Mammalwatching

Charles and Jon talk to distinguished mammalogist Dr Roland Kays, head of the Biodiversity lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and a Professor at North Carolina State University. Roland has published on sloth sleep and incognito Olinguitos and written a North American mammal field guide - also an app - that many of you will have. Roland talks about his work describing the Olinguito, one of the most significant new mammal discoveries of the 21st Century (it was the first new carnivore for the Western Hemisphere in 35 years). He explains his love of both Fishers and Porcupines and the quest to capture footage of the former hunting the latter. And he explains, with great clarity, the secret recipe to Canis soupus!

Notes: Roland's Field Guide to the Mammals of North America is also available as an Apple and Android app (look for "Mammals of North America").

Roland's Wild Animals Podcast is now into Season 3, and he has a Youtube Channel with the same name. This is the Fisher vs Porcupine video he mentioned.

Cover photo: Roland and a Kinkajou by Mathias Klum.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

You can email us at [email protected]

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to legendary mammalogists and conservationists John and Terese Hart about 50 years' of work in the Congo rainforest.  John and Terese have made an enormous contribution to studying and protecting African biodiversity and have had way more than their fair share of adventures en route. From discovering new monkey species to studying Okapis, they share spellbinding stories that are guaranteed to make mammalwatchers weak at the knees.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Cover photo: Radio collared Okapi. The MaMbuti taught us how to capture them safely. John & Terese Hart.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

We chat with Venkat Sankar about how we plan and prepare for the perfect trip. From designing an itinerary and choosing target species to taking the "right" pictures. We also swap tips on how we identify some of the world's most obscure mammals either in the field or after we get home.  And Jon talks about his recent trip to Bioko Island, a place where the primates were nervous and the pedestrian crosswalks plentiful.

Notes: Bioko Island trip reports are here.  Venkat's Colombia report is here .

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Cover photo - Pennant's Red Colobus (Piliocolobus pennantii), Bioko Island. Jon Hall.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to Professor Jo Setchell from her home in the UK. Dr Setchell, a distinguished primatologist and anthropologist, has studied primates in Cameroon, Gabon, the DRC and Borneo and has particular research interests in sexual selection among Mandrills and primate conservation. Destined for a career in primatology from the age of two, when she was inseparable from her toy monkey, Jo's fascinating research has proved important for science and conservation. And some work - such as discovering that the reddest male Mandrills are a sort of simian Brad Pitt - has cast a whole new light on Mandrill romance.

Notes: Jon's trip report from Bioko Island will soon be available at https://www.mammalwatching.com/bioko-island/.  Charles's 2022 Lynx trip is here.  And this is a video of the UK "mole hunter" Jon mentioned. But is it a hoax? And if not, how can we learn this magic?!

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Cover photo - Jo Setchell.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to recently converted mammalwatchers about their early mammalwatching experiences. Admittedly, some of our guests might deny they have been converted but we know different.

We talk to Steven Arthur, Cheryl Antonucci's partner, about being stalked by Swamp Rabbits in Missouri. We hear about a trip to Guyana that could have gone very wrong for Ian Thompson, his partner Tracey Watchurst, and their kids Josie and Ben.  And Amber Melhouse talks about the romance of wading through a guano-filled bat cave with "wildlife enthusiast" Jon.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Cover photo - Amber prepares to go spotlighting  in Tanzania - by Jon Hall.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon are joined by Season 1 podcast veterans Mac Hunter and Cheryl Antonucci who starred in the first two podcast episodes, along with professional birding - and now mammalwatching - guide Carlos Bocos who dialed in from his home in Spain. 

We talk about guides: the benefits they bring to conservation, trips and to mammalwatching more generally, as well as the skills every good guide needs. Carlos also offers his thoughts on what makes for a good client and reveals that some clients can be quite difficult. Shocker! Any resemblance - to birders living or dead - is purely coincidental.

Notes: Carlos has some great trip reports on mammalwatching including from West Papua and Sulawesi. You can find others by searching on the site.

Jon finally gets the chance to interview his co-host Charles Foley. Charles shares adventures from a life spent working with African Elephants in Tanzania's Tarangire National Park with his wife Lara. His thirty years of research has generated many advances in our understanding of Elephants, including the long-term impact that poaching can have when it kills all of the older animals in a family. Elephants do indeed have long memories, and so remembering where water can be found might be critical to a family's survival during drought. Charles also explains why it is a good idea to check the tyres on the truck if you plan to propose at sunset in the African bush. And - if you do forget - why it might then be a good idea to check only after your partner says 'yes'.

Notes: This is a summary of Charles's research on elephant memory and survival during drought. Two of the Foley's Big Mammal Day reports are here and here. You can buy  Charles' and Lara's Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania. And here is a report of Charles and Jon in Sierra Leone, and a short jubilant video taken seconds after we saw our Pygmy Hippo. Best day ever. Cover art: Fujo, Charles Foley.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to Russian biologists and mammalwatchers Karina Karenina  and Andrey Giljov (aka The Travelling Zoologists) from their new home in Paraguay.  In a journey that runs from the Russian steppes to the Paraguayan chaco, they talk about their work to save Russia's Saiga Antelopes and the role mammalwatching has played. They discuss how their experience as biologists has helped them to develop new techniques to watch mammals around the world. And we learn that Long-beaked Echidnas make wonderful pets.

Notes: Here is more information on the comeback of European wildlife including carnivores that Charles talked about. Cover art: Selfie by Karina and Andrey.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to Christopher Scharf about his 30 year quest to photograph the planet's most iconic wildlife - a project that is destined to be a time capsule of 21st century wildlife observation. Chris talks about some of the near mythical mammals he has seen and the near mythical adventures along the way. We hear how a quest to photograph a Markhor required an undercover journey into Afghanistan disguised as a local. He explains why finally seeing a wild Sumatran Rhino this year - after repeated attempts - still wasn't enough to take that species off his bucket list. And he recounts some worryingly close encounters with both Tigers and tapirs. 

Notes: Chris's website is here. He doesn't have many reports on mammalwatching.com but here's a summary of his last three (extreme) Sumatran Rhino expeditions from Martin Royle. Cover art: Chris and a Black and White Ruffed Lemur in Madagascar.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.

Charles and Jon report back from the inaugural mammalwatching meeting in Asturias, Spain. Join us as we watch Brown Bears, Common Genets and Broom Hares and chat with the participants. In a podcast first you can share the ecstasy of people seeing lifer mammals, followed by the agony when one - a water vole - is devoured by a bear before being fully identified.

Notes: The meeting was organized by a Felis, an NGO supporting conservation of the world's wild cats. A report - of both the meeting and the mammals - is here.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 100 countries.