In 1872, Maharajah, an Indian elephant, and his keeper, Lorenzo The Lion Tamer Laurence, walked for ten days from Edinburgh to Manchester. In this Nature on One documentary, zoologist Dr. Richard Collins tells the delightful story of Maharajah’s journey. Image courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery.

Tonight's programme is a repeat of our Christmas Day special documentary 'Pope Leo's Elephant'. In 1514, King Manuel I of Portugal sent an extraordinary diplomatic gift to Pope Leo X: an Asian Elephant named Hanno. Derek Mooney and Niall Hatch dig deeper into Hanno’s remarkable story in the Eternal City, Rome.

Earlier today, we broadcast a special live programme on Radio One and on the RTÉ News Channel (09.00 - 11.00) and our focus was two of Ireland's most fascinating groups of birds: waders and garden birds.

Colm Flynn, Vatican Correspondent with EWTN joins us during an unexpected weather-related stay in Tromsø, a city frequently dubbed the “Capital of the Arctic”. Colm speaks to Fr. Arne Marco, a former marine engineer turned Catholic priest based in Tromsø.

Strange as it may seem, Ireland was once a whaling nation, with stations established along our west coast. Recently, authors Alice Kinsella and Daniel Wade produced a beautiful book called 'The Wake of the Whale', which tells the story of a pair of Norwegian whaling stations in Co. Mayo which operated from 1908 till 1922.

At this time of year, thoughts turn to the North Pole and the Arctic region, which is of course home to Santa Claus, as well as a wonderful array of wildlife. On tonight’s programme, Richard and Niall reminisce about their own visit to the Arctic back in 2016, when the pair reported for us from Vardø, the easternmost town in Norway.

When Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise, died in 2012, he joined an ever-growing list of extinct creatures on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List”. News of an animal being forever lost from our planet should both shock us and fill us with sadness, but do people actually care?

On 30th December, be sure to tune in to RTÉ Radio One between 09:00 and 11:00, when the Mooney Goes Wild team will be bringing you Winter Birds, a live programme all about the remarkable wading birds which flock to our beaches, estuaries and mudflats each winter, as well as our much loved garden birds.

In 1514, King Manuel I of Portugal sent an extraordinary diplomatic gift to Pope Leo X: an Asian Elephant named Hanno. On tonight’s programme, we give you a sneak peek at 'Pope Leo’s Elephant', our upcoming Christmas Day Nature on One documentary about Hanno and his time in Rome.

All of us here in the Mooney Goes Wild team would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to our esteemed colleague and friend Éanna Ní Lamhna, who last month was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science by the University of Galway.