The Wild Life

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 bat-like ear for echolocation, and a freakishly long, bony middle finger that can hook grubs from deep inside tree trunks—or, yes, pick its own ...

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 loaf of bread” might be the perfect lifestyle
• Their remarkable teeth, digestive superpowers… and yes, why they eat their own poop
• The wil...

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 animals more room to stretch their wings, claws, pseudopods, or whatever it is they’ve got.⁠

It’ll be bite-sized but packed with questions you di...

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 over perfection, the importance of small, everyday actions, and finding hope in the face of big, global challenges.

We talk:

• 🪸 Coral reefs a...

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.

Emily shares her journey from being a "tree hugger" kid in Idaho to becoming a globe-trotting interpreter of nature's stories, using awe as a to...

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 project, The Animal Archives, documenting over 1,000 animal species across accredited zoos, aquariums, and conservation centers. But this is m...

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 a love letter.

To the sea slugs and phytoplankton.

To coral metropolises and whales that sing.

And to whoever has felt small in the ...

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 of Costa Rica and the highlands of the Wari Empire. Along the way, we uncover how past climate shifts reshaped life on Earth—and what that...

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 Madre de Dios region of Peru. With a Fulbright grant supporting both her research and cultural exchange, Katherine is three months into he...

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 heart. This led to the development of her independent research project investigating their nesting behaviors in captivity, before ultimately le...

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 ...

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 s...

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 of conservation ethics. Our conversation spans a range of topics including sloth bears, baby chicks, wolves, porpoises, The Grind, social...

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 University, an Animal Physiologist, a Science Communicator, and an Author.

Today, science communication, children’s books, squid physiology, mindblow...

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 scientific aid for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Today, he’s a Presidential Research Fellow at the University of Georgia, ...

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 lost contact with over the years

Then one day, sometime last year or so, a familiar name popped up on my feed—an old friend, and today’s gues...

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 the Octopus, they dive deep into the secrets of the ocean's most enigmatic creatures, exploring the latest revelations in octopus research ...