The Thing About Wildlife – Details, episodes & analysis

Today's guest is a very cool spider specialist and all-round natural history enthusiast with a penchant for storytelling, photography and zooming into every living being in every environment he finds himself in: Samuel John. John is someone who first made strides in the corporate sector as he began his career, and within the last decade, decided he wanted to switch gears entirely! He is currently a fantastic nature educator and is now the co-founder of an exciting initiative: Spiders and the Sea. In addition to his photography and teaching, he's also a prolific writer, with his words appearing frequently in places like Roundglass Sustain where he's written over 50 articles!

Today we're in conversation with Alissa Barnes - a marine biologist who wears several hats - from illustrator and social scientist to diver and shark anatomy specialist! She has been working to understand elasmobranch fisheries since 2015, and much of her work has focussed on gathering baseline information about fishing practices across multiple states along the west coast and understanding the drivers behind the fisheries. With about a decade of interdisciplinary and diverse experiences under her belt, she is now co-leading the Sharks and Rays project in the Marine Conservation Programme at the Wildlife Conservation Society!

Welcome to a new series within this podcast: The Thing About Pride. These are episodes showcasing the work and lived experiences of queer or LGBTQIA+ identifying persons in the fields of ecology and conservation.
First up, on today's episode, I speak with Nisha Bhakat about her fantastic work studying birds in tea estates of Bengal, her journey in the intersection of being a wildlifer and a queer, female-identifying individual, and about some larger philosophical questions about what fieldwork ought to look like. Article mentioned in the episode: https://lonelyconservationists.com/2023/02/08/nisha/

If you are a queer-identifying individual in the field of ecology/conservation, do consider joining the Indian Queer Wildlifers Circle! To be a part of this group - one that respects your anonymity and keeps your identity confidential - please write in to me at thethingaboutwildlife.com or DM me on any of our socials! We are currently a group that is over 80 members strong, and we're still growing. Remember, you're not alone - we're all in this together.

Malika Virdi is an urban citizen turned farmer who co-founded Maati Sanghthan, a women’s collective, in Sarmoli, Munsiyari. This collective actively works to fight against the growing violence against women, and focuses on improving community wellbeing through an environmental lens. Siddharth Negi is one of the founders of the Uttaranchal Youth and Rural Development Centre, or UYRDC, where he works to establish an ecological, social and economic environment wherein the local communities can grow to sustain themselves in the years to come. Together, we explore the challenges of living and farming in a place as dynamic and unpredicatable as Uttarakhand, and explore how the agrarian communities there have been adapting to climate change over time.

This is the first of two very special bonus episodes produced in collaboration with the Sydney Environmental Institute and the India and Bharat Together NGO. Together, we explore the on-ground consequences of climate change in the western himalayas, and what they mean for the future of people and habitats of these regions.

In our first episode - The Thing About Glacial Melts, through an introspective conversation with two young individuals rooted in Ladakh, we will try to understand how local communities from the higher reaches of the Himalayas have been experiencing, and adapting to, the increasingly real consequences of climate change. Lobzang Wangtak, glacial conservationist and co-founder of Navikarana Trust, an NGO , and Dawa Dolma, an independent journalist striving to bring the people’s stories to the forefront of climate change discourse, join me to dissect what is happening in Ladakh today. 

Dr Sahir Advani is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Maine. While he works at a larger, global scale now, we dipped into his experiences from the pre-pandemic era for this episode, from when he conducted his doctoral work across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Sahir is interested in finding sustainable solutions to coral reef associated fisheries and the export markets driving them. He has profiled the fisheries of these Islands, with a focus on the grouper fisheries. His research spans avenues of marine biology, community-based research and conservation, and global economics.

Today's guest is Mahi Mankeshwar - a cetacean biologist who has one of the most natural affinities to the marine space that I've ever encountered. She was one of the first people to systematically document the diversity of marine mammals around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with a focus on cetaceans - that is, dolphins and whales. Her work across the islands has led to some of the most fantastic sightings and records of these incredible animals for whom Indian waters are home. And from the sound of it, she's only getting started.

I am joined by my guest co-host, Tanmay Wagh, who you all met last Season as part of episode 21: The Thing About Marine Adventures! Together, we speak to two fabulous members of the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team at the Dakshin Foundation - James Tirkey and Babu Kutty.
James is the Base Coordinator and a Field Assistant at ANET. He has extensive research experience - having assisted on several forestry projects. He enjoys work within the realms of botany, herpetology, birding, mangroves systems and the marine sphere. He has a scientific and logical mind, with a largely calm demeanor, save for the occasional volleyball match! He's also a keen naturalist, and seeing an unexpected species around the field base is one sure-shot way to bring an uncharacteristic, joyous smile on his face.
Babu is the Boat Captain of the research vessel Khlee, and is also the maintenance-in-charge at ANET. Basically, the king of jugaad and quick-fixes! He is also a certified diver with skilled knowledge in navigating the seascape - both above and under water. He is integral to the planning and execution of several research projects - including Tanmay's - and is one of the most passionate members of ANET. He expresses his concern for the environment through heated discussions and long rants, all lending insight into his deeply pragmatic thinking.

Dr Elrika D'Souza is the Programme Manager of Oceans and Coasts at the Nature Conservation Foundation. Her research interests lie in exploring plant-animal interactions in seagrass ecosystems. Elrika has documented historical declines in dugong populations in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, and has worked towards identifying the reasons that led to that very decline. Presently, her research in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago focusses on understanding the biotic and abiotic processes that  shape seagrass ecosystems and dugong behaviour.

Today, I speak with the dedicated and observant, Dr Arijit Pal, a postdoctoral fellow at the national institute of advanced studies in bangalore. For the past decade, Arijit has been closely studying the Nicobar long-tailed macaques of Great Nicobar Island. He was one of the first primatologists to venture into this space in order to study a species we knew next to nothing about. Today he is continuing to build upon his years of work studying tool use and social dynamics in this uniquely islandic primate. In today's episode, we delve into his deep love for this space and species, and also inspect what the future looks like for them and upcoming research.

In memory of Aishwarya Mandya.