On this episode, join me in Ireland for a very Irish tale! 

If you’re from where I live in the Pacific Northwest, squirrels might not seem very special. It seems like all I have to do is look out my window and I’ll see one, bounding across the grass. But in the British Isles, the red squirrel is a bit of a “British darling.” They’re a species on the brink of extinction. It seems like everyone wants to see this fluffy-eared, threatened species bounce back. (including me … I did my master's degree on them after all in the 90s). 

And the tale of this creature has become very curious here in Ireland.

The red squirrel population is mysteriously recovering, thanks to another furry creature … who happens to be their own predator.

The pine marten. Even though this player is a predator that eats squirrels, it’s turning things around for the resident reds. I’ve traveled to Ireland to unravel this riddle, and to tell a tale of one squirrel against another. How a wily carnivore called the pine marten is coming back, restoring balance and actually helping its prey return to the Emerald Isle.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

Whenever I'm out doing field work or on a hike, I’ve not only got my eyes wide open, but my ears too. There’s a lot going on in a forest or under the sea - the sounds of nature. So many of those sounds in nature are about communication.

Personally, I love to chat with ravens. I like to think that we have lovely conversations. I know I’m fooling myself... but there’s something happening that might change that.  

There’s a tech company out of Silicon Valley that is hoping to make that dream of communicating with animals a reality. Earth Species Project is a non-profit working to develop machine learning that can decode animal language. Basically, artificial intelligence that can speak whale or monkey...or perhaps even raven?

So we are doing something a bit different on The Wild today - fun to mix things up now and then. For this episode I’m not outdoors among the wild creatures, but in my home studio, talking with two fascinating people about the latest developments in technology that are being created to talk to wild animals. We’ll also explore the ethics of this technology. What are the downsides to playing the role of Digital Dr. Dolittle? 

Guests: 

Aza Raskin, co-founder of Earth Species Project and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.

Karen Bakker, professor at the University of British Columbia where she researches digital innovation and environmental governance. She also leads the Smart Earth Project.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

This past summer, I was in Alaska in a little coastal town called Seward - a gorgeous spot on the Kenai Peninsula tucked between the ocean and some giant glacier-covered mountains. I met a guy named Dan Olsen, who records killer whale calls using an underwater hydrophone. 

Olsen gets all kinds of information from his recordings. The calls bring the underwater world of orcas alive. But there's a lot more going on in these clicks and whistles than you might think. Like, how their dialects, their languages, evolve, and even become part of orca family "culture.”

Jay Julius, a member of the Lummi Nation, says there's something deeper going on in the conversations among orca pods in the Pacific Northwest.

The orca story is one of human misunderstanding and generational trauma. But it's also a story of celebration, family, and a sense of place. Exploring their chatty underwater world might just help us understand how they are communicating… and what they are trying to say.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

Welcome (back) to The Wild. New episodes start on March 14!

Host Chris Morgan is back with another season of The Wild. Join him on new adventures from around the Pacific Northwest and the world. He’ll take you through the Irish countryside to learn how one endangered species is helping another endangered species to thrive.

We will follow the journey of two young bear cubs as they gain strength at a wildlife rehabilitation center after the tragic death of their mother. And we will learn about the healing powers of nature as we talk to one man who is using bees to recover from the loss of his brother.

Season 5 of The Wild will be full of the great storytelling you’ve come to love, from the songs of Orcas, snake hunting in Florida, and how the coyote conquered North America.

Hi all - Chris here - I’ve missed you! I hope you’re doing well and finding a way to get out and enjoy a bit of nature….maybe a hike in the mountains, or a walk around your city park? There really is wildlife all around us, no matter where you are. We're busy working on Season 5 (! wow can’t believe that!)....and we’ve got some enticing episodes shaping up from the PNW, Ireland, England, the Arctic, and the Everglades! All places we're traveling to to uncover some really fascinating people and species. Season 5 will launch in March, so hang tight.

And it’s a really important time right now for the species we share this planet with. Because this week, world leaders are gathering at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal. You can learn more about the conference by following this link. Also, a great video link just out from the Guardian that is about everything I talk about and COP!

Nature sounds in this episode provided by Gordon Hempton, the Sound Tracker.

One recent September I stopped at the side of highway 20 that crosses Washington state’s North Cascade Mountains. At the side of the road was a sign that grabbed my attention. About a storied fire lookout cabin on top of Desolation Peak in the distance, where author Jack Kerouac spent some time in the 50s. The irony was that I couldn’t see the peak because of the forest fire smoke in the air that day. But it fired my imagination….the mountain was calling me. This episode of THE WILD is the result.

The American west is a fire landscape. Since 1983, there’s been an average of 70,000 wildfires every year in the United States. And the wildfire season is getting longer. Warmer springs and long dry summers are the cause.

Things are changing fast in this ancient landscape…So how have wildfires and our philosophy of fighting them changed over the decades?

To answer that, I’ve climbed to the top of this mountain, to the famed fire lookout at Desolation Peak, to speak to Jim Henterly. He is the fire watchman who’s stationed at the lookout. Desolation Peak has long been a place to look for answers. I’m hoping to find a new perspective through him.

The job of a fire lookout is to be a step ahead, ever watchful - observe all around you - and warn of danger. But maybe also to remind us of our role in the ever evolving ecology of fire.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

Join me as I squeeze on a dry suit, don a snorkel, and jump into an icy mountain river.

“That's what I'm amazed by, that a little tiny stream, not even knee deep, is a whole world if you get under there with it.,” that’s what CWU professor Paul James told me as we snorkeled our way through the fast moving current.

Dr. James is surveying the number of fish in the river after a recent restoration project. Gold Creek is an important tributary to the Yakima River and serves as a breeding ground for many fish that are important to the Yakama Nation.

Joe Blodgett learned how to fish from his father. He mastered the technique of dipnetting a fish out of the Yakima River, the traditional kind of fishing for the Yakama Nation.

“We were directed by our leadership to make it like it was before we started destroying their habitat and before we started destroying the flows,” Joe told me. “Make it like it was as a directive from our tribal council years ago.”

Easier said than done when you are facing a generation of infrastructure changes to the landscape and waterways. But this story is about just that, the mission to restore a watershed -  starting with a single river - to truly ‘make it like it was.’

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

I was trained as a traditional scientist, to look at the world through that perspective. Analytical, and clinical. In this “western science” you have to toe the line and keep personal experience and emotions out of it. Science is run as a pretty tight ship. There's a good reason for that, of course.

But for indigenous people, there’s something that comes with spending time in nature that helps to understand it in a different way. Often it’s knowledge from generation after generation of experience. Knowledge of creatures and habitats.

There’s a way to understand nature through both these perspectives alongside each other….indigenous knowledge, and western science. It’s a concept known as two eyed seeing.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

To most of us, coral reefs conjure up magical places full of colorful species and life. They are unknown and otherworldly. Their beauty is perhaps a reason why coral reefs have become one of the more famous victims of climate change, warming oceans. Most people have heard that the future for coral reefs is in total jeopardy. 

And this is a problem, because about 25% of the ocean’s fish depend on healthy coral reefs. Scientists are now warning that the Great Barrier Reef could be gone by the year 2050 if nothing is done to help it.

And it turns out….. Reefs are noisy places. Fish, shrimp, all the little creatures that call a reef home add to the sonic palette of the place.

But as reefs become more unhealthy…life on them is becoming harder for Tim to hear.

The sounds of these watery ecosystems are becoming a very important tool for researchers like Tim. And he has an idea that might be key to helping these struggling coral reef ecosystems rebound. Armed with a microphone and an underwater speaker….can the power of audio help save coral reefs?

Hiro’a is part of a multimedia art project called Small Island Big Song. It is a grassroots musical movement from 16 island nations across the Pacific and Indian Oceans focusing on environmental and climate awareness and cultural preservation.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

I’ve thought about this stuff a lot as I listen to the northern flicker woodpecker tapping noisily away on the rain gutter outside my bedroom window. And not just rain gutters of course. 

Woodpeckers will peck at a tree up to 12,000 times a day and just one woodpecker peck produces about 15 times the force needed to give a human a concussion. So, how do woodpeckers bang their heads so much, and so hard and not come away with brain damage? 

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

Join me among the crashing waves of the Pacific Northwest coast in Washington State.

This unique wildlife story starts, not there, but with a nuclear explosion, literally. During the late 60s and early 70s, three atomic weapons were tested on Amchitka Island in a remote part of Alaska. The blast registered a 7.0 on the Richter scale. over 10,000 fish were killed in the island’s lakes, streams and ponds.

But thanks to a little imagination, right before the nuclear test, a last minute program was deployed to capture and save some of the sea otters. Several hundred of the sea otters were quickly relocated out of harm’s way to the north pacific coast of Washington State and Oregon.

Now, over 50 years later, biologists are trying to figure out what is the fallout from this storied otter translocation . Has the nuclear otter evacuation from 50 years ago been a success? And what are the ecological ripple effects?

This is a story of second chances for an impossibly adorable sea creature, and how their mere presence can support countless other species, and even help save us from climate change. 

Links to films I’ve hosted if you’d like to learn more:

The Kelp Highway

The Blue Forest

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

Happy Earth Day to you all. For a while now I've wanted to share a short piece like this, and Earth Day seems like the right time! I hope you can kick back and listen to a relaxing 10 minute journey all about our precious home. If you enjoy it, please share it with others. After all, we're all in this together.

Thank you for the inspiration to:

Conservationists everywhere.

Everyone working on ‘30x30’ - protecting 30% of the planet by the year 2030.

The team at ‘Earth Emergency’ - check out their fascinating documentary.

Greenpeace, for the poster I saw all those years ago.

Thanks to the wild team Tatiana Latreille, Matt Martin, Jim gates, and Brendan Sweeney. And thank you Gordon Hempton and Quiet Parks International for the beautiful audio

One thing that I love about my work is that I get the opportunity to talk to so many interesting people working with wildlife around the world. For today’s episode I wanted to share with you one of those conversations.

Some of you might remember our episodes on “how to catch a cougar” back in season 2. If you do, the name Dr. Mark Elbroch will probably sound familiar.

Mark is a good friend of mine and a cougar biologist with Panthera - he took us out into the forests of WA State to radio collar and track a cougar for those episodes. It was an incredible experience.

Well, I also had the honor of interviewing him on stage at Town Hall in Seattle recently - about the fascinating lives of cougars - mountain lions - he’s on the cutting edge of some leading research about their behavior, their ecology, and how we can protect and appreciate these beautiful big cats. Mark’s just written a book called The Cougar Conundrum: Sharing the World with a Successful Predator and we’ll talk about that too.

I hope you enjoy our conversation

In this episode you may notice a lot of heavy breathing - because I’m on the trail of a wolverine high up in the mountains. Here’s the story….

In the summer of 2020, there was some big news for wildlife in the pacific northwest. In the wild spaces of Mount Rainier National Park, a female wolverine was discovered along with two babies. The wolverines were back. It is believed that these tenacious predators haven't been in the park for over a century.

Dr. Jocelyn Akins is a wolverine biologist and founder of the Cascade Carnivore Project. She has slogged and toiled through some of the most rugged terrain on earth, setting up wildlife cameras all over the high country in the hopes of proving that wolverines had returned. Eventually, after years of searching, Jocelyn was rewarded with the first images of a mother and her young inside the park.

For 15 years now, Jocelyn has been on a quest to witness and document the return of wolverines to the mountains of the south cascades after a long absence. But the fact a female with youngsters is expanding into new territory could be a sign that the population is making a comeback. And it seems like there’s no creature more determined.

This is a story about toughness, tenacity, and resilience, not just of the wolverines, but of the woman determined to study them.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

Correction, 9:36 a.m., 3/31/2022: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Dr. Jocelyn Akins.

Like so many carnivores around the world, through history the Iberian lynx was persecuted as a menace or a threat to livestock and lifestyle: they were shot, poisoned, trapped, hunted. And misunderstood.

The cats have those really characteristic long tufted ears, black spots dappled across their tawny coat and an old fashioned beard that can stretch down in two long triangles each side of their chin.

But despite it’s regal flare, it’s still endangered, and a real focus of attention. But things are turning around, there used to be only around 100 lynx in Spain but now there are nearly 1000.

That’s why I’ve come to Spain - to figure out what is behind that success story - just how did what used to be the rarest cat on earth leap a staggering 1000% in number in just 20 years?

Learn more about efforts to save the Iberian Lynx with habitat.com/en/">CBD Habitat.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

Shark reputations have never quite been the same since the movie Jaws came out nearly 50 years ago.

Sharks face some very direct threats. They are killed for their prized fins and caught in fishing nets all over the world. 99% of some populations have already been wiped out.

So how do you change hearts and minds about these feared but endangered creatures nearly half a century after the movie Jaws that got us all riled up? The answer seems to be one shark, and one person at a time.

Rachel Graham, Founder and Executive Director of MarAlliance, works to help others understand sharks, engage local fishing communities in central America, and even instill empathy for them. She hopes this will have us all think about sharks in a whole new way.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

Anne Innis Dagg is a tough, straight-talking, trailblazing woman, dedicated to science and social justice. In 1956, she went to South Africa to study giraffes. She wrote a book after her time in Africa that is still considered to be the giraffe bible by many in the field.

But there’s a good chance you don’t know her. She was actually in Africa observing wildlife before Jane Goodall. So why has she been forgotten? What is the story of Anne Innis Dagg?

She is the revolutionary biologist and women's rights advocate you’ve most likely never heard of. 

You can learn even more about her story by watching this documentary film.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

“So there are two important days in your life, the day that you're born, and the day you find out why. I know why I was born, for the owls. So I'm going to work with owls until my very last breath.” - David Johnson

David is founder of the Global Owl Project to protect endangered owl species all over the world. And one lucky owl species that’s been David’s main focus for these past 12 years is the little burrowing owl. 

A burrowing owl reaches only six inches in height and weighs less than half a pound. And as you might guess, these tiny owls live underground. But a curious domino effect has caused a worrying and widespread loss of their subterranean homes. So David is on a rescue mission to save the burrowing owl.

This rescue mission involves some chemical weapons, an old military base, and a very large plunger.

It’s a story about one man’s love affair with a mysterious little creature, and the things they’ve taught him about what they need to survive.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife 

I do love a good border crossing, so join me as I travel to Northeast Portugal, into the Coa River Valley, to witness a really interesting story that is unfolding there.

The dense old forests that were there are now mostly gone. Cut down and replaced with pastures for sheep and olive groves generations ago. And now the shepherds and other farmers are abandoning this region in droves. This checkered history has led to a poor economy, brush instead of trees and an explosion of wildfires.

Join me as I meet passionate, young biologists who are bringing back the forest, ecosystems and wild animals, and creating a new, healthy space for all. To create an ecological utopia in the Coa Valley of Portugal.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon. Thank you!

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

We’re back! I am so excited to share our new season with all of you.

New episodes of THE WILD begin on Tuesday, January 18th.

My team and I have been hard at work finding stories and interviewing passionate people who are making a difference for nature….and our planet.

We’ve traveled the world this season to bring you stories about lynx in Spain, Caribbean sharks, owls that live underground and even how a nuclear explosion in Alaska led to sea otters returning to the west coast of America.

Get your headphones ready and come along on an adventure with me into the wild spaces that inspire us all.

The WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through small monthly contributions to my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

I hope you are having a lovely summer so far. Or winter if you’re south of the equator. THE WILD team is busy working on episodes for the next season. But I wanted to share something special with you that I think you’ll like. This is an episode from the podcast Living Planet from Deutsche Welle. They tell environment stories from around the world. In this episode they explore efforts to bring life back to seabeds off the coast of Scotland. They also look at an app that can tell what species a frog is by its song. A sort of Shazam for amphibians.

You can learn more about the Living Planet podcast here.

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

Follow THE WILD with Chris Morgan on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

Hey everybody….. I just wanted to say thanks for tuning into our third season of THE WILD. It’s been such a pleasure to share these stories and hear your reactions. 

We’ve already started working on season 4. I am really  excited to bring you even more wonder from the natural world. It’s very rewarding tracking down interesting species, human characters and amazing places and turning them into stories for you. This planet we live on seems to have a limitless pool of them. 

But now is your chance to let us know what you want to hear. We are doing a season 3 survey. Let us know what you liked, didn’t like, and help shape season 4. 

You can take our survey here. If you take the survey, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a prize from the show. We can't wait to hear from you. 

We’ll be back with new episodes in the fall. Until then, I really hope you are able to get out and enjoy the rest of the summer if you’re here in the pacific NW, or whichever season you might be in wherever you are in the world. 

Take care. 

Rattlesnakes have long been persecuted, even killed for sport or having their entire dens burned. I head out with two wildlife biologists to look for rattlesnakes as they emerge from hibernation and learn about the important role these snakes play in our ecosystem.

Take our listener survey by clicking the link here. You could be selected to get a WILD sticker.

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

For an ecologist like me, Santa Cruz island is a bit of a dream. It is home to a quite famous fox. It is like no “apex predator” I’ve ever seen before. These aren’t the type of foxes you might see on the mainland. These island foxes are small, very small. 

These foxes are endemic to the Channel Islands, meaning they are found here and nowhere else in the world. But about 20 years ago, people on these islands started noticing fewer and fewer foxes on the landscape. Their numbers were crashing dramatically….on Santa Cruz island they dropped to around one hundred animals. But nobody was sure why.

It was an ecological whodunnit that needed to be solved before the foxes disappeared forever. The clock was ticking. What scientists discovered was a cascade of curiously connected events involving toxic waste, feral pigs, and a couple of New Zealanders jumping out of a helicopter.

Take our listener survey by clicking the link here. You could be selected to get a WILD sticker.

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people have been involved in saving the California condor. We meet some of them in this episode, including a former gang member who has made it his life’s mission to help the birds he loves.

California condors are so iconic that when I finally saw one in person, it felt a bit like meeting a movie star. Condors were one of 78 species listed on the original endangered species list in 1967. And they are still on it. That's 54 years of living on the edge.

Condors are huge. They have a 9 foot wingspan and a bald, orange pumpkin like head. They are North America's biggest bird.

But today, they face a hidden threat….lead. And it is poisoning them. But these birds have brought together a curious team of people who love them, and are doing everything they can to make sure they are around for not just another 54 years, but well beyond all of us.

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife.

Today, I’m talking with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Rae is a large carnivore ecologist and a fellow with the National Geographic Society. She is also a Research Faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the blend of her work is really fascinating. For 15 years she’s studied the behavior and ecology of black bears and african lions and she does it on a backdrop of social justice as an advocate for women and people of color in the sciences. She’s one of the most effective science communicators I’ve seen. And Dr Wynn-Grant has degrees from Columbia, Yale, and Emory! That’s all! 

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife.

Northern Sumatra is a magical tropical home to the endangered orangutan. But their rainforest home is being cut down, and many are orphaned as their habitat is lost. Researchers are working hard to understand how orangutans process and learn, while others rehabilitate young individuals for a life back in the wild.

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work and become part of THE WILD community is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon.

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

The shrill calls of billions of Brood X cicadas emerging from the earth have captured the nation’s ears and attention this spring. But what do these noisy insects DO for the 17 years they live underground? In this episode we dig deep into that question.

THE WILD is a joint production of myself and KUOW Public Radio. One way to support this vital work is through my wildlife organization, Chris Morgan Wildlife. You can find more information at Patreon

Follow us on Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife

Something a little different this week everyone - WILD producer Matt Martin found a surprising story about an opportunity to do something good for one of the pacific northwest’s most important creatures....the salmon.

In this episode, Matt uncovers what one city has done to help salmon. How they redesigned their built environment to benefit not just humans but wildlife too. And how it was all made possible by something quite unexpected…..the rumbling force of a destructive earthquake.

Being a “bird brain” is a complement if you’re talking about ravens. They are smart. Their intelligence allows them to empathize and read emotions, which helps them survive. But it’s their ability to manipulate others, and even plan for the future that allows them to really thrive in the wild.

Over 60% of Belize is in a natural, wild state, but development is threatening the movements of the jaguars. In this episode, I'll meet the people who are trying to help protect these jungle cats.

Hi everyone. We’ve missed bringing you new episodes of The Wild, but that’s about to change. We’re kicking off our third season on April 6th. We’ve got lots of exciting wildlife adventures to share including a trip to Central America and the country of Belize. The  jungles are teaming with wildlife there. It’s one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. I don’t want to give too much away about the trip just yet, but I’ll give you a hint....Jaguars 

Thanks to all of our listeners who have written to us asking to hear more episodes. We thought this would be a good time to replay one of our favorite most loved shows. It’s about the mighty beaver. Spring is only a few weeks away (March 20) and it’s the time that beavers become more active, after laying low during the long winter. Spring is only a few weeks away and the beavers are getting busy with it for a summer ahead. I hope you're starting to feel it too. 

So sit back and escape into nature with me as we step into the world of the beaver.

We are all going through some challenging times, a pandemic, for Americans, an election whirlwind...or maybe other things in life. So, we wanted to give you a break, a chance to step away from the stress and into the wild. On this special episode of THE WILD we listen to a dawn chorus in Eastern Washington and ravens off the fog drenched shores of the Oregon coast.

These sounds were recorded by Gordon Hempton the Sound Tracker and co-founder of Quiet Parks International.

Kick back for a spot of British birdwatching as I head into the English countryside with twitcher Lee Evans. Lee is an extreme birder and he’s become notorious in a nation of bird-lovers, as the man who’ll go to any lengths to fulfill his bird obsession.

Lee has driven 2.2 million miles around the UK and Ireland looking for birds. So far he’s seen 594 different species, but not without some mishaps. I join him for a day in the field to hear more, and to tap into the mind of a really fascinating and knowledgeable man. Enjoy!

Recommended links from Chris Morgan:

The Diary of an Obsessive Twitcher

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Bird Track

Feeling a little cooped up? Take to the skies on the most extreme migration in the world. Join the Arctic Tern, a little bird with serious wanderlust.

Learn how you can support The Wild and can get early access to new episodes and bonus content by going to our donation page.

A sperm whale is bigger than a school bus, emits sonic clicks louder than a jet engine and can dive more than a mile underwater. On this episode I’ll follow this amazing animal deep into the ocean, beyond the reach of light and learn how they can survive at such great depths for 90 minutes at a time.

Learn how you can support The Wild and can get early access to new episodes and bonus content by going to our donation page.

A neuroscientist in Alaska has been studying hibernation in arctic squirrels. Now NASA is looking at her research to see if it can be used to help put astronauts in a state of hibernation for long space voyages.

July has been a busy month for bears including a government decision not to restore grizzly bears in the North Cascades in Washington state. If you’re a regular listener to THE WILD you’ll know I’ve spent a lot of years working for these bears. It’s an issue near and dear to my heart. So I wanted to share a short interview I did on this subject with Kim Malcolm, host of All Things Considered on KUOW in Seattle. I hope you enjoy it. 

Learn how you can support The Wild and can get early access to new episodes and bonus content by going to our donation page.

When you’re outside hiking or camping and you encounter an animal, it’s important to understand what’s going on from the animal’s perspective. On today’s episode Chris will share people’s real life interactions with animals and discuss what they did right and what they should have done differently.

Here are links to the videos discussed on the episode capturing people’s surprising encounters with other creatures:

• Brown bear encounter

• Hiking with bears

• Mountain biker meets mountain lion

• Sea lion drags girl off dock

• Gorillas in Uganda

There is probably no other species in North America that elicits more division than wolves. The sides usually come down to ranchers who fear for their cattle and environmentalists who fear the extinction of an animal that they value.

‘I found a current population pack of wolves and I put my finger in the middle of the map,’ said Daniel Curry. ‘And I said I am going to go there and I am going to do something.’

That “something” was to become a range rider. One part wolf-protecting conservationist, one part modern-day cowboy. Daniel’s new job is to literally stand between cattle and wolves, to keep the peace in today’s wild west.

Daniel's work as a range rider is supported by [Conservation Northwest](http:// https://www.conservationnw.org/our-work/wildlife/range-rider-pilot-project/ ) and the Northeast Washington Wolf Cattle Collaborative (NEWWCC).

It takes a lot of resources to produce these stories. If you are able, I’d like you to consider making a donation of any size to help support this work. Find out more information at our donation page.

I love scat. Excrement, feces, poop...call it what you will, when you’re a wildlife guy this stuff is a goldmine of information. There’s even a technical term for the study of it - scatology. Out in the wilderness, it’s the best way to track an animal and get a sketch of its movements and diet.

On this episode of THE WILD, I’ll look at three different ways biologists are using scat to understand and protect wildlife, including poop parties, a dog on a boat and an international crime fighter.

It takes a lot of resources to produce these stories. If you are able, I’d like you to consider making a donation of any size to help support this work. Find out more information at our donation page.

Special thanks to filmmaker Kate Brooks for allowing us to use clips from her film, The Last Animals. You can watch the film here.

One man in Scotland is on a mission. He wants to rewild the Scottish Highlands. His plan includes planting more than a million trees. But it is not just about the trees, it is about a whole ecosystem that comes with a forest…perhaps someday even including the return of the wolf…a truly wild Scotland again.

You can learn more about the work of Paul Lister and his team at The European Nature Trust.

It takes a lot of resources to produce these stories. If you are able, I’d like you to consider making a donation of any size to help support this work. Find out more information at our donation page.

It takes a lot of resources to produce these stories. If you are able, I’d like you to consider making a donation of any size to help support this work. Find out more information at our donation page.

When Europeans first came to North America centuries ago there were 19 different species of owl. Today...there are still 19. Owls are resourceful and resilient but some species are under threat. Author and wildlife photographer Paul Bannick has documented and studied owls for nearly two decades and will take us to one of his favorite places to observe these amazing creatures and learn about their unique connection to the landscape.

We’ll be back next week with a new episode, but this week we wanted to share an episode from one of our favorite podcasts called Sidedoor. Sidedoor is brought to you by the Smithsonian Institution. This episode caught our attention because it is about one of the most influential early explorers and naturalists that you’ve probably never heard of: Alexander von Humboldt. The man who used science to show how everyone and everything in nature is connected.

Not to mention that he was an inspiration to a fella named named Charles Darwin?

I hope you enjoy this episode of Sidedoor.

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

As technology has advanced in the research community, scientists are now faced with an ironic issue: they have become so overwhelmed with data that it is a challenge to analyze it. In one case researchers on the Olympic Peninsula have turned to prisoners to cull through hundreds of images of animals by hand and categorize the  different species. In this episode we’ll take a look at new developments in artificial intelligence similar to facial recognition that will make it possible for computers to “read” wildlife images and quickly sort through vast amounts of data. 

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

Over the years the ways that researchers have used technology to study animals have changed dramatically. Just a few decades ago, scientists would tie a string to a chicken leg then attach the other end of the string to a camera shutter. When an animal pulled at the bone, the camera would be triggered. Today, far more sophisticated cameras and devices are used to study animals. We’ll look at how this has evolved and see first hand how technology is used to track a cougar.

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

When we talk about the wild in North America, the narrative is usually from the perspective of white European settlers. But the wild of this amazing continent, and it’s relationship with humans goes back way beyond that - thousands of years. Members of the Lummi Nation share with me their tradition of storytelling and how it is used to teach future generations about their past and their connection to the land and animals that live among them.

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

These are strange times for all of us.....unknown territory......it's only reasonable that we're all worried - a global pandemic is a huge concern. We've heard from a lot of our podcast listeners about how THE WILD helps them escape for 20 or 30 minutes each week, and reconnect with nature, which is wonderful because that's what we set out to do. So we've decided to re-release our most loved episode from season 1. It's about the sounds of nature, and the silence you can find there.....it's the perfect place to reflect if you need to think and recharge. Maybe listen to the story, and then step outside, stare up at a tree, take a deep breath and think about wild creatures, your neighbors, and this amazing place we all call home.

A lot of time we go to nature to find silence, to find solace. But what is silence really? You might think you’re in a quiet place, but it is hard to find complete natural silence with no human noise pollution. In this episode, Chris hits the road with sound engineers Gordon Hempton and Matt Mikkelsen on a mission to find the quietest place on earth.

You can learn more about Matt and Gordon’s work [[here]](http:// https://www.quietparks.org/partners.).

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

Karelian Bear Dogs were bred in Finland hundreds of years ago for hunting everything from bears to moose. Now, ironically, they are being used to save bears and other species. In some remote parts of the country grizzly bears have been known to wander into town, presenting a danger of encounters with humans. These Karelian Bear Dogs are being used to scare bears away and prevent future returns. We'll head to Montana to talk to the woman whose brainchild it was to bring this breed to North America to help with wildlife research, poaching, search and rescue, reducing conflict between humans and big wild animals.

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

When you walk through a forest and enjoy the beauty of the trees towering above, there is a giant social network pulsing just below your feet. Underneath the surface lives an extensive network of roots that trees use to communicate with one another, share nutrients to other sick and struggling trees and even alert fellow trees of danger. In this episode I’ll dive deep into the secret world below the forest floor and learn about the largest communications network in the world: the wood wide web.

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information at our donation page.

As our society moved from the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age we now live in a time of constant interruption. In spite of social media and advances in communications, studies have shown that our society is becoming more lonely than in previous generations. It is something author Richard Louv calls “species loneliness” in his book Our Wild Calling. In this episode I talk with Richard about the transformative powers of connecting with animals and how these bonds can benefit our mental, physical and spiritual health.

Consider supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information on our donation page.

When the Elwha dam was completed in 1913, it brought hydroelectricity and economic progress to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state at a steep environmental cost: destroying ancient salmon runs and the historic fisheries of Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. Five years after two dams on the Elwha were removed, something extraordinary happened: The ecosystem began to repair itself - rewilding itself before our very eyes.

Considering supporting The Wild by making a financial gift. Find out more information on our donation page.

This summer, I returned to the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, famous for polar bears, walruses and migratory birds. It’s been 13 years since I’ve last visited the islands and I’m excited - but apprehensive - about what I might find. We’ll explore how this delicate arctic ecosystem works and the future of this beautiful corner of the north.

Ecologist and award-winning filmmaker Chris Morgan kicks off Season 2 with more adventures in the wild. He takes listeners across the Pacific Northwest and around the world to explore wildlife, the complex web of ecosystems they inhabit, and the colorful human characters that know these places and species best.

Earlier this fall, we did a stories from the wild event in Seattle. Just to give you all a little background on how this night came together. We were finishing up the first season of THE WILD this summer and we wanted to do something fun and get people together. So we decided to put on a storytelling event.

We put out a call on social media and to our friends and asked people to volunteer and send us their stories. They auditioned, and we worked with them to edit their stories. All the people you are about to hear from have worked really hard to prepare, and share their experiences of the wild with us, to connect with us. Sometimes in some very personal ways.

The night was a great success. I had a ton of fun. It was great for me just to sit back and listen to a few stories instead of always telling them.

We’ve broken the show up into two parts. This is the second half of the event. If you missed the first half, it is available in your podcast feed now.

And if this has made you think about your own experiences in the wild we’d love to hear about it. We are planning to do another storytelling event later in the Spring. You can submit your story at KUOW.org/thewild or email us at thewild@kuow.org. **

Earlier this fall, we did a stories from the wild event in Seattle. Just to give you all a little background on how this night came together. We were finishing up the first season of THE WILD this summer and we wanted to do something fun and get people together. So we decided to put on a storytelling event.

We put out a call on social media and to our friends and asked people to volunteer and send us their stories. They auditioned, and we worked with them to edit their stories. All the people you are about to hear from have worked really hard to prepare, and share their experiences of the wild with us, to connect with us. Sometimes in some very personal ways.

The night was a great success. I had a ton of fun. It was great for me just to sit back and listen to a few stories instead of always telling them.

We’ve broken the show up into two parts. I hope you enjoy this first half and look for part 2 also in your podcast feed.

If this has made you think about your own experiences in the wild we’d love to hear about it. We are planning to do another storytelling event later in the Spring. You can submit your story at KUOW.org/thewild or email us at thewild@kuow.org. 

Gordon Hempton has spent his entire career trying to answer that question. You may remember Gordon from our earlier episode about searching for silence. We headed out to the wilderness of the Olympic Peninsula, to the Hoh Rainforest, looking for what Gordon calls One Square Inch of Silence.

Gordon refers to himself as The Sound Tracker. He travels the world looking for natural soundscapes that are free from human-caused sounds. His hope is to draw attention to these areas and keep them free from noise pollution.

I talked to Gordon for well over an hour for that earlier episode. He said a lot. Much more than we could include in the original show. 

So we decided to include some of that interview with Gordon in a special bonus episode of The Wild. In it Gordon shares what it means to him to listen. To truly and completely open your ears to the world.

Now, I have a special request for this episode. 

We are going to play you a few of Gordon’s field recordings. But I don’t want you to just hear them...I want you to listen to them. Here’s the request part...grab a pair of headphones and find a quiet place where you can focus….and for the next 10 minutes let yourself melt into the sounds of nature.

A special thanks to Gordon Hempton and Matt Mikkelson who made these recordings possible. You can learn more about their work at Quiet Parks International.

Filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith spent four months in a tiny shack in the Antarctic documenting a colony of 500,000 Adelie penguins. They endured 130 mile hour winds, sub-zero temperatures and penguin poop…lots of penguin poop. This is an uncut version of Chris’ interview with Jeff and Mark as they share their experiences of documenting penguins for their two films for the BBC’s Frozen Planet and Disneynature’s Penguins.

You may remember Florence Williams from our episode on Forest Bathing. Florence is a journalist and author. She wrote an article in Outside Magazine about the benefits of time spent in nature. She has expanded that article into a book. The book is titled, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative.

What does the smell of motor oil, vanilla ice cream, and parachutes have in common? A little aquatic rodent known as the beaver. We are hard at work on season 2 of The Wild. But in the meantime, we thought we’d share an earlier interview that we did for our beaver episode.

In that episode Chris spoke to Ben Goldfarb. Ben is a great journalist and he loves beavers. He wrote a book called Eager: The surprising, secret lives of beavers and why they matter. In that earlier episode we only used a small portion of what Ben told us about beavers. So we thought it would be fun to share the  full interview.

If you still haven’t gotten enough of your beaver fix you might want to check out our Facebook live Wild Bookclub interview with Ben Goldfarb here.

Did you know that there is a group of rare white bears that live in Canada? These bears are completely white. But these aren’t polar bears. And they aren’t albino. They are actually black bears with a genetic mutation that makes them white. They are known as Spirit Bears and only live in the coastal rainforest in British Columbia.

Conservationist and filmmaker Ian McAllister has spent years documenting the Spirit Bears and is the director of the IMAX film The Great Bear Rainforest. He is also an awarding winning photographer, the author of six books, co-founder of Pacific Wild.

Ian joined Chris Morgan on stage at The Mountineers in Seattle to talk about his film and his life in conservation.

If you are enjoying The Wild and want us to keep on making more episodes, we could really use your help. Please take a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. We’d love to get your thoughts. Thanks!

A lot of time we go to nature to find silence, to find solace. But what is silence really? You might think you’re in a quiet place, but it is hard to find complete natural silence with no human noise pollution. In this episode, Chris hits the road with sound engineers Gordon Hempton and Matt Mikkelsen on a mission to find the quietest place on earth.

You can learn more about Matt and Gordon’s work [here](http:// https://www.quietparks.org/partners.).

If you are enjoying The Wild and want us to keep on making more episodes, we could really use your help. Please take a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. We’d love to get your thoughts. Thanks!

Filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith spent four months in a tiny shack in the Antarctic documenting a colony of 500,000 Adelie penguins. They endured 130 mile hour winds, sub-zero temperatures and penguin poop…lots of penguin poop. Jeff and Mark documented penguins in two films, one for the BBC’s Frozen Planet and the other in Disneynature’s Penguins.

Learn how you can support The Wild and can get early access to new episodes and bonus content by going to our donation page.

In the 1800’s over 10 million salmon would return to the Columbia River that borders Washington and Oregon. Today that number is closer to two million. Many factors account for this change including lower water quality, a warmer climate and sea lions. Hundreds of sea lions gather at the base of the Bonneville Dam eating salmon that are trying to make their way up river to spawn. Humans are going to great lengths to scare off the sea lions in hopes of preserving the salmon run. Chris examines the tensions between man and animal, telling the story from the point of view of the sea lion.

Learn how you can support The Wild and can get early access to new episodes and bonus content by going to our donation page.

Two hundred years ago grizzly bears roamed the North Cascades, but today there are less than twenty, maybe even just one or two. No one really knows for sure since they are so hard to find. That is why they are known as ‘ghost bears.’ But today there is a movement to bring them back. Many people love the idea, others hate it. Chris looks at the challenges of bringing grizzlies back to northeast Washington and what has fueled his life long love of bears.