PODCAST · science
The Wild Life
by The Wild Life
An optimistic, curiosity-chasing show about the wonder and wildness of life, following the threads that connect us to the natural world. The Wild Life is, always has been, and always will be a show about the diversity of life within the animal kingdom, but it's about more than that. It's about connections. It's about how the natural world inspires our culture, movies, and technologies. It's about the patterns that persist throughout not just life, but the universe itself. It's about us.The Wild Life is a place for the curious, the adventurous, the hopeful, and the hopeless to discover the natural world through unique perspectives. Between the blog and podcasts, The Wild Life seeks to bring the traditional naturalist experience into the 21st century by merging immersive storytelling and foley art with technology and creative experiences. It’s an exploration of truth, common ground, and shared places as we attempt to fill each episode with wonder, connectedness, intrigue, and humor.Tha
Episodes
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Mass Extinctions, Dinosaurs, and Chasing Dreams with Juan-Pablo Piña @paleoauthor
The Earth has ended before. Five times in the last half-billion years, life on this planet has been nearly wiped clean—reset by asteroid impacts, volcanic winters, and cataclysms we can barely imagine. And now? We’re living through number six. The difference? This one’s caused by us. But buried…
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Field Guide of Wonder: The Aye-Aye
Meet the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), a creature so strange that early scientists couldn’t even decide if it was a rodent, a squirrel, or… something entirely new. Native to Madagascar and the largest nocturnal primate in the world, the aye-aye sports perpetually growing teeth, a…
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Field Guide of Wonder: The Capybara
Meet the world’s largest rodent—the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a creature so wonderfully chill it makes a golden retriever look high-strung. In this episode, we dive beyond the memesto explore what makes capybaras such an evolutionary success story. We’ll talk: Why “semi-aquatic social...
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Field Guide of Wonder: The Honduran White Bat
Hey everyone! I have some news to share 😊 Field Guide of Wonder—my social media video series— is getting a podcast companion! And here is the first episode! It'll be short, spectacular stories of the weirdest, wildest, most wonderful creatures on earth, in a format that hopefully gives these...
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Go Green with Alexa Pavan
Hey everyone! I’m really excited to share with you all my conversation with the thoughtful and inspiring Alexa Pavan, aka @GoGreenWithAlexa. We dive into everything from accessible sustainability and composting, to coral bleaching, water bottles, and beach cleanups. It’s a chat about progress…
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Shells, Sunrises, and Side Quests with Emily Hunter
What happens when you follow curiosity wherever it leads? In this episode of The Wild Life, I’m joined by Emily Hunter—a passionate environmental science educator, interpretation specialist, bushwalk guide, and nature communicator currently living and working along Australia’s Ningaloo Reef.…
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Archive of Wonder with Jay Meredith
What do a gaur, an aardvark, a flattened musk turtle, and a Matschie’s tree kangaroo have in common? They’ve all been photographed beautifully, reverently, and intentionally by my next guest—wildlife and zoo photographer Jay Meredith. In this episode, Jay shares the story behind his incredible...
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My Message for World Oceans Day
Today is #WorldOceansDay and I’m feeling a whole lot of things. Wonder. Grief. Hope. Determination. The ocean isn’t just a place to visit. It’s not just a good backdrop for photos.It’s breath. It’s mystery. It’s the engine of life on Earth. And right now? It needs us. This isn’t a doom post. It’s…
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Ancient Finds, Changing Times with Andrew Schwartz
What if the key to understanding our future was hidden in the teeth of creatures that lived millions of years ago? In this episode, we dive into the world of dental microwear with paleontologist Andrew Schwartz (@eyesonthedirt), who takes us from the fossil beds of ancient Wyoming to the jungles…
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Giant River Otters and Other Adventures with Kat Foree
Giant river otters are social, intelligent, and deeply connected to the health of their ecosystems—but what happens when their food supply starts to dwindle? In this episode of The Wild Life, we’re joined by Katherine Foree, a researcher studying how these apex predators use their habitat in the...
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Harvest Mice, 3-Legged Beavers, and Elephant Conflicts with Dylan Beckham
Joining The Wild Life today is Dylan Beckham! She spent two years as a zookeeper caring for all sorts of exotics, including reptiles, invertebrates, fish, emus, wallabies, genets and Eurasian harvest mice. As a herpetology enthusiast, she was surprised to find it was the mice that stole her…
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Where There's Smoke, There's Fire—with Ross Barreto
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...
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Wildlife Cinematography with Jake Davis
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...
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Animal Ethics with Maggie Herskowitz
In this episode of The Wild Life, animal welfare scientist Maggie Herskowitz helps us navigate the tangled webs society has woven around the treatment of animals, both wild and domestic. Gray areas, moral calculations, trophy hunting, industrial-scale fishing and livestock, and the emerging field...
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SciComm, Squids, and Staying Hopeful with Dr Carly Anne York
The world is full of science and, in turn, scientists, and not enough people who truly have that spark for communicating all of that discovery and wonder to the rest of the world. People like today's guest—Dr Carly Anne York (@BiologyCarly). She's an Associate Professor at Lenoir-Rhyne…
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Carnivore Ecology with Aidan Branney
Welcome to The Wild Life, the podcast where we explore the wonders of the natural world and the science that helps us understand it. In this episode, we have an extraordinary guest: Aidan Branney. When we first recorded this interview nearly a year ago, Aidan was working as the large carnivore...
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Feathers, Fossils, and Old Friends with Dr Tiffany Slater
17 years ago, I was a 14 year old attending Connor Middle School in Hebron, Kentucky. Small little town, just across the Ohio River. In 2018, I moved away, back down to Houston, TX. But in the few years I was there, I met and became friends with some of the most amazing people, most of which I…
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Secrets of the Octopus with Sy Montgomery and Warren Carlyle
From their three hearts to their ability to transform and communicate, discover the extraordinary world of octopuses with host Devon Bowker and special guest Sy Montgomery, the "octopus whisperer" herself, and octopus expert Warren Carlyle, founder of OctoNation®. In a new adventure, Secrets of…
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The Joy of Working with Wildlife with Lauren Jackson, Queen of the Wild
In this episode, Devon (@devonthenatureguy) sits down with Lauren Jackson (@lauren.queenofthewild on Instagram and HERp_trap_queen on TikTok) to chat about becoming a wildlife tech, woodpeckers, federal jobs, the friction of private land, scicomm and education, battles big and small, and above…
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Cephalopods and SciComm with Octopus Biologist Meg Mindlin
Today’s episode, social media SciComm, all things cephalopod, their super cool brains, their mind-blowing camouflage, RNA editing, peculiar romances, underappreciated "living fossils", and why octopuses are most definitely not aliens. All with special guest Meg Mindlin, Octopus Biologist Meg's...
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A World of Wasps with Eric Eaton
In this episode, I sit down with Eric Eaton, author of Insectpedia: a Brief Compendium of Insect Lore, Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect, and more! Wasps are far more diverse than the familiar yellowjackets and hornets that harass picnickers and build nests under the…
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Revisited: Nature's Vampires with Dr Marie Lisandra Zepeda-Mendoza
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...
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Shark Conservation with Dr Alexandra McInturf
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...
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Revisited: Busting Bat Myths and Mistruths with Liz Dengate
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…
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Revisited: The Mystery of Zebra Stripes with Dr Tim Caro
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...
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Reintroducing The Wild Life + The Path Forward
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...
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SHORT | Do Ticks Fall From Trees?
Ticks, for as small as they are, strike a disproportionate amount of fear and disgust into our hearts and minds (no matter what good they might do!). Perhaps it’s their arachnid nature. Maybe it’s the fact that they burrow their creepy mouthparts into your body and feast off of your blood. Oh…
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SHORT | Can Porcupines Shoot Their Quills?
While it's true you should keep your distance, is there any truth to the tale of a tenacious porcupine shooting their quills? Have a question you want answered on the show? Send them over to [email protected]! Have your voice featured on the show when you send a voice memo recorded directly…
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SHORT | Why Do Worms Come Out When It Rains?
Unfortunately, we can’t ask the worms directly, but it turns out that plenty of scientists have been asking this very question for, well, a very long time. Today, we explore the leading hypotheses for what drives worms to the surface for these rainy-day adventures. Have a question you want…
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SHORT | How a Puffin Problem Led to the Creation of a Star Wars Icon
Star Wars is as much a product of human ingenuity as it is a space odyssey. Just look at how they solved the Puffin Problem. Have a question you'd like answered on The Wild Life? Email me at [email protected]. You can even have your voice featured by sending a voice memo recorded directly on...
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Wide-Eyed | Why Goats & Cuttlefish Have Weird Shaped Pupils
Who doesn’t love goats? Especially baby ones. Their gait, their bleat, their tiny horns. But there comes a time in any goat interaction I’ve had where we lock eyes and I’m struck with a mixture of curiosity and unease. On today's episode, why goats have rectangular pupils, their auto-leveling…
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Polar Bears and the Illusion of Color
Most would agree that Polar Bears are white, but there's more to the story than things may appear. Transcript Support The Wild Life at https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife for as little as $1 per month and check out Avast!, a pirate pod from my friend Paul Csomo
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NEWS: New Study Suggests the Dugong is 'Functionally Extinct' in China
According to a paper published on August 24th, 2022 in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the Dugong is now “functionally extinct” in China. These gentle marine mammals, sometimes referred to as sea cows, are one of four species of the order Sirenia. They are the cousins of the Amazonian...
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SHORT: Can Other Animals Get Sunburns?
Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a roseate rhinoceros, a bronzed bunting, or a peeling porcupine? Can other animals get sunburns? Transcript Support The Wild Life
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SHORT: Crocodiles Would Bankrupt the Tooth Fairy
Crocodiles are known to be notoriously cantankerous creatures, but what’s less known is this crazy fact about Crocodile teeth–they can go through up to 4,000 teeth in their lifetime! Transcript Support The Wild Life
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SHORT: Why do Hedgehogs have Spikes?
Hedgehogs are easily one of the most unmistakable little critters out there, but how much do you know about them? Sonic is (somehow) a hedgehog, but they’re not really known for being quick on their feet. They’re irrefutably adorable, sometimes pets, and prickly little fellas that roll themselves...
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SHORT: Sea Otters Have Secret Skin Pockets in Their Armpits
Yes, you read that right. Move over marsupials, you’re not the only mammals with skin pockets. Transcript and memes Support
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Class: The Demo Model (DEMOSPONGIAE)
The basic idea behind the theory of evolution behind natural selection is this: if you get eaten or otherwise die before you’ve had the chance to reproduce then your genes, or traits, don’t get passed on. It’s a dead end. But if you survive… some of your traits get passed down to a new…
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Class: The Art of Glass (Hexactinellida)
In October 2020, Ocean Exploration Trust’s E/V Nautilus crew discovered something extraordinary—vast clusters of glass sponges Glass sponges in general are a rare sight, but what made this discovery even more surprising is where they were found. Beginning just 25 miles off the coast of…
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Class: The Sponge Plunge
This season on Class, a deep dive into the amazing life history of sponges. starting with getting to the bottom of what exactly a sponge is! Transcript Support
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New Series Preview: Class
The first episode is coming this week!
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On Birding and Time
This, like many things lately, is a different type of content from The Wild Life. Who knew you could learn so much about authentic expression and finding yourself from producing a podcast? In this episode, I go out for a birding excursion with a major time constraint and ponder on my relationship...
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How to Build an Animal: Body Cavities
So far in the How to Build an Animal series, we’ve been taking a look at the very things that make an animal, well, an animal. In Part One we explored types of symmetry and got oriented with the directions of cephalization. In Part Two we dove into the early development of animals, from...
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Change, Time, & Lessons from a Caterpillar
Time marches on, change is never ceasing, and yet in spite of it all, there are lessons to be learned from even the smallest of creatures, like the caterpillar. Transcript
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The Law of Conservation of Energy, and You
The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, just transferred and transformed. This means many things, not the least of which is that energy itself, across the entirety of the universe, is finite. There’s only so much that can exist. There’s only so much...
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How to Build An Animal: Development
There really is no shortage of ways to build an animal, but there are rules to be followed. To truly understand, we have to go to the very beginning. Check out Part 3 of my pre-kick-off series to my new zoology series, Class, and get oriented with the development of animal life. Link to the...
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How to Build an Animal: Symmetry
There really is no shortage of ways to build an animal, but there are rules to be followed—rules with deep roots. Check out Part 2 of my pre-kick-off series to my new zoology series, Class, and get oriented with the basic body patterns of animal life. Transcript Support at...
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What are Animals?
From the biggest elephant to the littlest fly. From every fish in the sea, to all the birds in the sky. Animals are all around us. Dolphins are animals. Just like owls, salamanders, and the anoles in the tree. A salamander may not look like an owl, and an owl definitely doesn’t look like an...
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The Wild Life of the Largemouth Bass
The Largemouth Bass is a freshwater fish of the Black Bass genus named for—you guessed it—its large mouth. The Largemouth Bass is different than the equally common Smallmouth Bass in that it does in fact have a larger mouth. Who knew? Depending on your location, this fish is known by a variety of...
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The Wild Life of the Gulf-Coast Pygmy Sunfish
The Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish is found in the coastal river drainages of the Sunshine State, Florida, over to southern Georgia. They can be found in areas of dense vegetation in the drainage portions of rivers along the coasts of where they live off of a diet of small invertebrates such as worms,...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
An optimistic, curiosity-chasing show about the wonder and wildness of life, following the threads that connect us to the natural world. The Wild Life is, always has been, and always will be a show about the diversity of life within the animal kingdom, but it's about more than that. It's about connections. It's about how the natural world inspires our culture, movies, and technologies. It's about the patterns that persist throughout not just life, but the universe itself. It's about us.The Wild Life is a place for the curious, the adventurous, the hopeful, and the hopeless to discover the natural world through unique perspectives. Between the blog and podcasts, The Wild Life seeks to bring the traditional naturalist experience into the 21st century by merging immersive storytelling and foley art with technology and creative experiences. It’s an exploration of truth, common ground, and shared places as we attempt to fill each episode with wonder, connectedness, intrigue, and humor.Tha
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Wild Life have?
The Wild Life currently has 198 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Wild Life about?
An optimistic, curiosity-chasing show about the wonder and wildness of life, following the threads that connect us to the natural world. The Wild Life is, always has been, and always will be a show about the diversity of life within the animal kingdom, but it's about more than that. It's about...
How often does The Wild Life release new episodes?
The Wild Life publishes regularly with 198 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Wild Life?
You can listen to The Wild Life on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Wild Life?
The Wild Life is created and hosted by The Wild Life.
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