or @thewildlifepod

Support the show at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife

and check out our official merch shop at https://thewildlife.blog/shop/

In this time of self-isolation and social-distancing, this time where we are inundated with numbers and figures every waking hour of the day, we wanted to take a break from our status-quo and do something a bit different. What we all need is a little connection, so this week we have a conversation. Just two people, me and the one and only Corina Newsome (aka the Hood Naturalist) chatting about conservation, #SciComm, breaking down barriers of exclusivity, birds, and being ones self (among other things!).

Corina Newsome is a graduate student studying biology with a focus on avian conservation. She has worked in the field of wildlife conservation for 8 years, first as a zookeeper specializing in animal training and environmental education, and currently as a field biologist working to conserve the MacGillivray's seaside sparrow. Having experienced the hurdles faced by people of color interested in wildlife careers, Corina has founded several programs to encourage high school students from underrepresented demographics to consider careers in wildlife sciences. Corina grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has always had a desire to participate in, and advocate for, the conservation of wildlife and natural spaces, and encourage people of color in the U.S. to explore the great outdoors.

After this week, we will be taking a short break. In part, this break is to allow for Richard to focus on his move to MN, but also because my wife and I are incredibly busy at home with the kids and teaching our high school students in the virtual realm. Rather than add to the chaos and distraction, I've made the rare-for-me decision to take something off of my plate. I want to focus on my family, as we all should in these times. Stay safe, stay healthy, and STAY HOME.

Remember, I have also started an initiative to connect science teachers like myself with families and students in need of additional support. Find more information at https://thewildlife.blog/skype-a-science-teacher/

Follow Corina on Twitter: @hood_naturalist

Follow Recommendations|

@Sternarchella Kory Evans PhD

@Astronaia Naia Butler-Craig

@SarahMackAttack Sarah MacAnulty PhD

@SkypeScientist

Book Recommendations|

A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration, by Kenn Kaufman

Superior: The Return of Race Science, by Angela Saini

Support the Show at Patreon.com/TheWildLife

Thank you to our supporters Brigid Fitzgerald, Matt Capelle, Andrea Lloyd, Megan Ghariani, and Chris Trankel

Hey! Devon, here. March, as you may know, is International Women’s Month, and in honor of that (and the most important women in our lives), my wife and our mother are taking over---and they insisted this episode be called "Hooters". Why? Well, you can ask them...but mainly because it's about owls! The two of them owl-bsolutely love them. So, they sat down to talk about owls, poke fun at Richard and I, and tell bold-faced lies about my love for Duran Duran.

This is their first time ever making a podcast. There are some sound issues on account of me not explaining how to set levels properly---that's on me! But, if you like what you here, they've promised that they'll team up to do more episodes of The Wild Life in the future!

Join the Book Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2678194339079182/

If you want to learn more about, or sign up for, the Skype a Science Teacher program, check it out here https://thewildlife.blog/skype-a-science-teacher/

Instagram: @thewildlife.blog and @devonthenatureguy

Twitter: @thewildlifepod and @devthenatureguy

Support the show at patreon.com/TheWildLife